We all flew in Friday night into Orange county and stayed with Morgan and Whitney. Paul left Sunday night to go work for the next few days while the kids and I stayed and played and then we reconvened Wednesday and flew back Thursday. (We had originally planned on staying through the week but turns out Paul had to be back for a work meeting so we wrapped it up early which was a little disappointing but it actually worked out pretty well.)
Saturday we had a beach day. We went to Newport beach and played. Nolan liked grabbing the sand and throwing it and Caitlin built sand snowmen "like Olaf". Caitlin loved going in the water with Daddy and Nolan was more like me.... just dipped in a toe. In fact for awhile anytime the water started rolling in he would turn around and run in horror. He was cracking us up. He eventually got a little bit better about it and went in to about his knees or so. He was also really funny about walking in the sand. The smooth sand he was fine but the loose sand he was super cautious and unstable. A lady close by even mad the comment "this is a good place to learn how to walk!" while she was watching him. I thought, "well he's been walking for almost a year but the sand is throwing him for a loop" The water was cold but as long as the sun was out from behind a cloud it was warm and lovely. We got lunch from Sancho's Tacos and picnicked on the beach. Paul taught the kids how to feed the seagulls leftover tortillas and chips and we attracted quite the flock. Then we packed up and went to Balboa island. We walked around the peninsula and looked at the cute houses and got treats.
Sunday we went to church, rested, took a walk and played at the park and then had home made pizzas for dinner. Nolan and I came down with a weird case of allergies and I lot my voice this day, I'm still fully recovering and Nolan was getting red splotches and puffiness all over his face. Something in that California air did not agree with us.
Monday we got delicious donuts in the morning and took them to walk along the T beach in San Clemente. The path goes along the beach and piers and is so beautiful. We met up with a few other girls and had a little stroller gang. We stopped towards the end and the kids played in the sand and went on swings. We park hopped that night.
Tuesday Whitney had to work so I got to try out three kids for the day! Actually I had a ton of help in the morning when Morgan's mom Cheri came over and took the kids to the pool with me. She was so fun to chat with and the pool was so cute and perfect for the kiddos. We stayed for like three hours and my sensitive pregnancy skin even has a little sunburn on my back to prove it. Lunch, naps and the park wrapped it up til Whitney got home that night.
Wednesday we squeezed in a Disneyland day. Paul couldn't bare missing it with the kids so he flew in early that morning from another office in CA and we headed to Disney. They were open 10AM-8PM and we opened and closed the park. It got a little chilly when the sun wasn't out but in general it was great weather. It was really crowded! I thought for sure a random Wednesday in February wouldn't be but it totally was. Oh well, that's Disneyland and since our kids are so little we didn't have a long must-do list so we just picked the rides with short lines and still enjoyed our day immensely. Honestly, Disneyland is magical and it never seems to lose that. The kids were in heaven in their own little ways.
-The characters were still one of the highlights, and the parade was still the biggest highlight. But they loved the rides even more this time. Teacups was probably the favorite as well as the Winnie the Pooh ride. They were both a lot less tolerant to stay in the stroller for long periods of time so we took it slow and kept a close eye on both of them running around. Nolan's max wait time for a ride was about 5 minutes so we took a lot of turns waiting in line the jumping in which I'm sure people around us really loved.
-Caitlin realized the difference between the characters who were real people and the ones in costume so she would ask, "Are they gonna be real or pretend? Do they talk like me or do they talk pretend?"
-We went to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Fawn and she asked Caitlin what her favorite animal was and she said "a squirrel" (?!?!) Nolan decided he really liked Fawn and snuggled up to her for literally at least a minute and just stood there and wanted to give her a kiss it was all hilarious.
-When we saw the princesses Caitlin would talk to them and they would say "Who did you bring? Is this your brother?" to which Nolan would run up to them and said "brudder!! brudder!" really loud. He also loved giving the princesses loves and would make his way right into their poofy dresses.
-The best character greeting was with Tigger and Pooh. Nolan got so excited and ran right up to Tigger saying "ti-er! "ti-er!" and they were playing with him and hugging him and even "bounced" with him. When we turned the corner and saw Pooh Nolan got so excited again and wanted to hug him and give him kisses on his nose. It was so adorable.
-Paul and I went on a very few adult rides. The first ride I went on I had just sat down into the car and the ride broke! Luckily it was a pretty quick fix. Later that day i went on another and as i was coming out realized i had forgotten my phone in the front ouch of the seat! So i had to go back and they had to have every car pass through and check the pouches. It took awhile but we found it.
-Caitlin had to keep switching hands during the parade because they were getting tired from waving at everyone. Every single character got a personal wave and shout out from her, and she got a lot from them in return. Nolan loved it too.
Thursday we flew home, sad to leave the sunshine and our friends behind. Whitney and Morgan were so nice to host us, feed us, make treats for us and the like. It was so fun to see Brox and hang out with him, right before he turns one! He is such a cutie and easy going baby. We're so glad to have amazing friends like the Taylors that we feel 100% comfortable crashing their house and now that we know what a nice and beautiful area it is.. we will probably be going more often!
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