Vacation Day #3: California Adventure

You're probably wondering how long our vacation was...but lucky for you, it was only 3 days. So here is the last of my ultra-long posts. I hope that you enjoy all of the pictures.

We were quite excited to get to go to California Adventure. Jon and I have never been and so we weren't quite sure what to expect. We did get some input from friends on what we should try to go and see, which greatly helped. This was Melanie's favorite day of all the days! We got to the park right as it opened and our first stop was the Toy Story ride. We were all entertained my Mr. Potato Head, who was telling jokes and talking to the crowd. All of us enjoyed the 3-D arcade game ride. Spencer wouldn't keep his 3-D glasses on, but he still really liked the ride. Then we headed over to Ariel's Grotto for lunch. The girls had wanted to see all the Princesses. So we made reservations at Ariel's Grotto, which guarantees you'll meet Ariel and 4 other princesses. Savannah and Melanie were very excited about meeting the princesses and could hardly wait! Ariel was the first princess we met. The girls were only slightly disappointed that she wasn't a mermaid, but they got over it quickly. The girls were given stickers and tiaras along with their menus. Savannah quickly put the stickers all over herself. And Melanie proceeded to put the stickers all over the table. Whatever keeps them happy, right? And Spencer was just a good little guy as usual. He was sporting his Chip and Dale shirt that day, that Melanie had picked out for him. He really enjoyed his lunch of grapes, goldfish, and macaroni. The first princess to come out was Cinderella! This is Melanie's favorite and she was so excited to get to see her. Then came Belle. The third princess was Snow White. She was so sweet and stopped and talked to Spencer for a minute. She was my favorite princess when I was little. I know that I have a picture of me and her at Disneyland when I was about 5 or so. I wish that I had got a picture with her too! Maybe next time! And the last princess was Princess Aurora. This is Savannah's favorite, so we were glad to get to see her too. I'd also like to point out that the girls got to meet every single princess on their shirts. What more could you ask for?Our elaborate dessert tray was as good as our lunch. Jon's favorite was the white chocolate seashell; I really liked the brownie, of course. After lunch we headed over to see a show and found a few more characters along the way. Melanie was still a little scared, so only Savannah jumped in this picture with Handy Manny. But then Jon really wanted to get in the picture with Mr. Incredible. Look, there's 2 Mr. Incredibles! We missed the show that we were going to go to and ended up going on the Monsters, Inc. ride. This turned out to be Melanie's favorite ride. It was really funny because at the end of the ride, while we were waiting to get out, Roz said, "Young lady in the second row, the little monster in your lap is really cute." It was too funny, because I was sitting in the second row with Spencer in my lap. After that, we went and saw Turtle Talk with Crush. My picture turned out awful, but this was really fun to go and watch. It was live animation, so Crush was letting people in the audience ask him questions. It was hilarious and afterwards Jon said that he was "still geeking out about it." My favorite part was when he said that he had 65 kids and suggested that one of the ladies should try it. Then a little girl asked him what his kid's names were. "Of course there's Squirt, then there's the twins, Mary Kate and Ashley, John, Paul, George and Ringo..." He proceeded to name off a bunch of groups and then added, "Crush Jr., Crush Jr., Crush Jr., ...about 35 Crush Jrs." We all got a kick out of it. After that we went and watched a musical kind of performance about the "Magic of Disney." It was fun and we got to see Mickey, Woody, and Cinderella again. I was so glad that the girls got to see Mickey Mouse and we didn't have to wait in an enormous line either! I was just so proud of Melanie for not having any worries about getting a picture with Mickey! We then went over and watched Mickey Mouse Club House Live. Both girls were excited about this. We didn't have the best seats though, right in front, but off to the side; it made it hard to see. But, Savannah liked seeing all of the Playhouse Disney characters. Melanie enjoyed seeing it all too. Thankfully, Spencer finally fell asleep and took a nap during this, unfortunately so did my leg and I had the hardest time getting up when it was over! We then headed over to the Bug's Life area. They had a bunch of little kid rides, and the girls only kind of liked them. Jon and I learned that we don't even like the smaller version of Disneyland's Teacups; those little Ladybugs are just as bad! Spencer also got to try his first bite of Cotton Candy! Yummy! After this, Melanie insisted that we go back and ride the Monster's ride. So I had to get a picture of them in front of Boo's door! It's is so huge! The day was quickly coming to a close. Savannah and I snuck in a ride on a small roller coaster and also the jellyfish (like the Tower of Terror for little kids) while Jon manhandled the other two. We called it a day after that and headed back to the bus stop. Riding the bus was so much better than parking in the parking structure and riding the tram! Savannah really wanted a picture with one of the large cones that was at the bus stop. Of course, Melanie wanted one too. This day ended much earlier than the one at Disneyland, but the kids were all still happy and so it made a really nice end to the day! Bye Disneyland! We hope to visit you again soon!