california trip: day 2

First thing Monday morning, we dressed in our matching, homemade Mickey shirts, and headed to Disneyland.  Actually, we started in California Adventure in hopes of getting fast passes for the new Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land.  But, as we waited for them to open the gates, the lady in front of us told us that the morning before they had the same plan as us, and by the time she got there, the line to get a fast pass was 1 1/2 hours. So, we decided to try again another day.  We started with Soarin' Over California, which is  by far one of my favorite rides ever.  Kade and Ky were excited to go on it the first time, and they loved it too.  The next stop was this little play area with rope bridges and slides.  It was fun, but we probably should have saved it for mid-day when the kids needed a break from standing in line or something (although, we lucked out and didn't have too many lines to stand in anyway!)

I never got a great picture of all of our shirts, but you can see them here, Ky in the blue and Kade in the green.

This zip line was pretty neat, and Kade rocked the rock climbing wall!

Oh, and here is a pic of Krew and I in our Mickey Mouse shirts.  Bart did not want a homemade Mickey Mouse shirt (or any Mickey Mouse shirt, for that matter), but his BYU shirt got a lot of attention from the hundreds of other cougar fans we saw there!

The above picture is of Krew's first Disney ride ever!  It was Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  I had no idea how he was going to react, but he liked it.  He did get a bit nervous during one part, but by the end he was saying, "wee!"

After lots more rides, and after lunch, we headed over to check out Cars Land!  It was amazing!!  It looked so real, and so straight-out-of-the-movie!

Krew and my dad were buddies at Disneyland!  Neither one of them could ride many of the rides, so they hung out while the rest of us went.  I like this picture of Krew on my dad's shoulders, with my dad's Pixar hat, and the racers in the background!

This was on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  It was such a funny ride that my cheeks hurt from smiling by the time I got off.  First, while waiting in line, they always play the recording that tells you to watch your children and keep your body parts inside the ride.  Well, it was Mater's voice giving these instructions, and then, Mater gave the instructions again, in Spanish.  Let me just say that Mater's accent was a bit off!  Hilarious!  Then, my mom and I rode together and we were both sliding all over while this ride whipped us around.  Apparently, Krew liked watching this ride too.  My dad said he kept mooing, and saying, "Me."  Hopefully we can go back again when he is tall enough to ride it!

Okay, so I've been wondering for weeks how Krew would react to the characters.  He loves Mickey Mouse everything, and he knows all the classic Disney characters.  He has several books that he points to each character and says their name.  So, the first character we went to meet was Goofy.  Krew was so excited to see him, and bounced in my arms while we waited our turn to meet him.  But, as soon as we got about 5 feet away, he clung on to me and started to cry!  He did not want to get any closer!

Kade and Ky were happy to get his autograph and a picture though!

Funny story about meeting Goofy:  since Krew would not give him a hug or even a high-five, Goofy started "talking" about Krew's squeaky shoes (Yes, Krew's shoes squeak with each step).  Anyway, I was translating Goofy's gestures and telling Krew that Goofy liked his squeaky shoes, and that Goofy wished his shoes were squeaky.  Well, the next evening, I was telling Krew that in the morning we were going to go back to Disneyland.  His eyes lit up and he said, "Doo!"  (Which means Goofy), then he grabbed his shoes and kept saying over and over (in his own way), "Goofy, shoes! Goofy, shoes!"  I was amazed that even amid his terror, he was paying attention to me telling him that Goofy liked his shoes, and that the next day, just the mention of Disneyland reminded him that fun moment!

After meeting Goofy, we headed over to Disneyland!  I went to Disneyland several times growing up, but I hadn't been back since my senior year of high school when I went with my cheer squad for nationals.  Back then, there was no California Adventure, so that was all completely new.  I have been to Disney World several times between my last time at Disneyland and now, but there was something so cool about returning to Disneyland.  It reminded me of some of my favorite childhood memories!

Anyway, Pluto was near the front entrance, so we decided to see of Krew had warmed up to the characters yet...nope!  He clung to me for dear life, but we did finally coax him into touching Pluto on the nose!

Perhaps Krew's favorite ride of the whole trip was King Arthur's carousel.  He loves horses and thought this ride was great.  I honestly don't know if I had ever been on it before.  It's the kind of ride we would have skipped when I was a kid.

We ended our night with a very chilly, dark turn on Dumbo!

It was seriously an amazing day!