Sunday, December 30, 2012

Cookie in the Milk

Christmas, 2012. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, packages kept arriving at the front door. Of course, Casey wanted to open each and every one the moment they arrived. But we kept telling him to wait until Christmas. The days passed, and the pile of presents under the Christmas tree grew. Finally, it was Christmas Eve. Before going to bed, Casey helped leave Santa Claus some cookies. He personally choose three frosted Animal Cookies, and three chocolate chip cookies. We poured a small mug of milk and wrote a note to Santa. "Help yourself to some milk and cookies- Merry Christmas" Fast forward to Christmas morning. Casey came down to the dining table, looked at the cookie bowl, and said, "He left a piece of cookie!". Then he looked inside the mug and said, "He dropped a piece of cookie in his milk. Let's save it for him".

Looks like Santa left a note... and a piece of cookie in the bowl!

A Thank You Note from Santa!

Santa dropped a piece of cookie in his milk!

Monday, December 24, 2012

California Adventure

Sydney was a cheap date. Due to his age, he can get into Disneyland,and California Adventure for free. Kinda like a drug dealer giving samples of his product for free. Get the little ones hooked early, and you have a customer for life. Even if it was free for Sydney, we had some planning to do. Going to Disney isn't something to dive into blindly. We sure were not going to go on opening day, we managed to miss the summer crowds, we didn't go on a weekend, we planned the excursion for a weekday in early December. Consider it a stroke of luck, but the day finally came, and it was dark, drizzly and a little chilly... In other words- perfect weather. Apparently, the threat of rain kept the crowds away, because with the exception of one ride, there were NO lines longer than 5 minutes. Before leaving, I consulted with many friends with prior Disney experience, and asked for advice. The most succinct advice I received? 'Don't go'
We got to the park, and went straight for the Carsland Racers. Unfortunately, Sydney got turned away at the gate. Something about not meeting the minimum height requirement. This being the premiere attraction of the park, I assumed it was more of a case of 'Don't give away the milk, or else no one will buy the cow'... Mommy and Sydney shook off the disappointment and headed for Mater's Crazy Tractor and Luigi's flying tires. Tip of the day!!!--- Ca. Adventure has this feature called 'Baby Pass'. It works like this. One parent waits in line for a ride, while the other parent can request a 'Baby Pass'. When parent #1 is done with the ride, parent #2 can present the 'Baby Pass' and go straight to the front of the line. In this case, Daddy waited in the brutal 90 minute line with Casey, while Mommy and Sydney checked out the other attractions. Then, Mommy took Casey, skipped the line and went right back on the ride, while Daddy and Sydney...
ventured over to Bug's Life. We tried to get on the bumper cars, but once again, Sydney was turned away due to lack of height. We did ride the bug train. After we met Mommy and Casey, we all rode the flying something or anothers.. Dont remember exactly what it was called, 'cept I do know we mounted what looked like a giant Chinese Food to-go container for a ride in the sky. After that, we headed BACK to the bumper cars, cause Casey really wanted to go. Mommy stood in line with Sydney, and suddenly, I look back and they made it past the guard and into a bumper car! Don't know if Sydney hit a growth spurt in that 15 minutes, but whatever, it looked like Sydney enjoyed being a Crash Test Dummy! From there, we went back to Carsland and rode Mater's crazy tractors, and Luigi's flying tires. After exhausting Carsland, we rode the giant ferris wheel. After that, we got some ice cream before heading over the Monster's Inc. attraction. Our day ended with a front row seat for the Disney character parade. It featured characters from movies such as Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc. Sydney took one nap in his stroller, and made it through the day without any fussing, and complaining. What a trooper!

Bug's Life Train
Merry Go Round
High Atop the Ferris Wheel
Bumper Cars!
Luigi's Flying Tires
Luigi's Flying Tires
Napping in his stroller

Carsland!

For years, Casey's favorite movie has been Cars. He owns the two movies, books and a boatload of the toy cars. He knows all the names of the characters/cars. So, when Disney announced they were opening a theme park named Carsland, I knew it was only a matter of time before we HAD to take Casey there. We sure were not going to go on opening day, we managed to miss the summer crowds, we didn't go on a weekend, we planned the excursion for a weekday in early December. Consider it a stroke of luck, but the day finally came, and it was dark, drizzly and a little chilly... In other words- perfect weather. Apparently, the thread of rain kept the crowds away, because with the exception of one ride, there were NO lines longer than 5 minutes. Before leaving, I consulted with many friends with prior Disney experience, and asked for advice. The most succinct advice I received? 'Don't go'
We got to the park, and went straight for the Carsland Racers. Casey and Daddy waited in line for about 90 minutes. Surprisingly, Casey did pretty good in line. I thought he would be bored out of his skull and going crazy. We finally got on the ride, and Casey was a little scared, but had fun. Toward the end of the ride, he looked over at me, and said, "I'm a little scared". Too cute. When the ride ended, Casey had the option of immediately going again, with Mommy. He didn't hesitate, and wanted to go again. I guess fun won out over scared!
From there, we rode Mater's crazy tractors, and Luigi's flying tires. After exhausting Carsland, we proceeded to Bug's Life. We rode the flying something or anothers.. Dont remember exactly what it was called, 'cept I do know mounted what looked like a giant Chinese Food to-go container for a ride in the sky. Then Casey saw the bumper cars. As we approached the cars, Casey pushed me out of the way, and announced, "I'm driving"! Apparently, he likes driving and crashing, cause he insisted we do this ride multiple times!
Casey requested we ride the giant ferris wheel. After that, we got some ice cream before heading over the Monster's Inc. attraction. For a spell, Monster's Inc. was a close runner up to Cars for Casey's favorite movie. Sure enough, he requested we take multiple turns on this ride as well. Thankfully, there were minimal lines, which made all these multiple rides real quick and easy. Our day ended with a front row seat for the Disney character parade. It featured characters from movies such as Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc... It was so cool watching Casey recognize the characters and movies.
All in all, a wonderful family day. It went better than anyone imagined. Minimal lines, NO meltdowns, both boys throughly enjoying themselves ALL DAY long.

Carsland- Radiator Springs Racers Ride
"I'm a little scared"
"I'm a little scared"
Lighting McQueen
Crazy Tractors
Merry-go-round
Mater's Crazy Tractors
Casey driving bumper cars
Casey driving bumper cars
The boys on the ferris wheel