California- Day 2, California Adventure and Disneyland

Our second day in the parks went very smoothly. We learned our mistakes from previous day and left all the "extras" at home (my purse, extra toys, extra blankets, hats, and other misc items) so we didn't have to constantly track down and count all the items in our "party". Babulya did manage to lose her favorite Utes hat the day before and that's when we realized we were carrying too many extra items.

The first thing we encountered at California Adventure was the Cars characters. Alex was in heaven!
Even though it was still morning, we did have to "cool our engines" already and run through the fine mist :)
Soaring was one of our favorite attractions.
This next picture is especially for Oleg.
We ate lunch at the Wharf- yummy seafood. I do have to make a side note here to say how impressed I was with food at the parks. Not to say that it's 5 star food, but compared to Disney World 4 years ago it was a HUGE step up. They had lots of fresh, healthy options almost everywhere we ate. They even had little kiosks everywhere selling fresh fruits and veggies.
Next stop was The Tower of Terror- a much anticipated ride (well, at least I've been waiting for it for 2 days).
Alex did not like it much, in fact, he cried as soon as we started riding it.
Then I took Babulya on the ride, so I got to ride twice :) She loved it!
I have to admit though that the same ride at Disney World was much more exciting, more advanced and a little more scary. I miss Disney World. I think next time we'll have to go there :)
Another favorite part of the park was the Bug's Life section. There is just something about being surrounded by oversized items and pretending being a bug for a few minutes. And having lots of shade didn't hurt either :)
Monsters Inc ride was a fun one... for Alex :)
We tracked down some very cool buttons, even Nicholas got a "1st Visit" button.
We cooled in the shade while Papa and Alex rode some rockets.
Then unexpectedly there was a Pixar parade passing by. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!Alex got SO excited!!! He ran around, danced, and tried (successfully) to get the attention of the parade characters.
One of the parade characters managed to spray our camera with some water, not that it needed to cool down, but we sure did!
We walked around some more, watched and rode rides, played some games.

Alex even got to play a "baby" while Nicholas was using his Baby Bjorn.
We made it back to Disneyland just in time to see the Celebrate parade. It was very cool and Alex got to participate in the dancing.



We ended our day by eating some yummy (once again) food at the French Market and buying some souvenirs for the kids.

Until tomorrow. Now on to the next adventure!

California, day 1- Disneyland

This trip was meant to be. We were actually going to skip vacation this year and just work. Well, life had other plans in store for us. Dave's cousins Frank and Linda pretty much offered us to use their beach house in Laguna Beach and we couldn't say no :) So here we are in California enjoying the nice weather, the beach house (thanks SO much, Frank and Linda) and all that California has to offer. Day 1- Disneyland!!! Alex was so excited to come here! We actually went to Disney World when he was 2 but he has zero recollection of that trip :)As we walked into the park, immediately we met Mickey.
My mom came along with us on this vacation and, of course, she has never been to Disneyland before (neither have I actually), so she was also excited to meet Mickey.
We walked down the Main Street to get to all the attractions.
First ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear.
At lunch time we just had to go find the infamous turkey legs and I enjoyed one whole leg by myself! Ok, ok, I did share a little bit of my leg with everybody, but I'm not sharing tomorrow!
We had very nice lunch.

Nicholas really enjoyed his first trip to Disneyland. Wait, he actually napped through half of it, but it made for one happy baby, which of course we didn't mind :)
Half way through the day we had to replenish our energy with some delicious blended drinks, mmmmmm.
What trip to Disneyland is complete without a ride in the teacups? At first I didn't want to go (the heat of the day made me think that I would get too sick). But then I dragged Dave and Alex to go on it with me for the second time :)Nicholas got his very own Mickey Mouse ears hat!
Now both of the boys have their own :)
I don't know how many days it will take to get the song "It's a small world after all" out of my head.... Here I go again. It's a small world after all, la la la.... Shoot :(

But at least the ride was fun..
Dave and Alex had a second run-in with Mickey while we were resting in the shade.
Then we met Goofy.

Toontown was great but the best part was resting in the shade and gathering our energy back up :)
Hello, Pluto!
Nicholas wasn't afraid at all.
Alex, you're so strong!


We also went on the big steam boat around the lake.

Somehow I managed to get on the front seat of the Splash Mountain ride at the very end of the day. Yeah... my pants ARE all wet...
Until tomorrow!

Alex's first day of school- 1st grade!

Is it just me or it seems like we're going in a circle? Didn't I just write about Alex's first day of school? O wait, it was a YEAR ago... Can you believe it? My big boy is a 1st grader!!! Where has the time gone?Fully equipped with a huge backpack, new shoes, and a new outfit, Alex started his 1st grade yesterday.
Babulya stayed home with sleeping Nicholas.

But the rest of us, including the dog, walked to school with Alex. Even our neighbor Karen got to walk with us part of the way :) Just look at Alex's huge backpack! How does he carry that thing?




At school Alex got a desk assigned to him. We had to move his "girlfriend" Kennedy to another desk because otherwise neither one of them would get any work done at school! Alex had a very easy transition. No tears, no fears, no worry. I think the previous 2 years of being in school have helped him a lot!

Contrary to my expectations, I didn't even shed a tear :) I was happy for Alex to start this new and exciting chapter of his life. Education is the road to success!

My dear Alex, I wish you all the best in your educational journey through life. We'll be there to support you through all of it.

We love you very much!