Jeff turned 30 this week.
Yikes. The big 3-0.
To celebrate we went to Disneyland.
Just kidding. We just happened to be in Disneyland for his birthday,
so I like to say that we went to Disneyland FOR his birthday.
Gets me off the hook for when someone is like, "What did you do to celebrate Jeff's big 30th birthday?"
"Oh you know, I just took him the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH."
Jeff had never been, so it kind of works out.
Our friends Brady and Meredith [who, btw are diehard Disneylanders], had planned a trip to the big D-land, so we decided last minute to tag along.
I might have been a little crazy agreeing to drive 10 hours through mostly barren land with a toddler and the huge growth coming off my front side otherwise known as a seven-and-a-half-month baby bump.
But Jeff let me be the one behind the wheel [I get carsick easy, he likes to sleep, win-win], and things turned out okay.
I was nervous about how Kaeden would fare for the long trip, but he actually did really really well.
Somewhere in Nevada [or maybe it was California] was the only time we approached a possible breakdown. Kaeden started getting antsy in his seat, and then just started wailing. We pulled over, and he just wanted to get out. He was also crying because his neck hurt. He had held it in the same position for a loooong time, so it was a little sore.
In the middle of nowhere [I literally have no clue where we were], my little guy just wanted to get out and run. And so, that's what we did. For 40 minutes.
Considering this was the only break we took on the entire trek to California, I'd say we did pretty good.
We finally got to California late at night. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a bite to eat, and hit the sack to get ready for our first day at Disneyland.
Of course, Kaeden loved everything about Disneyland.
In fact, I think he would have been satisfied just playing on the Mickey benches outside of the park all day. For whatever reason, he loved those benches. Sure would have saved us a bunch of money.
We met up with Brady, Meredith, and Jane, and of course had to take the customary pictures with the Mickey flowers at the entrance.
Ugh. Maternity jeans are the worst.
Right off the bat we tried our hand at having Kaeden meet one of the characters. We just happened to be nearby when this Minnie Mouse showed up.
Jane, whose done this before, walked right up, got her book signed and gave Minnie a hug.
Kaeden on the other hand, he had a slightly different reaction.
He did not want to be anywhere near Minnie. So I had to settle with this picture for his first ever Disneyland character experience.
I thought that maybe he'd eventually warm up to it.
Nope. Goofy actually snuck up behind him for this picture. He wasn't too happy about it.
Oh well. At least we'd save time from not having to wait in the lines to see the characters, right?
Now, I've been to Disneyland before. My grandparents took me when I was 5, and I absolutely loved it. Fast forward to my senior year of high school when I got to visit again on a school trip. I was pretty excited since I remembered it to be a fun place. 12 years really changes things. Don't hate me, but I was rather disappointed. I just don't *get* it. I know there are thousands of people out there that would disagree.
So going this time around, I didn't go in with high expectations. And...being 7.5 months pregnant meant that I knew my experience would be much, much less given the fact there wasn't a ton I could do.
But seeing Disneyland through Kaeden's experience made the trip for me. He had so much fun.
Jeff took Kaeden on the teacups for his first ride, and Kade thought it was really great.
Just the thought of spinning made me want to hurl. Having kids will change ya, I tell ya.
Next up was the Dumbo ride. Another good choice.
Some of Kaeden's favorite rides were Pirates of the Carribean [not pictured], and the Merry-Go-Rounds.
The Merry-Go-Rounds gave me a break from stroller duty, and allowed Jeff to go on some more adventurous rides. Each time we'd ride [and trust me, we rode many, many times] I'd let Kaeden choose which seat he wanted. Lucky for me, he thought the bench seats were pretty cool. Kind of weird for him to choose since they were stationary and for all intents and purposes, kinda boring, but they were a good choice for his pregnant mama.
Other favorites for us included the Buzz Lightyear Ride,
and the Toy Story Mania Ride.
How do you know your first day at Disneyland was a success?
This happens two seconds after returning to your hotel room:
On Day Two we tried our hand at California Adventures. Beacause it's more of a Pixar park, it quickly became even more magical for Kaeden than Day One.
We found the Monsters Inc ride, and the virtually non existent line coupled with Kaeden's obsession with the movie meant that we rode it over, and over, and over again.
But the magic really happened when we just so happened to stumble upon this:
A Monster's Inc. street show! Needless to say, Kaeden loved it:
Other highlights of California Adventures included:
The Caterpillar ride:
The spinning ladybugs:
Flick's Flyers:
And the Bug's Life splash pad:
My favorite part of the trip came when we asked Kaeden what he wanted to do next. He kept saying something and pointing, but we didn't understand what he was saying.
In frustration he told us, "Map!"
We handed him the map, he studied it for a second, and then he pointed to the Mickey Ferris Wheel on the map, looked up and pointed at it in real life. He understood what he wanted, and knew he could show it to us on the map.
We were a little amazed to say the least.
From that point on, he became our map guide, and he frequently would sit and study the map for us.
Before we left for our trip, my mom and boss had given Kaeden some money to buy something special for his first Disneyland experience. After carefully surveying all of his options for a couple of days, Kaeden eventually picked out the following:
A glowing sword from the World of Color show, [it broke before the end of the night],
A long, twisty, colorful "pop" [sucker],
and of course, his very own Mike and Sully to take home.
Loved experiencing Disneyland with my little boy.
Another highlight of our trip:
We met up with Riley [Brady's brother who just happened to also be in California] for a Riley/Jeff birthday dinner [Jeff and Riley share a birthday on Feb 4th]. The birthday boys showed up wearing the same hoodie. Kind of funny.
The low light? No picture - trust me, you'll be glad.
On our drive home we stopped off at a Walmart in St. George so that we could stretch our legs, buy a movie for Kaeden [Monster's Inc, of course], and I could change Kaeden's diaper.
I took Kaeden into the bathroom to change what I thought was just a wet diaper.
I put him on the changing table and whipped his pants off only to have poop fly everywhere.
Apparently he had had a blowout, but we didn't even know. Poop had run all the way down his leg, and now was flung all over changing table, walls, and me.
Knowing there was no way I could call for Jeff to come into the ladies room, I just started trying to cleanup and hold Kaeden down the best I could.
In my struggles a lady comes out of the stall, sees me in near tears, and offers to help. I was so embarrassed! Who wants to clean up a strange kid's poop? But I also wasn't in a place where I could deny the help.
So the sweet lady helped me clean up, I took my shirt off, got Kade fully stripped down and a new diaper on, and that was it.
I thanked my helper, and she left me by saying, "I've been in your shoes before. Don't even worry about it."
There are good people left in the world.
I walk out of the bathroom hugely pregnant wearing nothing but maternity jeans and a skeezy maternity undershirt with a baby in nothing but a diaper, and a handful of poop covered clothes. Of course Jeff had chosen this time to wander the store while he waited for us.
He I am, wandering around Walmart perpetuating the stereotype while looking for my husband. I was sure my picture was going to show up on the People of Walmart website.
Way to end our trip with a bang!
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