Part III

Onto our next day in California! After our first day at Disneyland we didn't get up quite as early the next day. We were soooooo tired!!! That's okay though, because we planned on spending the day at Disney's California Adventure with Caitlin and Dave and it didn't even open up until 10 a.m. Plenty of time to sleep in and get ready! We got there around 10:30 a.m. and headed straight for the nearest seriously over-priced store where we could buy some souvenir hats. We each got one so we were set for the rest of the hot, sunny day. We headed first for California Soarin' to pick up a couple of Fast Passes and then walked around a bit to see what we could find. We ended up at Paradise Pier and rode some of the fun rides there. We finally met up with Caitlin and Dave after lunch (guess they need more beauty sleep than we do!) and headed over to Toy Story Mania. After Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster ride being such a hit with Cash the day before we figured he'd really like this one too. The line was WAY long but we had this cute face to entertain us as well and crazy Uncle Dave and Aunt Caitlin.



There are lots of attractions at Disneyland that come with 3-D glasses and this was one of them. It was very similar to the Buzz ride at Disneyland in that you have little guns in your car that you can shoot at things but this one was 3-D and all computer generated. It was pretty cool. Cash LOVED it! "I shoot, I shoot, I shoot!" was all we heard! The wait in line went much faster with Caitlin and Dave there too!

Cash was pretty ready for a nap after this ride and so Caitlin took the kids on the giant ferris wheel (which Mommy was not about to attempt!) and Josh and Dave went on the crazy ride that drops you down really fast. I can't remember what it's called, but I wasn't about to try that either! Cash and I walked around for a little while until he fell asleep and then I just found a place to sit and enjoyed the peace and quiet - well as much peace and quiet as you can have sitting underneath a humongous roller coaster.

Amazingly everyone finished their rides at about the same time and so we headed over to California Screamin'. A totally awesome roller coaster!! Caitlin and Dave were fabulous enough to take the kiddos on the Merry Go Round a couple of times while Josh and I went on it. It was soooooo fun! Then Josh and Dave went on it - Caitlin was being a party pooper. Just kidding, she had a headache and a roller coaster was NOT the remedy.

We headed over to A Bug's Land next so Cash could go on some rides. He'd had to sit out of most of the rides so far because he was too little and he was more than a little upset about it. A Bug's Land was perfect for him though and he saw lots of action there:



These were the most gentle bumper cars I have ever been on. I don't think you could even qualify them as bumper cars as they didn't go fast enough to bump anyone. Cash thought it was a blast though. So did Ryley because he could drive the car himself!!

We also got to see a cool 3-D Bug's Life movie and went on several more rides. After we were done there we came out just in time for the parade.

Of course we were stuck behind a million people because we came out to the road so late so Daddy and Dave were stuck like this for a while:


I don't know how Dave got stuck with the MUCH heavier child but he did and I'm pretty sure he's a few inches shorter now because of it!

We walked over to Tower of Terror after the parade was over and Caitlin graciously offered to watch all the kids on her own (CRA-ZY!) so Dave, me, and Josh could go on it. She even took all the kids on the Monster's Inc. ride by herself. The Tower of Terror was really fun and totally terrifying though!!! Thanks Caitlin : )

I'm not sure what street this is supposed to be - Sunset Boulevard maybe? Anyway, we couldn't resist the photo op!


After almost losing our lunch on the Tower of Terror we were ready for some dinner! We headed off to find something to eat. We ate some yummy dinner at a little diner we found and then went to use our Fast Passes at California Soarin'. We were working the system (thank you Alan Coffman!) with our Fast Passes and Stroller Passes and managed to get everyone - even Caitlin and Dave - through without waiting!! It was a cool ride but a little freaky! Ryley wasn't really sure what to make of it and had his feet up in the seat the whole time and was asking me if we were really over the ocean. It was just a HUGE movie screen that you watched while you're seat was lifted up pretty high and moved around. It was cool though because they blew cool air on you while you were "soaring" and it felt pretty real! They even had the scents pumping through the air - like the forest and stuff. Pretty cool!

After we had all gone on the ride it was getting late and finally getting dark so we headed over to the real Disneyland to watch "Fantasmic" and the fireworks. I loved watching the kids as they watched the shows and things. They were so amazed!

That was pretty much the end of our day at Disneyland so we moseyed on back to the parking lot and rode on Cash's favorite ride - the tram. "A train! A train! Choo! Choo!" We said our goodbyes to Caitlin and Dave as we probably wouldn't get to see them on Wednesday before we left for San Diego. It was so much fun to get to spend the day with them. Thanks again guys!