October 08, 2016

The Happiest Place on Earth

We were so excited about taking Fox back to Disneyland this year. Last year was such a blast, but of course he didn't remember any of it and we couldn't wait to see his face meeting Mickey & Co.

Southwest Airlines had a deal for $50 per flight, so Fox and I flew to Disneyland while Hannah and Katie drove (we were all driving back together), so Fox wouldn't have to be woken up at 5am to start driving. He is currently obsessed with planes and flying and he was so excited! I was a little worried though, because every time we would talk about it, he would tell me that he would be sitting where the pilot sits and fly the airplane and push all the buttons. And every time I would explain to him that we would be sitting with the other passengers and that the pilot would be flying the plane, he just kept saying "No, I fly the plane, I will sit there (meaning the cockpit)!", so I could already see the meltdown coming when he realized that he couldn't fly the plane...ha!

While we were waiting to board, he loved watching the other airplanes take off, he was in awe! It was so special to me watching him experience this for the first time. 
He did great on the flight and didn't seem to remember that he was going to fly the plane, so when we landed, I asked the pilot if we could peek in the cockpit and he invited us in and told Fox he could press any button he wanted. It was so sweet and Fox made sure he pushed all the buttons he could!

We arrived with perfect timing, only 15 minutes after Katie and Hannah got to our hotel. We settled into the hotel (we stayed at the Grand California Adventure Hotel which is attached to the Theme Park and Downtown Disney) and then went to Downtown Disney and had lunch. 

After lunch, we changed and went to the Disneyland Hotel Pool, they had a great Kids Area there. 






After the pool, we rested for a bit at the hotel and then headed out for our dinner reservations at Goofy's Kitchen!
When Fox saw the characters for the very first time, his face lit up. He was in disbelief and totally blown away. It was so amazing watching him, I totally teared up. He was a little shy with the characters and for whatever reason declared that Chip and Dale are his favorite and would only hug them.





The next day, we met up with the rest of the family and headed to California Adventure.

Our first ride was the Cars Ride (without Fox, he stayed with Grandma) which is my favorite ride there! The lines were surprisingly short and we got right in.




Toy Story Ride, Fox later declared that this was one of his favorites!










These little flying space ships were Fox's favorite. He was close to a meltdown when the ride was over and gave us his boo boo lip.

We had lunch and then watched the Disney live on Stage Show
Love these two!



Last year, Fox was totally content sitting in his stroller when we were going from ride to ride, and I was wondering how he would do this year, being a year older. We always gave him the choice to either walk or sit in the stroller and he always chose the stroller. I think the crowds, lights and noises slightly overwhelmed him.


Mid afternoon, we headed to Disneyland and were so excited!

Another one of his favorites!



He loved it all, the rides, seeing the characters and especially being there with Grandpa and Aunt Ashlie! He did awesome too, no meltdowns (even though he didn't have a nap) and he was in a great mood all day!
That night, Katie's parents took him to dinner and Katie, Hannah and I stayed in the park because we had tickets for Mickey's Halloween Night, which includes a Villains Parade, fireworks and trick or treating (plus all the rides were still open).
This was our view for the fireworks, we were in the very front row in front of the castle and it was amazing!

The next day, we all met up in Downtown Disney and headed back to Disneyland for Round 2!

First up was Grandpa's favorite, the Jungle Cruise (no one knows why...haha).

We bought Fox the Disney's Haunted Mansion book right before our trip to prepare him for the ride and kept asking him if he wanted to try it, but also told him it would be dark. He wanted to do it, but I was nervous about it. Turned out, he loved it!

Toon Town! Fox was not feeling this picture...ha!

We went to Mickey's house first.





We met Goofy on our way out, by this time, Fox had seen so many characters that he wasn't impressed anymore! 

He loved doing the bumper cars with Mommy and Grandpa!

Waiting for the Disneyland parade to start.

We had seen the Pixar Parade a few hours before and he loved both of the Parades. We were so sad that they didn't do the Paint the Night Lightparade anymore that we had seen the year before, it was amazing!

The next morning we had breakfast reservations and met Fox's favorite buddies again!



What can I say...that's my family. 


This was our attempt of a family picture!


Grandpa is, without a doubt, his favorite person in the world!

We had such a great weekend and I'm so glad the entire family was able to come again!
Until next year...!

5 comments:

  1. I'm so jealous. I LOVE Disney, but my partner hates it, so a family trip is never going to be in our future.
    My mum and I stayed at WDW for 10 days back in 2012 and it was amazing.
    I'd love to take Emilia over to Paris one day, but right now she hates all kind of characters or dressed up people

    BTW, I think Katie's weight loss deserves its own post, she's looking amazing!

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  2. I LOVE Disneyland and luckily, I just live 15 minutes away from the Happiest Place on Earth :)
    Love your pictures, as always! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!

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  3. Hallo NADINE

    Ich bin schon länger stille Leserin. Wow es braucht Mut, einfach alleine Auszuwandern. Ob wohl wir uns überhaupt nicht kennen, bist du mir nicht fremd. Deine Beiträge sind sehr spannend. Und euer Sohn, Mr. Fox ist einfach nur Süss.

    Was mich aber schon länger intressiert ist, sprichst du mit Fox deutsch? Kann er deutsch? Oder lässt du es bleiben mit zweisparchig.

    Viele liebe grüsse aus der Schweiz
    Martina

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    1. Danke für deinen Kommentar, ich freue mich immer von Lesern zu hören!
      Unser deutsches Au Pair spricht ausschliesslich deutsch mit ihm und ich spreche auch nur deutsch mit ihm, wenn wir alleine sind. Wenn Katie dabei ist, spreche ist meistens englisch, damit sie es auch versteht.
      Er versteht alles auf deutsch aber spricht eigentlich nur englisch. Manche Wörter sagt er allerdings immer nur auf Deutsch, wie Kissen, Decke, Arbeit und manchmal antwortet er auf deutsch, wenn man ihm auf deutsch eine Frage stellt. Es war mir immer wichtig, dass er meine Familie in Deutschland versteht und wir werden sehen, wie er sich verständigen kann, wenn wir sie nächstes Jahr besuchen!

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  4. Hallo Nadine, Danke für dein Feedback.

    Schön zu hören, dass ihr ihm die Möglichkeit gebt, zweisprachig aufzuwachsen. Das ist ein unglaubliches Geschenk.

    Du und Katie seit so ein tolles Paar. Ist es in Amerika einfacher mit der Toleranz von Regenbogenfamilien? Hier in der Schweiz ist es eher ein Tabu, besser gesagt ein grosses Thema in der Politik wo immer wieder zu riesigen Debatten führt. Ich sage mir immer, egal ob zwei Moms, Dads oder Mom und Dad, Hauptsache das Kind bekommt Liebe und alles was es braucht. Wenn man manchmal Schlagzeilen sieht, von Eltern wo Ihre Kinder misshandeln. Da fragt man sich schon.

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