All Things Disney ~ Day One

I will start this post by asking you to reserve a little bit of your time. I am going to post by day and there are a ton of pictures....I know, it's me and you're surprised that I would have tons!!!

We left Reno on Sunday morning and drove a little more than half way to Lone Pine, CA and stayed the night there. Monday morning we woke up and hit the road for the grand adventure. We arrived at Disneyland at about 11:30 and immediately took out our passes and boarded the Disneyland Monorail. Cole was screaming because he thought just that was so cool so I couldn't wait for him to see the park. When we arrived in Tomorrowland and walked down the stairs, I honestly think the boys were in shock. They had big grins and were completely silent looking around....a bit overwhelmed but in the best way possible.

It was time for dinner and Papa and Nana picked the best place for the first dinner. We went to Goofy's Kitchen and it was a buffet with only the thought of children on the menu. They had the most creative, fun meals. Peanut Butter & Jelly Pizza, Mac N' Cheese Pizza, Dirt Cups & Mickey Mouse Shaped Rice Crispy Treats to name a few. While we ate, we were visited by characters. During dinner there was a little show for the kids to participate in and it was a song and dance to help Goofy and The Chipmunks bake a cake.

All Things Disney ~ Day Two

Our second day at Disneyland and since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel we were able to get into the park an hour before the public. Nana has Disneyland down to a science and knew exactly how to best utilize our extra hour...by going to the busiest "land" of all...Fantasyland!!! I was excited to go on Peter Pan's Flight as it was my favorite as a kid. Cole loved the King Arthur Carousel and Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Beau loved trying to get the sword out of the stone. From there we went into a Star Wars Gift Shop where the guys found a "build your own light saber" station. You can imagine, all 4 of the guys were in heaven. There is also a pretty hysterical portrait of the boys below.

Dinner time tonight was at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ! It was family style dining and yummy! Cole ate so much corn on the cob, I thought he was going to turn yellow and Beau ate a bucket of BBQ'ed chicken and ribs by himself, I think!

All Things Disney ~ Day Three

Day three was the big day to check out Disney's California Adventure. As you will see below, I really wanted a picture of each letter for future scrapbook use. I must say, they turned out pretty cute! David and I hadn't seen it yet and it was pretty cool...not Disneyland but cool. Our favorite was Soarin' Over California, amazing! It's a motion theater ride that is so realistic my fear of heights was setting in and making my tummy have butterflies and it was only a big screen. The Grizzly Bear Run white water raft ride was fun and thank goodness for Papa bringing the rain ponchos because we got soaked. They had an entire "land" from "It's a Bugs Life" and it made us feel like we were little bugs, everything was huge and we were small. They are currently making a new "land" that will be all things from the movie "Cars" so I'm anxious to see that on our next visit.


Dinner tonight was at Rainforest Cafe and we sat right by the elephants that started talking to us every 10 minutes or so and Cole hated them. Then every 15 minutes or so we had a thunder storm...again Cole was not impressed. Food was pretty good though and I thought the animals all around were pretty cool.

All Things Disney ~ Day Four

Day four was another day that we were able to get into the park an hour early. We spent the morning going on most of our favorite rides and wandering around. We met Tigger and Eeyore and the boys thought it was so funny that Tigger was so bright orange. Cole's favorite is Tigger and Tigger loved Cole's hat that he had picked out the day before at "The Mad Hatter" store. We also went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with Beau and he loved it!!!

In the afternoon we went over by the Jedi Training Center and Beau was chosen out of the audience to participate. He had a blast and was in total shock over the whole thing.

For the evening, Nana planned another fantastic night. We ate dinner at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure, the food was delicious! Since we were dinner guests we received reserved section tickets to the "World of Color" show that night. The show was amazing! It's all water and just unbelievable what they can do. At one point, all of the tops of the light posts were blowing bubbles and the whole area was filled with millions of bubbles. So cool! I was in awe during the entire show. I would recommend it to anyone that goes to Disneyland or California Adventure.

All Things Disney ~ Day Five

Our last day in actual Disneyland and Mommy wanted to get all of the "must have" pictures. The main gate Mickey Mouse made of flowers and the main characters. It was perfect because another perk of being a hotel guest was time in Mickey's Toontown before anyone else could get in. We saw a cute show that they put on and then were able to meet Mickey, Donald and Pluto up close and personal. We went through Chip and Dales tree house and saw Donald's ship. The big hit in Toontown was the Cole's first roller coaster. This was the first and only actual roller coaster that he was tall enough for, which was actually fine with him. He loved this one and laughed and screamed the whole time. He even put his hands up in the air for it. Beau's favorite roller coaster was the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. David, Beau and I figured out the awesome trick to Splash Mountain...wait for the sun to go down and about a half hour before the park closes and you can walk right up and go over and over...without even getting out of the log. So much fun! There was one night that Beau and I were soaked but well worth it!

We ate dinner at the Blue Bayou and it was fantastic. Apparently they have a 90 day waiting list for reservations and now I know why...YUM! Thank goodness, Nana knew about this and called months ago to make all of our dinner reservations for the week.

Downtown Disney ~ Last Day in California

We woke up this morning and packed up our things and went to breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe. This was another one that had characters walking around. Cole did not want the "animal" ones getting near him...besides Chip and Dale, I guess he doesn't think of them as animals. Breakfast was fantastic and Beau had a blast with the bears, raccoon and gorilla. After breakfast we went and walked around Downtown Disney for the morning. The big hits were Legoland and Ride Makerz. Beau loves lego "guys" and they had a station with bins of heads, bodies, hair, hats and accessories of all kinds and he was in heaven. He built 2 pirates and 1 prisoner. The guys then went off to Ride Makerz and built their own custom remote control cars. Think Build A Bear but with cars. They made the coolest cars! Then it was time to load the car up for the long trip home. It's always longer when you're just going home and are bummed to be doing so. I thought for sure the boys would have been run ragged the whole week and would crash fast asleep all the way home...nope! They only slept for about an hour during the whole ride.




Boy did we have a fantastic vacation!!! I asked the boys what their favorite ride was and if they could go back and only go on one, what would they pick? Pirates of the Caribbean!!! Nana will be proud, it's her very favorite ride and the deal was that we had to go on it every single day that we were there and we did! Most days, 3 or 4 times!!! Thank You so much for joining us Papa and Nana, it was the "BEST VACATION EVER!!!"

The Coin Jar Has Been Filled

Beau has been working on filling a coin jar for Disneyland. The deal was that when it filled up, we would go to Disneyland. Of course, the trip was already planned but he didn't need to know that. He got real smart real quick though and started asking for all "payments" to be in pennies so that it would fill up quicker. Friday night was the big reveal that we were leaving Sunday. They got such a kick out of that coin jar filling up, up, up!

I would say that the jar was more than topped off.

On Saturday after all the packing was complete, Mickey Mouse and Goofy called the house to tell the boys that they couldn't wait to meet them and that they would see them soon.

Reno Balloon Races

For a few years now we have said that we would get up early and go to the balloon races but the snooze button always came out ahead.

We finally made it this year and not only for the standard 7:00am mass ascension but for the Glow Show and Dawn Patrol. We were at the park at 4:30am. Left our house at 4:00am. Ouch! The boys got the biggest kick that we were out and about in “the middle of the night.” Cole just kept giggling at the moon and stars.

We met up with Uncle Dan, Aunt Erin, Riley and Delaney and when the sun came up realized that several of our other family members were right next to us on the grass so that was pretty funny!

Beau’s 6 Year Old Portrait

Not only is this Beau’s 6 year old portrait but it is his very first elementary school picture. We are so proud of him for all he is accomplishing in kindergarten so far.

Cole’s 3 Year Old Portraits

I took Cole in to have 3 year old portraits done and I must say, they turned out quite nice. He looks so grown up and handsome and we love his freckles….he calls them his “freckelers.”

Stay tuned for Beau’s 6 year old portraits…they should be coming soon.

River, Ribs and Ruckus!!!

What a fun Labor Day weekend?! Hope you all enjoyed yours!

Saturday we met up with friends to go tubing down the Truckee River. It had been years since David or I had done it and the kids were very excited to give it a try. We ended up going for quite a long ride, about 4 hours, with a picnic lunch at about the half way point. Beau got bored because sitting in a tube just floating is not what he expected, he actually thought we would go over water falls (think Indiana Jones style)!!! This is the only picture I took as I was a little hesitant to take my camera, just in case we did find some rapids and the potential was there for it to get wet and ruined. I now know for next time that it would have been totally safe.

Saturday evening we went to Johnson’s for some ruckus! Chicken wings, spaghetti and adult beverages = FUN! The kiddos all crashed out and we hung out laughing and talking until the early morning hours. :)

Sunday we met up with Papa and Nana…and Kasey, Siobhan & Rylee sort of…at the Best in The West Nugget Rib Cook Off. Yum! Our favorite is still Bone Daddy’s Ribs! Add some potato chip mountains, funnel cakes, chocolate dipped fruit on a stick, shark & penguin shaped juice bottles and a million people and there you have it! Fun times and Beau’s favorite special event here in town.