Trevor's long awaited trip to 'Mickey's house' finally happened. Everyone knew that as soon as he was potty trained we got to go. Heck, he would watch us go potty and then say 'Mommy/Daddy woo hoo - you get to go to Mickey's house' or love the story of when he was sitting on the potty at his old school in MN and he said to his favorite teacher Miss Tina, 'You know, Miss Tina if you go on the potty you can go to Mickey's house.' He's hilarious!
We took off on a Thursday afternoon and hit the road. It's nice to be able to drive to Mickey's than pay for flights! We were cruising along nicely until we came to a traffic standstill on the Interstate. Should have listened to the navigation system and went around but nope, we thought it wouldn't be that bad. Well after an hour of not really moving, we inched our way to an exit that the nav system said we could take. Good thing we did because looking ahead on the Interstate even semi-trucks pulled over on the side and the drivers got out to chat. The Interstate was actually closed. Well, maybe it wasn't so good though because the dirt road the nav system wanted to take was closed as well....but the road wasn't blocked and it was still kinda light out so we decided to take our chance and try it out. Luckily T was sleeping so Brian and Sara could focus on the road and after 40 minutes of white knuckle driving we found our way to a major road and got back on the highway and back en route to Mickey's house!
When we checked into our hotel we had a Disney view so Trevor was all excited to see Mickey's house and when he woke up in the morning he ran to the window, opened the curtains and was in awwww of what he saw. He was ready to go that instant! We couldn't walk there fast enough!
Once there it was everything he (and we) wanted it to be! What a fun, fun time!!
Our first ride was Buzz of course. Wonder if he remembered it from our Disney World (Florida) visit last October?
Trevor thought shooting the lasers were pretty neato! So did Daddy! The lines were super short so we went on this a few times before checking out other rides.
Also a hit was the Nemo ride. Love the fact that they included the 'mine, mine, mine' birds from the movie!
Trevor was in awe of how the sub was driving:
He was also in awe of what he saw out his window:
He loved looking for the Nemo characters out his window. Daddy did too!
When we were eating lunch, it was announced that the spaceship Endeavor was doing a flyover en route to its final resting place. Of course, the announcement came right when Trevor said he had to go potty but we all still managed to check it out!
It might sound dumb but it was a rather neat experience. It flew so close that you could see the wear and tear on the shuttle. It's such a part of America and to be able to see it in person was just special. Gave Sara goosebumps!
When Sara and Brian were at Disney World for a 3M Nascar event a few years ago we got to see the shuttle take off and fly overhead so it was cool to have this experience as well.
Another ride that Trevor was looking forward to was 'Small World'
And he was just as fascinated this year as he was last year:
We got in some great character pics! Funny that Trevor was trying to copy Goofy's pose!
Trevor got a special wave from Mickey in the middle of a street performance. Pretty cool!
Pic with Pluto! Like in the Goofy picture, Trevor had to have his phone out to take a picture too!
Ugh to Mommy here for being too worried about the line behind her to make sure she got a good picture with Mickey....
....but we did get a good family one on Sara's iphone. Should have given the fellow tourist the good camera, but oh well!
Daddy also made up for it by getting a great picture with Minnie!
See, we weren't kidding that he had to take his own pictures too :)
We left Disney in the afternoon so Trevor could take his nap. We didn't want to be those people with a crabby kid in the evening or over do it and it worked out great. We got back in time to see the parade! Trevor waited very patiently by eating a corn dog for dinner!
He loved each of the floats and waved diligently at each character as they went by. He was very into the Disney drumline...maybe he'll take after Uncle Jim and be an awesome snare drummer!
Because of Trevor's nap we could stay up late and watch Fantasmic (Trevor was not a fan and note that it wasn't really for kids) but he did like the fireworks for a few minutes until they started hurting his ears.
We also got to see fireworks outside 'Mickey's house' which was pretty neat.
Where are we here while watching the fireworks? Back in line for the Buzz ride which we rode two or three times before heading out.
One last family shot before heading back to the hotel. Can you tell Trevor was done? This was about 10pm.
Well, we were leaving until Trevor spotted Mickey. The line was way too long to wait for a redo picture but something neat did happen. Mickey pointed right at Trevor and then waved. Trevor (and we) felt extremely special. Disney sure knows how to do that!
On Saturday we drove 40 minutes or so Legoland so that Dada could experience the fun that Mommy and Trevor did with Grandma and Papa Hillins in August. Plus we had free tickets to use!
Trevor really enjoyed showing Dada all of his favorite rides:
When we were waiting for Dada to get his sunglasses from the car, Trevor requested Mommy take a picture of him. Hilarious considering back during our August trip to California there were times we couldn't get him to take a picture!
Ah, the helicopter ride (in the Fire Patrol 'copter of course):
Trevor is having so much fun!!!
Once again we lucked out in the line situation. We could go on the same ride again without having to wait! Trevor requested that Mommy go this time!
And then we hit Trevor's jackpot - firefighter!!!!
Dada did a great job pumping our way down to the water shooters and then doing multiple jobs so that we could 'win'!
And how lucky for Daddy that the ride was nice and open and Trevor requested to go on it again and again and again. Can you say hot?? But we eventually got him to show Dada other rides, like the airplanes:
And a water ride. Mommy bowed out of that one...getting wet with white shorts just didn't sound good :) But boy did the boys have fun!
Both boys were very intense in their shooting:
Pretty sure Trevor was trying to get Mommy wet!
After the ride Trevor took one last stab at getting revenge on people that were shooting water at him while on the ride!
Legoland really is a great spot for kids. And the fact that they have lego tables for the kids to play at while the adults stand in line is just great. Legos are definitely on this kids birthday and Christmas lists!
Wow they even had a 'potato sack' slide!
Which went a little fast for T-Rev!
We checked out the Indiana Jones ride. Shooting lasers again? Okay!
A quick family pic at the gigantic lego pumpkin:
One last ride....Mommy's preggo belly barely fit in the car!
And we're done. Can you tell it's nap time??
After leaving Trevor napped in the car and we drove along the coast until we came to our resort for the night. Of course when Trevor woke up the first thing he wanted to do was go to the beach!
And we got there just in time for a beautiful sunset. Love how the water glistens:
Mommy took way too many pictures of course and can't pick favorites so if you are still reading you are going to get an overwhelming amount of pics :)
And just like he did during our last CA adventure he would run up to the water then run back:
Daddy would do the same!
Can't get me!
His laugh is just too precious:
A boy, his silhouette and the water makes Mommy's heart happy!
A nice family also at the beach took our family picture:
All 3.5 of us :) Can you tell Mommy is a bit swollen from 2 days of walking around and not a lot of water? Oh well! It was worth every step!
One last dip in the water resulted in Trevor going boomers! But he popped right up and was ready to do it again! We figured that was a good exit cue though so we went back to the resort to get ready for dinner.
Not sure why this picture won't turn but while waiting for a table at a nearby Mexican restaurant Trevor learned how to play tag. We can still hear all the kids footsteps and laughter. Sure made waiting go by quickly!
Trevor and Daddy sure had a lot of bonding on this trip which also made Mommy's heart happy. Both of them like to do 'squished nose'!
On Sunday morning we headed back to the beach for a morning walk. As usual, Trevor requested shoulders!
We have a prediction that he'll be asking to go to the beach again soon. He sure likes having his toes in the sand!
He wanted to run, so he did!
But he'd always turn around and come right back!
It was getting rather warm so we went back to our room to get our suits on. Guess what else also made it to CA? The infamous yellow wagon :)
Now it was Daddy's turn to make sand castles with Trevor!
They also got in some water time:
Same old, same old (which actually never gets old):
Trevor told Daddy that he wanted to go out far where the waves were, but once out there Trevor didn't want to get wet!
After checking out of our room we headed back home. Trevor was not excited about that at all. He said multiple times he didn't want to go back home and that he wanted to go to a hotel. So we started saying we were going to hotel Hillins :)
On our way back home we got to see Temecula - wine country that we'll go back to when Mommy can participate - and windmill land near Palm Springs. Pictures would never do justice to just how many windmills there really were!
We also stopped at the closed road that we took to avoid the shut-down interstate on the first day of our road trip. This doesn't look so bad so we scooted around it that first night:
But unlike that first night, today there were barricades across the road. Wonder if we still would have taken it??
All in all we had a wonderful, wonderful trip with many fond memories. We're sure we'll have another California Adventure after baby sister is here. We feel really lucky that we can take such trips and that there are so many fun things to do within a short drive of Phoenix!! And in case you are wondering, no, Hotel Hillins didn't cut it for Trevor. When we pulled in our driveway he was begging to go back to Mickey's house :)
