April Road Trip - Part II

After a short visit in Vegas, we headed on down to California with Mark, Patti, Tyler, Breanne, and Janea.  Lunch stop at In-N-Out in Barstow - I think this must be the biggest one, it's huge!

First Stop - The Beach!

Digging (and climbing in) holes with Daddy

Is it even possible to get enough of this cute face?

He loves the sand, but still runs away from the waves

The next day we were up bright and early on our way to Disneyland!  I was a little worried Gavin was still a bit young for Disneyland, and wouldn't be old enough to completely appreciate it, but I think I was wrong.  Gavin had a blast, did great the whole day, and still talks about shooting Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear ride!

It was a perfect day.  It was a little overcast which made for nice, not too hot weather, and lines were pretty short.  I'd been telling Gavin about Disneyland before we left, and all about the Dumbo ride, so we made sure to hit that first.

As much as people make fun of It's a Small World ride, I love it and so did Gavin!

Gavin in awe of all the figurines in It's a Small World!

Ahhhh!  Let us out!

This was my third trip to Disneyland, and my first time back to Toontown since I was six!  I remember a similar pictures of me with my siblings locked in the Toontown Jail.

We didn't think Gavin would like the roller coaster, and kept telling him we could get out of line if he wanted to.  But he loved it so much we ended up waiting in line twice to ride it again!

Driving cars in Toontown

I've always thought of Disneyland as a magical place, but it's amazing how much more magical this place became as I watched my own son taking in the wonder and excitement of it all!  Despite all of his excitement, it still took Gavin a little while to warm up to Mickey Mouse.

But once he did, Gavin did not want to leave!

How could we go to Disneyland and NOT hit up Star Tours - Especially since it's been revamped and now offers 54 different possible ride experiences

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was by FAR Gavin's favourite ride.  Each time we got back in line for this ride Gavin would tell us, "Hurry!  We need to shoot Zurg!"  Good thing the line was never more than about five minutes long or we never would have made it to anything else in the park.

While waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean Gavin was all excited about riding on a Pirate's ship...but by the end of the ride Gavin was ready for something a little less scary.  But I do love this picture of him clutching to his Daddy's arm 

After Pirates of the Caribbean we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride

I think Heffalumps and Woozles were a little less scary than pirates for Gavin

While the rest of us went down Splash Mountain Gavin and Grandma waited in line to see Tigger...

 And Winnie the Pooh!

He was BEYOND excited in this picture to see Pooh Bear!

We all had such a great time!

 How we all managed to fit into one tea cup I'm not sure - those tea cups aren't all that big!  Gavin loved helping Uncle Tyler spin us around as fast as they could

All day Gavin kept saying he wanted to go on the Train ride, pointing to the Monorail that takes you in and out of the park.  So we hopped on, left the park, and rode it right back in again.  Gavin loved it!

We ended the night back at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, shooting the evil emperor Zurg again a few more times before finally heading back to the motel.  I think in total we rode that ride five times, and Gavin still talks about how cool it was!  

Gavin did great the whole day, but as the park was closing and we were waiting in line to shoot Zurg one last time Gavin said he needed to go potty. We ran as fast as we could to the nearest bathroom, but didn't quite make it in time.  (And of course I did't have Gavin's spare clothes with me).  But even that didn't stop us!  I got Gavin cleaned up, wrapped my sweater around his waist, and we made it back to the Buzz Lightyear ride just as they were closing the line for the night!  So even going commando - with nothing but a sweater wrapped around his waist - didn't stop Gavin from having a blast shooting lasers at Disneyland!