Disneyland!

This is out of order but I couldn't miss blogging about this!!

We started our year off right with a trip to Disneyland in January!

It was SO much fun!  We went with my side of the family so we had lots of helpers with our little ones.  I have found that January is THE perfect time of year to go!  We hardly had to use fast passes and the longest line we had to wait in was 30 minutes for Toy Story Mania.  The rest of the rides were like a 10 min wait! So perfect when you have little kids.  The weather was perfect with temperatures in the high 70's low 80's.  Southern California was having record highs at the time.

This was James (and I guess Stockton's too) first time going to Disneyland.  It was so fun seeing James light up and enjoy the rides and the surroundings of the happiest place on earth.

We drove down there which was not so fun ha.  We made this same trip with James when he was Stockton's age- we went to Oceanside with Carson's family and James did great!  Stockton really had a hard time. He didn't really sleep more than maybe 30 minutes at a time in the car and he wasn't really eating well on the way down.  I felt so bad. And I don't know what it is with my kids and the pressure changes when we travel but we had blow-out after blow-out while we were there with Stockton, especially in the first couple of days as he was getting used to the change.  James did the same thing when we went to Oceanside!

James loved staying in a hotel

Stockton got to go on Toy Story Mania!

The first and last character James went up to on his own

On Autopia- James looks a little nervous getting started but he loved it

This was me and Stockton much of the trip.  It was nice and low-key.

Splash Mountain

Indiana Jones- we were scared

This is a good, comfy place for a nap ;) These two were so cute together

James got to sleep with Dada, he pretty much took over the bed.  

Lunch time- I'm surprised they didn't kick us out with the mess we were making...

James loved his new toy Baga Swensen bought him

Storytellers Cafe...yum

At Storytellers Cafe- this was our last day and it was apparent.  James was in such a bad mood not to mention he was afraid of the critters.

The critter put James in time out...he didn't like that very much

On our way down we stopped in St. George for a quick visit with Cardi and Mitch and got to see their new house!

Stockton seeing the beach for the first time

A real live star fish!

Winter Play Dates: The Zoo

We have had such nice weather this past week with temps being in the mid 50's!  What? Is it really February?

During the off season, the zoo offers "Free Wednesdays" on the last Wednesday of the month.  February is the last month this is offered.  With it being such nice weather lately, our play group thought it was a good idea to go to the zoo on this day!...

It was definitely NOT a good idea haha

We got there a little after 11 and as I was pulling onto the street the zoo is on, I was seeing people parking blocks and blocks away, hiking up the hill to the zoo with their kids and strollers. 

I almost turned around right then...

if it weren't for the others I was meeting there, I probably would have.

It took us 20 minutes to park!  We had to hunt people down that looked like they were leaving and follow them to their car in order to get a spot!

We finally got into the zoo at about 11:30 and it was just that....

a ZOO! 

And I don't do well with crowds...

We spent like 2.5 hours there and didn't even get to see everything.  By the time we had had enough it was so blasted crowded that you couldn't hardly maneuver.  I just wanted to get out of there!

Not to mention James was kind of a pill the whole time and would throw little fits here and there and he wouldn't listen to me and kept wandering off.  I'm surprised I never lost him.  By the end of the trip, he was wanting me to hold him so there I was holding my almost 3 year old and trying to push the baby in the stroller to get out of the park, up-hill mind you.  I guess one positive is that I got my work out in for the day!  At least Stockton did great! It could have been worse, I could have had both kids throwing fits :)

So I would say that was probably not one of my favorite outings.  Sometimes we as a society are so cheap! I guess me included ha.  Really, sometimes it is not worth the chaos and stress for free admission!  Next time I will gladly pay to go on a regular day with less crowds, thank you.

The Carousel was the only good part because....you guessed it! It wasn't free so there wasn't a crowd! cheap cheap cheap

This is Stockton's face lately almost every time we take a picture

I wanted to punch every single one of these people in the head...I kid, I kid (sort of)

Winter Play Dates: Kangaroo Zoo

Today we had a smaller scale play group.  A friend from the neighborhood and I took our boys to check out the Kangaroo Zoo in PG.  We each have two boys- James and her oldest are only one day apart in age and our babies were due two weeks apart but ended up being a tad over a month apart in age.

James is very reserved when it comes to bounce houses, which is what Kangaroo Zoo is- a bunch of bounce houses and slides in doors.  Whenever we've tried getting him to play on them, he refuses.  In fact, I dare say James is afraid of these blow up toys so I haven't ever thought to take him.

This time was no different.  When we got there he cried and wanted to go home.  I finally convinced him to just come and watch his little friend.  Well pretty soon he was facing his fears and jumping right in and going down some slides!

When we had to leave, he cried and didn't want to go home.  Typical.

We had a blast!  Grown-ups get in free if you're only watching and since James is still 2 he got in for $3 (with a $2 coupon).  Can't beat that!

Winter Play Dates: Touring the Fire Station

Last week for our play group we toured our local fire station.  James absolutely loves fire trucks so as you can imagine, he was in Heaven.

First we watched a safety video while everyone trickled in.  

When the movie ended, the chief took us on a tour of the station.  We went upstairs to see their living quarters.  The firemen do 48 hr shifts so they essentially live there for a few days.  

Then the chief took us out to see a real fire truck up close!  James was mesmerized.  The chief even sounded the horn and the sirens for us!  It was so loud we had to cover our ears!

I was hoping to see a fire pole and possibly attempt to slide down it if they'd let me buuuut the chief said it isn't practical anymore.  Maybe there were too many injuries.  haha darn, too bad.

Perfect play date.  We had fun AND it was FREE!