The Many Adventures of...A Family With a New Baby! Jan - Dec 2016! New 11/7!

[Dugette]

Love the summer recap! So much fun! You are really making me look forward to summer, even though I don't know that ours will be quite that eventful. And now I can't wait to hear about Disneyland!

 

[schmass]

Great wrap-up to your trip, and loved the last post of your summer adventures! You guys were busy! How often do you get to the Museum of Science? I work about 2 minutes away from it! We'll have to check out the Providence Zoo sometime.

We just had allergist appointments for Rory and Lola yesterday. Rory's skin test to baked milk and then regular milk were both negative, so I get to start giving him baked milk challenges! Lola still reacted to the baked milk. She was negative to latex, which we thought made her react a few weeks ago, so now we have no idea what she reacted to at that point. We didn't re-test any of the allergies (peanut, treenut, sesame, flax), so we'll just avoid those for now.

 

[krrrristen]

Looks like a fun summer! I'm excited to see Disneyland

 

[Imagineer5]

Looks like a great summer filled with memories. Fun to see you went to the Providence zoo after we just stopped there a month ago or so

Though clearly the highlight for Aria must have been meeting Chase!

Throughout Spring, Summer and Fall we go to the zoo every few weeks! There's also a few smaller zoos nearby that we frequent. So nice to get out and enjoy some nice weather (can't wait for it to warm up!)

Aria did enjoy meeting Chase, although she's still all Disney at heart <3

Love the summer recap! So much fun! You are really making me look forward to summer, even though I don't know that ours will be quite that eventful. And now I can't wait to hear about Disneyland!

I know, I am seriously dying over wanting some warmer weather. SO SO sick of winter and it really hasn't been that bad. I just want to be able to go outside and have it be sunny and warm and not need jackets!!

Great wrap-up to your trip, and loved the last post of your summer adventures! You guys were busy! How often do you get to the Museum of Science? I work about 2 minutes away from it! We'll have to check out the Providence Zoo sometime.

We just had allergist appointments for Rory and Lola yesterday. Rory's skin test to baked milk and then regular milk were both negative, so I get to start giving him baked milk challenges! Lola still reacted to the baked milk. She was negative to latex, which we thought made her react a few weeks ago, so now we have no idea what she reacted to at that point. We didn't re-test any of the allergies (peanut, treenut, sesame, flax), so we'll just avoid those for now.

Well we only go 1-2 times per year to the MoS! But we use the membership to get into the Roger Williams Zoo, Capron Park Zoo, Buttonwood Park Zoo and the Providence Children's museum, so the membership fee easily pays for itself. Most recently we visited for the Da Vinci exhibit which was cool.

WOW, that is amazing that Rory tested negative to dairy (both baked and regular!!!). Are you doing the baked milk challenge in the office? Maya's milk, egg and peanut skin tests were almost identical to 1 year ago (I'm not surprised, she gets hives if we touch her after touching cheese or milk or whatnot). I don't think they actually ever skin tested for BAKED though, only just milk? Hmm.

That is interesting about the latex. I hate allergies, esp when stuff comes back that doesn't make sense (like your latex and our almond negatives, when we are sure we knew those were reactors).

Looks like a fun summer! I'm excited to see Disneyland

Thanks!! I am looking forward to finding all my photos! LOL!

I'll look tonight

 

[Dugette]

I know, I am seriously dying over wanting some warmer weather. SO SO sick of winter and it really hasn't been that bad. I just want to be able to go outside and have it be sunny and warm and not need jackets!!

You should come here...it's 63 and sunny right now!

 

[mousehappync]

If I try to comment individually I will never catch up--so, here goes! I love that you had such a full and fun last day, even with an early afternoon fliight. Your potato breakfast sounds just about perfect-- my kids have never really wanted that meal, so no potatoes for me! How fun that Aria wanted to compete at TSMM--she did pretty well, too. And you PACKED the characters in-- she looks like she's having a blast in the pics!

Your spring looked so great-- I think Southerners can't really appreciate spring like people who have serious winters can. You packed in so many fun little excursions, too! I'm jonesing for Cape Cod right now seeing your pics-- hoping we will be up this August, although everything is so uncertain.

Look at that--you finished two trip reports and I'm still on day one of ours... I am thinking I will be much more free later in April (I hope so, at least!) and will get back at it. You put us all to shame with your reporting speed!

 

[amazingact21]

You all had a busy summer! Sounds like it was a lot of fun, a nice combination of family time and fun outings. I'm sure this coming summer will be even more of an adventure with another little one added to the mix.

 

[Imagineer5]

You should come here...it's 63 and sunny right now!

That does sound nice!! It's about 50 and rainy here this week, which is warmer than it has been.

If I try to comment individually I will never catch up--so, here goes! I love that you had such a full and fun last day, even with an early afternoon fliight. Your potato breakfast sounds just about perfect-- my kids have never really wanted that meal, so no potatoes for me! How fun that Aria wanted to compete at TSMM--she did pretty well, too. And you PACKED the characters in-- she looks like she's having a blast in the pics!

Your spring looked so great-- I think Southerners can't really appreciate spring like people who have serious winters can. You packed in so many fun little excursions, too! I'm jonesing for Cape Cod right now seeing your pics-- hoping we will be up this August, although everything is so uncertain.

Look at that--you finished two trip reports and I'm still on day one of ours... I am thinking I will be much more free later in April (I hope so, at least!) and will get back at it. You put us all to shame with your reporting speed!

Hahaha well, I've mentally checked out at work! But remember this TR was from almost a year ago, so you def have me beat there!

Agree, DH and the other New Englanders REALLY love Spring and Fall. *I* REALLY love SUMMER. I love heat, and would love to move south lol! I have already stated I will appreciate every.single.hot.sunny.day! Yep, I really will!

I hope your Cape trip comes to fruition (it sounds amazing!) and if so let us know, would be neat to meet up!

You all had a busy summer! Sounds like it was a lot of fun, a nice combination of family time and fun outings. I'm sure this coming summer will be even more of an adventure with another little one added to the mix.

We definitely make the most of every nice weekend day! I just wish I had that time during the week to do more things with them (and so thankful that from mid-april to mid-july I will this year).

 

[schmass]

WOW, that is amazing that Rory tested negative to dairy (both baked and regular!!!). Are you doing the baked milk challenge in the office? Maya's milk, egg and peanut skin tests were almost identical to 1 year ago (I'm not surprised, she gets hives if we touch her after touching cheese or milk or whatnot). I don't think they actually ever skin tested for BAKED though, only just milk? Hmm.

They actually told us to challenge him at home. They gave me a cupcake recipe to use, and I will start with 1/4 teaspoon piece. If he's fine, I double it the next day. Every day I will double it until hopefully he can eat a whole cupcake with no reaction.

 

[Imagineer5]

I found my photos, yay! Water Camera pictures had been stuck on the camera since July, lol, so I found those as well. All this Disneyland talk has been crazy this week though - Aria randomly asked me to go back to Disneyland AGAIN this morning, after our planned Disney World trips this year. A DIS friend PM'd me last night asking for info about Disneyland. And of course, here I am about to start a DL TR. So of course, that got me thinking about what I'd really like to do in 2018. Despite our much more limited budget than in recent years (thanks to finally having a pay-off plan!), I had a small trip in Jan 2018 "planned", a small one in April "planned", and a slightly bigger on in October. Just planned as in, $$ set aside. They could easily be cheapy trips to WDW, assuming we renew AP's and stay offsite. But I looked into combining Jan&Apr and maybe doing CA instead? So I came up with a tentative plan to fly into San Francisco, spend 3 nights there, spend 2 nights in Napa or Sonoma (maybe on this one, we love wine, but will have the girls), then 3 nights in Monterey, and finally 4 nights in Anaheim. Subject to change, but I def want Monterey & DL in there of course! I ran the idea by Andrew and he was on board (it helped to mention beaches and visiting redwood forest hahaha). I'm thinking late April, 2018, but it might be a bit chilly still in Northern California so maybe later on. Anyway, just an idea but I'm excited to have something a little different!

***********

So early on the morning of August 19th, we made it into the car 5 minutes earlier than planned, at arrived at the airport at 4:10AM. Andrew took us to the airport which was nice! We did curb-side check in, and despite the TINY airport (I mean, the Providence airport is SO small) there was quite the Southwest backlog inside so the curb side was totally worth it - bonus, they were able to print Maya's lap seat ticket (I wasn't sure about this).

Also, somehow my mom had been given TSA pre-check, so we all got to breeze through security as well. So by 4:40 we were at the gate, way before boarding, and also before any place was open for coffee. We had forgotten to get my mom some non-dairy milk, so she stood in line at DD while I dealt with the stroller and all that. I had packed a few new toys for the girls each, so they enjoyed those while we waited - Aria was in charge of her rolling suitcase as well as her repurposed backpack which has become Maya's toy bag for trips!

Aria had some new Doc McStuffins toys and she was excited to play with them.

I managed a new method of folding the stroller, since this was my first time flying with it as a double - and it doesn't fold easily with both seats attached. So now instead of sticking it in a bag and dragging that down, I roll the stroller to the plan entrance and then quickly take 1 seat off, fold and lock, and then put that extra seat back on (it clicks into place). It has worked out well for a few trips now, and I really like not having to carry it.

We also found out that Maya's noted peanut allergy gave us a pre-boarding ticket, which was new to me. That ended up being really nice because there wasn't a huge crowd when we boarded for me to spend the 30-seconds dealing with the stroller, then finding seats and wiping the areas down before setting Maya down. My mom was helpful here in that she carried Maya onto the plane (I had asked her if she could do that, otherwise I would have brought the Beco carrier for the on/off process.)

Maya's first bottle was usually around 6AM on weekdays (thanks to my work schedule) but this morning she was a little fussy after sitting down, and having been away for quite some time. I had hoped to wait until take off to give her a bottle for her ears, but I fed her as soon as we sat down, and shortly afterwards she was passed out!

She ended up sleeping the first leg of our trip!! Aria watched on the ipad. We had to change planes in Chicago, where we had a few minutes to grab some food too. We split up, my mom going off in search of vegan GF food, and I got a Mediterranean sandwich with turkey and shared it with Aria. Soon we were on our next leg. Aria loved her toys, and enjoyed coloring on this little travel board I had included.

See the bead necklace around my mom's neck? Well, Maya LOVES playing with those. My mom took it from her because she was putting it in her mouth and it's made in China and she thought that was gross. Yeah, that went over well.

Aria really enjoyed playing with Maya

I was exhausted, but there was definitely no rest flying across the country with these two. My mom read most of the flight. I handed out snacks, and milk, and drinks, and toys, lol. And repeat. Overall, we didn't have any meltdowns and Maya took another 20 minute nap on the 2nd leg.

Thanks to the time change and early flight, we were in San Diego by 11AM lol! (We flew in to San Diego due to my work flight, and the tickets were actually really cheap). Off to the rental car, where we had to use about 10 different elevators, but were able to walk right up to the car aisle and pick a mid-size car which was nice. I decided mid-size was the absolute smallest car I'll be renting with two kiddos, we were PACKED in there between 2 suitcases, a stroller, plus the 2 car seats and baby paraphernalia. From there, we drove the 1.5 hours north to Anaheim. Luckily it was a good time of day with no traffic.

SOON we were seeing this sight!

My first time staying at the Grand Californian!

I set up the stroller, got the girls in, grabbed my suitcase, and left my mom to hop in the driver's seat and find the parking lot while I went to go check in.

There was a little line to check in, so I admired the resort. The last time I had been there was in 2014 with Lynda & Aria, when the Disneyland Hotel pool was closed for maintenance and we were given passes to use the GC pool instead.

Aria quickly found the TV and relaxed with the other kids

Our assigned room wasn't available yet, but she quickly changed us into something that was. I asked for something nearby the Napa Rose elevators, knowing that it would be a shorter walk to the DCA entrance and they were able to accommodate.

We headed up to the room and got settled. We were ALL very tired, but I hoped that if we toughed it out the first day, we'd get acclimated to the time change easier. So instead of naps, we headed to the pool! I had packed Maya's pool float, so I blew that up, grabbed a few toys (the Doc McStuffins set doubled as pool toys!) and we made the short walk over. It was PACKED! I do remember snapping at my mom as she stood around doing nothing while I was looking for anything to put our stuff down on. I did find 1 chair, so we stuffed everything and the stroller nearby and headed to the water.

At the GC there are two slides - a kiddie one and a bigger one. Aria went down the kiddie one first

She was afraid to do the big one, but I imposed my "try everything once" rule and so she did.

The verdict?? She LOVED it and proceeded to go back up like 8 more times!! Luckily it wasn't crazy busy for the slide, so I felt comfortable sending her up there alone while I waited at the bottom (this time my mom was at the bottom, but she got out shortly afterwards).

Maya was feeling the time change.

I hung out with her for a bit while Aria did the slide

The water was also a little chilly, but I'm a wimp with cold! So we found the kiddie pool, which was nothing special but was about 8" or so deep - perfect for both girls to play.

Maya was much happier in the warmer water

At one point I flagged down a server and ordered a fun drink for myself :-D I had to sit outside of the kiddie pool with the drink (eye roll) but it was still fun. Aria enjoyed playing with a few other kids in the pool, and while she did that I got Maya dried off and changed into a real diaper. After that refreshing fun, we headed back to the room and all took showers. Maya was NOT happy about the shower, so that was super fun lol, but from there we decided to head into California Adventure! This was "bonus" time in the park as I had made zero plans, not knowing how we'd be feeling.

Coming up, an evening in DCA!

 

[schmass]

So excited to read about Disneyland! And so cool that you think you'll go back next year - that sounds like a great CA trip! We have to wait until Rory is tall enough for Cars Land because he'll freak out if he can't do everything there, and he is still so short!

The Grand Californian looks so nice. I hope to stay there one day! That slide looks like fun, I'm glad that Aria tried it and loved it!

Good job traveling all the way across the country with both girls!

 

[krrrristen]

Yay! Disneyland! That picture of Maya in the float is too cute! Excited to hear about your evening at DCA!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh I totally remember all those elevators you have to take in the San Diego airport to get to the cars when you have a stroller - and a lot were to go up or down only like one or 2 floors - very annoying!

That's great they were able to get you into a room in the area you wanted right away

Wow, Maya does seem a tad tired in that picture in the pool

 

[Dugette]

Anyway, just an idea but I'm excited to have something a little different!

Ugh, I am really wanting to go back to Disneyland too! It's always on my radar with Dug having annual Palm Springs work trips now. And Izzy would be tall enough for RSR, Space, awesome version of BTMRR, etc! Your trip sounds great and I'd love to do one like that someday. I've been thinking when Izzy's a bit older that it would be great to do a car trip driving Highway 1 and such (I've done that solo a couple times and loved it).

But back to the Disneyland travel day! Sounds rough to travel with two little ones and a not-super-helpful older one, but you handled it well. Glad that things went reasonably smoothly and you got to enjoy some pool time. Yay for Aria trying (and liking) the big slide. Izzy would love that one too.

I decided mid-size was the absolute smallest car I'll be renting with two kiddos, we were PACKED in there between 2 suitcases, a stroller, plus the 2 car seats and baby paraphernalia.

I'm surprised you managed a midsize! We've been getting full size and it's only us 3 (and a stroller and a bunch of bags). The discount I use (from my old employer ) has the same rates for everything up to full size, so might as well. Or I can usually get them pretty cheap through Costco, depending on where I'm traveling. I'd have a hard time getting anything smaller now.

Can't wait to hear about your California Adventure time!

 

[amazingact21]

Trying to stay awake was probably the smartest way to go. Adjusting to a new time zone is so difficult, but if you can manage that first day, things tend to even out quickly.
I didn't know you could use those pool floaties in the Disney pool. That's really nice. I'm sure it made keeping up with both girls a tad bit easier. And I'm happy to hear Aria gave the big slide a shot and ended up loving it.

 

[Imagineer5]

So excited to read about Disneyland! And so cool that you think you'll go back next year - that sounds like a great CA trip! We have to wait until Rory is tall enough for Cars Land because he'll freak out if he can't do everything there, and he is still so short!

The Grand Californian looks so nice. I hope to stay there one day! That slide looks like fun, I'm glad that Aria tried it and loved it!

Good job traveling all the way across the country with both girls!

Ohh yes, thankfully 40" isn't that far away, right? Aria loved Cars Land, although she isn't really into Cars so it was just a few fun rides to her lol!

It was pretty nice, I'm going to touch on the room/resort in my next post. The location is the #1 selling point for GC!

Yay! Disneyland! That picture of Maya in the float is too cute! Excited to hear about your evening at DCA!

Haha, she wasn't too happy in the pool that first day. Thanks!

Oh I totally remember all those elevators you have to take in the San Diego airport to get to the cars when you have a stroller - and a lot were to go up or down only like one or 2 floors - very annoying!

That's great they were able to get you into a room in the area you wanted right away

Wow, Maya does seem a tad tired in that picture in the pool

Hahahha I'm glad you remember those elevators too, it was ridiculous right?!!?

I think we were all feeling like that by that time of day. I mean granted, she goes to bed at 6:30PM, so that was probably her bedtime lol!

Ugh, I am really wanting to go back to Disneyland too! It's always on my radar with Dug having annual Palm Springs work trips now. And Izzy would be tall enough for RSR, Space, awesome version of BTMRR, etc! Your trip sounds great and I'd love to do one like that someday. I've been thinking when Izzy's a bit older that it would be great to do a car trip driving Highway 1 and such (I've done that solo a couple times and loved it).

But back to the Disneyland travel day! Sounds rough to travel with two little ones and a not-super-helpful older one, but you handled it well. Glad that things went reasonably smoothly and you got to enjoy some pool time. Yay for Aria trying (and liking) the big slide. Izzy would love that one too.


I'm surprised you managed a midsize! We've been getting full size and it's only us 3 (and a stroller and a bunch of bags). The discount I use (from my old employer ) has the same rates for everything up to full size, so might as well. Or I can usually get them pretty cheap through Costco, depending on where I'm traveling. I'd have a hard time getting anything smaller now.

Can't wait to hear about your California Adventure time!

I am hoping that Highway 1 reopens fully by next year, I was google mapping the trip and then realized I forgot about that issue - that part of the highway is closed which adds HOURS to the trip south if I wanted to do some stops like Big Sur & Hearst Castle vs. just staying on I5 (which is boring).

Yes, if DH had been there, it would have been another story. Let's just say, I definitely did NOT have the time to read half of a book like she did!

The Mid-size was the biggest car I could get work to pay for (for the San Diego portion) and I added on the extra days at my own expense. It was supposed to be a compact car! For WDW, we are definitely a Mini van family now! hahahah

Trying to stay awake was probably the smartest way to go. Adjusting to a new time zone is so difficult, but if you can manage that first day, things tend to even out quickly.
I didn't know you could use those pool floaties in the Disney pool. That's really nice. I'm sure it made keeping up with both girls a tad bit easier. And I'm happy to hear Aria gave the big slide a shot and ended up loving it.

Yeah, for some reason I find it much easier to go East to Europe and adjust quickly vs. going west to CA? IDK. I'll have to keep that in mind for our travels.

Yes! well I never got yelled at for doing it anyway. I was going to bring it to Shades in December but decided we prob wouldn't have pool time (and was right on that account).

 

[Imagineer5]

In my excitement to get to the parks portion, I forgot to really touch on the Grand Californian room. Let me first say, I got a "deal" on the room and "only" paid $360/night. That is a LOT more than I normally pay for anything. For instance, our Poly room was $234/night by renting points and our 1-bedroom BLT room cost approx. that $360/night rate - but we had so much space!

I apparently was so surprised at the size of the room I completely forgot to take photos. This is what it looked like:

Take our Shades of Green room, and cut it in half! There was no sitting area - the edge of the 2nd bed is where the room ended! One positive was that it overlooked DCA / Soarin / monorail so that was really cool!

When we got to the room, I immediately set to work getting the Pack N Play set up, which I'll deem an "original Pack N Play" because it ended up taking us a good 30 minutes of pulling and huffing and puffing to get that stupid thing set up. (I've set a number of these things up, this one was RIDICULOUS).

Of course it didn't help that I was annoyed with my mother for various reasons, and we were stuck in this tiny space lol.

Anyway, I set up the pack n play near the doorway (although you had to move the crib slightly in order to get out) thinking that it would allow for some separation overnight. We'll see how that goes...

Overall, I was really disappointed in the price of the room vs. what you get. I felt like the price I paid for a room at the Disneyland Hotel (which to be honest we got a room around $280/night and split the cost w/ Lynda so that was super reasonable) was much more worth it - here is a pic from 2014 with those really awesome headboards:

The pools at the Disneyland Hotel are much better too. AND it has Trader Sam's! LOL. The ONLY positive I see for GC is its location, which is a HUGE plus in my book, and thus the reason I wouldn't say I would never stay there again.

But again remember, we stayed at BLT - walking distance to MK, fireworks views, 1 bedroom with full washer/dryer, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, for the SAME price! (And yes, I did look into renting GC points but there was nothing available).

Anyway, I wanted to give you the run down and honest review of GC. OHHHH and one other thing to mention - that pool chair issue we had on Day 1?? It happened every day. The pool area is just too small for the # of people, in my opinion. That was also really annoying.

 

[Imagineer5]

Onto a more positive note, we had a fabulous time at DCA this evening, especially because it was total BONUS time! We had no dinner plans, and I had a long list of to-do's which included many of DCA's rides as Aria was tall enough for quite a few "new" things this trip vs the last DL one when she was 2.

Our first stop once in DCA was to check out Soarin' and the FP return time, but it was quite late so instead we grabbed Grizzly River Run FP which was for only 45 minutes later! Then we headed into the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. This whole area is right near the Grand Californian side entrance, so we didn't have to walk far at all.

This area is one of the best play areas at any Disney park, if not THE best! It's so well themed with a ton of things to do for all ages.

Don't mind my crazy face

We found this swing area which was for 40"+ (I think that was the cutoff) so Aria was able to check it out. She did seem really little doing it vs the other kids! But she had fun!

Video Link:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10100664307055481

Like at the Boneyard, there's a whole area of these rope things to climb around on, but this one just keeps on going! You really have to go around with the kiddos (at least at this age) bc there are a lot of different ways to get in and out!

The ropes area leads you to these slides, which you can also take some stairs up to.

There's SO much more here - a rock wall which Aria didn't really care to do, some things to crawl through, some smaller slides, etc. Maya was getting a bit fussy though and it had been quite a while since she napped, so I wanted to get her laid back in the stroller. So we headed out, and then Aria & I went to use our FP grabbing a RS for my mom.

Looks like Aria got a sticker when we entered the line

Aria was a bit nervous on the ride but I reminded her how much she loved Kali River Rapids. GRR is longer though, and has much bigger drops.

The ride was fun, thankfully we didn't get soaked. She disappointed Gramma by saying she didn't want to ride again lol! so instead we went in search of food. I tried my hardest this trip to not worry about what my mom would eat. I had a number of dining reservations, and unlike WDW where I did a lot of GF/Vegan research which still ended up in her not being happy with her choices, I just left it up to her whether she joined us or not. This evening though we didn't have any reservations. Thankfully we both like Mexican, and that is usually pretty easy to do GF/vegan. Maya was napping through dinner which was fine!

I ordered some chicken tamales, and my meal was delicious! This was from the Paradise Pier area. I also had some Sangria!

Aria had a kid's cheese quesadilla dish

She didn't eat much of it. She really likes bean & cheese burritos (girl after my own heart!!) so from now on I should get her that.

My mom had a salad, where she had to pick off cheese because apparently they did NOT follow the dairy-free request. Ugh! (annoying, from a dairy allergy perspective, luckily it doesn't affect her though). And water, because she doesn't drink.

After dinner, we hopped on Ariel's ride with no wait. Maya had woken up, had a bottle and some snacks while we were eating. Due to the very loooooong day I was trying to spread out her bottles (she was taking 4 per day at the time) but she was definitely hungry for it! She also had a packet of some sort.

Then we checked out some other "to-do's" on my list in the area, which included the height-requirement rides like Jumpin Jellyfish and Goofy's flight school!

Maya patiently waiting for her sis

Jumpin Jellyfish was fun for them, I think I must have grabbed a rider swap but we didn't ride again then. It's such a short ride! And so silly to have a height requirement lol! But next up was Goofys flight school! Aria was excited at first:

Then we whipped around one corner:

Yeah, I am not a huge fan of these sorts of rides lol! (Primeval Wheel at AK is one I can never go on again and be totally ok with that!).

My poor mom, Aria did not want to ride this one again with her either!

She was VERY excited, however, to ride these swings:

I don't remember the exact height requirement, but she was tall enough to ride a tandem swing with me, but not one by herself (which was okay with me considering how high we went!).

She also had to wear a special harness thing. I don't remember where that button came from!

She had an absolute BLAST on these swings!! I was getting a little dizzy from them, but man she was just cracking up going around and around!! It was really fun.

My mom really wanted to take Aria on the Mickey's Fun Wheel, and there was a bit of a line, so I sent them on ahead while I decided to get Maya ready for bed. I had her PJ's and a bottle all ready, so we did that. I ended up on a bench across from the wheel but my mom wasn't answering texts so I had no idea where they were.

Oh earlier in the evening we had also ridden Monster's Inc, but I'm not entirely sure when we fit that in. That was on my "must do" list too though, as it is really cute, and had no wait anytime we went! We had also picked up Soarin' FP for later, after riding GRR. Eventually my mom and Aria came out, they had had fun! We headed over to Soarin' to grab a RS for later, and Aria and I rode that - it was our first time seeing the new Soarin' Around the World film, and we LOVED It!! Aria really loved the ride (it was her first time on Soarin period!).

Maya had fallen asleep in the stroller, so afterwards we made the very short walk back to the room and got her in the PnP. We were all exhausted, so it didn't take long to fall asleep! Unfortunately, there were people outside in the hallway at all hours of the night so LOUD! Considering we were NOT on a ground floor or anything, it was really ridiculous. Of course, the PnP being right next to the door meant Maya was awake and not happy about it by 10:30PM. In the middle of the night I moved her PnP to my side of the room, next to the sliding glass door, and that went over a bit better. The time change caused her to wake up a few times though (she is normally a very good sleeper, sleeping 6:30PM-7AM straight) so it was a very very long night. Thankfully Aria (and my mom) slept through it.

 

[schmass]

So sorry about the tiny room/loud people outside the door/Maya waking up!

Looks like a great bonus evening at DCA. I looooved that park when I went in 2009 and I can't wait to go back!

That playground area looks amazing!

 

[mousehappync]

Your new report is bringing back lots of memories! That IS a long flight--and I can only imagine a baby Maya's age. Ugh. You must have been so tired. And the San Diego airport arrivals/baggage claim/rental car situation is just insane. Again, hard with two big kids, bet it was terrible with a baby! Too bad you didn't get offered a $5/ day mini van upgrade like we did!

I am really with you on the GC-- I felt very ripped off, and we paid about what you did, maybe a few dollars more. DL Hotel wasn't available, but in the future I might pick Paradise Pier-- it's not a much longer walk at all, and less than half the price. But....not sure when we will make it back to CA, and I'm pretty sure Adam would be a hard no on a DL trip. We never made it to the pool--the slide looks really fun. I like your rule--so many things are fun once you try them. And I hate watching kids get phobic about things just because they are new. My niece and nephew are like this, and it makes me kind of sad. Anyway, soapbox over...

I love a good bonus day! You did so many fun things-- we never made it on the swings, fun wheel or the jellyfish! Everything had long lines, and we ended up doing more of the thrill/adventure rides. I HATED sky school--horrible!!! The feeling of being just on the edge of the track plus the jerking-- just, why?!

The food--yum! Why can't WDW QS be that good? And now I want a tamale! Your mom and my mom would get along famously, it seems. Very similar people

You are like me with the long-range planning-- I always have something brewing. That CA trip sounds like so much fun. We are definitely cutting way back on WDW travel for the foreseeable future, but I do really miss it, even when we go somewhere else really fun. Hope you squeeze a trip in! Will let you know if Cape plans materialize--would be mid-to-late August, but it's always a relatively last minute planned trip, and not sure this year since my friend's death. I really hope we come up though-- I need my NE summer fix! You can come stay in NC where it's 97 with 99% humidity....ugh. I hate summer. Can you tell??!