Disneyland

California Adventure! 

So, more than a month after we get home, I am finally doing my Disneyland post, complete with about a million photos! My Mom and I took the boys to Disneyland February 23-26th, so right when they were turning 8 months old. We took them kind of on a whim, I know they 'aren't going to remember it' and that's just fine. My Mom and I did Disneyland in 2012 and had a great time with all of the grown up rides, we were excited to try out all the baby things and do some people watching this time! It was a little stressful just packing and preparing, there is SO much stuff to bring for (two) babies! But with Jamie's help, and having to cut 50% of what I normally pack for myself on trips, we got it done!

Babies helping pack!

THE FLIGHT THERE

We had a 8AM flight out of Vancouver down to LA. The boys usually have a morning nap so I was hopeful that they would sleep on the flight. We left the house around 5ish (when the boys normally wake up to eat anyways) and they slept the drive out. Check in and security went really well, and of course everyone wanted to see the cute twins. Once we got to our gate we put them in the ergos and walked them around a bit to tire them out. We were the first ones on the plane (yay for flying with young children) and were lucky enough to have a row of three seats to ourselves! If the plane was full, we would have had to be in separate rows, because of the number of oxygen masks... It was so much easier being together! (If you have kids, fly Westjet - they were AWESOME!!) We had a older business man give us a dirty look as he was boarding, he didn't seem to be pleased that he had to sit in the aisle across from us! Takeoff went well, and the boys were snoozing within 10 minutes of getting up to cruising altitude. Unfortunately I hadn't gone to the bathroom and I thought I would pee my pants if I didn't go, so I had to wake up Adam. After this, both of them were awake and seemed a little bored for a bit. We fed them some puffs, and my Mom walked up and down the aisle with Scott for a while and all was calm. Adam loved being held up high above all the seats like he was flying. Both babies fell asleep again and I think I even caught a short catnap myself. Before we knew it, we were preparing to land. It went great, aside from an uncapped bottle of puffs flying off of the seat and getting all over the floor. Don't worry, I picked up as many as I could! We had several comments from other passengers when we were leaving on how the boys were so well behaved, that was awesome. The guy that gave us a dirty look actually made a point to say that he was so surprised at how quiet they were throughout the flight.

A &S ready to fly with Nana! 

Scott with Nana, Adam with me! Snoozing! 

Adam flying in the plane 

Scotty and Nana

Scott was much more excited than Adam to be in California!

 ARRIVING AT THE HOTEL AND DAY 1

We got off the plane (into the warmth!!) and caught the Disney Magic Express to take us to our hotel. Luckily, the timing was perfect and we only had to wait for the bus for about 10 minutes. The ride itself was good, takes about 45 minutes. Adam fell asleep in my lap, and Scott had a great time looking out the window. We arrived at our hotel (The Paradise Pier) around 12:45. Luckily, we were able to check right in and get up to our room. We had a GORGEOUS view of California Adventure and the room was huge. It was awesome. We unpacked, I fed the babies and (finally) we headed off to grab some lunch. We weren't going to hit the parks that day, just walk around Downtown Disney and get settled in. We wandered and wandered, and everything was so busy. We eventually put in our name at the Rainforest Cafe and they brought us upstairs after a little bit... Not the most well organized place in the world! It took about 15 minutes for them to get us a table after they led us to one that wouldn't fit two high chairs. The hostess said she'd move us to another table, and walked back to mark it down... and came back seating other people instead. Haha! Either way, eventually we got seated and could order. Too bad by this point, the boys had had enough of lunchtime and they were long overdue for a nap. We scarfed what we could, packed up the rest and loaded the boys back into the stroller.

Amazing view from our room!

Cuties hanging out on the floor

We quickly went back to the hotel to drop off the food and put on some comfier shoes, then off we went for a long long walk. The boys napped for most of it, but woke up and wanted to be worn the rest of the way. So happy they're still small enough to easily carry in the ergos! We got back to the room around 6 and by this point it was pretty much time to get ready for bed (for the boys) already. I was terrified that they wouldn't sleep at all... They're not great sleepers as it is, and here we were putting them in playpens, not the comfy cribs (or my bed!) that they're used to. I started to give them a bath as my Mom went down to the restaurant to get some dinner; bad idea. They both FLIPPED!!! Like screaming bloody murder in the tub. I took them out and they were still losing it so I ended up just nursing them both on the bathroom floor without even dressing them. I'm just happy they didn't pee on me. I managed to get them both lotioned and dressed and my Mom came back. Scott went down to sleep no problem. Adam took a little longer, but he was sound asleep by around 8ish. They actually slept much better than I expected! They woke about the same number of times they do at home (a lot), but were pretty good at going back to sleep in the playpens. Overall, it was a BUSY, kind of stressful first day. Definitely not the same as Disney pre babies! We were excited to get moving the next morning and start exploring the parks. 

Scott was so hungry he was eating a napkin

Adam was looking for some service!!

Adam and Scott - 8 months old! 

FIRST DAY IN THE PARKS! 

The boys woke us up nice and early (way too early) in the morning so we headed down for breakfast. There was a little cafe in the hotel and we got some toast, eggs, bacon, yogurt etc and shared most of it with the babies, along with some puffs. These kids love puffs! Back to the room, showered, and off we went. The park still didn't open for about 45 minutes so we went through security (where you just get your bags checked) and were waiting around for a bit. We figured we had a ton of time, so we went back over to Downtown Disney, thinking it would be easy to just pop back in. Not the case! There was definitely more of a lineup the second time around. Eventually we made it through again and entered into California Adventure. We had a 'magic morning' so we were in an hour before the the general public could get in. Seems great, too bad most of the rides aren't even open yet! My Mom and I both managed to walk on to the rollercoaster and get in a 'grown up ride' while the other one of us waited with the napping babies.  Because I didn't take quite as many (time stamped) photos that day, there is no way I can try to remember everything we did, but memories include Starbucks (my iced green tea is crucial), the little mermaid ride, the train in 'A Bugs Land', and Scott sleeping with his arm above his head (adorable).

It's like the boys went on the rollercoaster too! S & A

Scotty snoozing with his arm up

We popped back to the room for lunch and to let the boys crawl around a little bit and stretch out those limbs. We also changed their clothes, into something a little more 'disney-ish'. In the afternoon we went across to Disneyland. We checked out Fantasyland -which had insane lineups!- and wandered into Toontown. The boys had a glorious afternoon nap and we walked around for a long time with them safely snoozing under the sunshade. Adam woke up a little earlier than Scott so we stopped for another snack. Pizza for us, and puffs for him. Soon after, Scott woke up and I fed both of the babies and we headed back to the room for a little more downtime. We stayed in for a little while, and made our way back over to California Adventure around 5. The boys were in a great mood, we didn't have to worry about it being too hot/ bright for the boys, and we managed to sneak in another ride; the Monsters Inc one. Wandered around Carsland, got some great pictures, and were back in the room around 6:30. We tried to bathe the boys again (I wasn't doing it alone this time!) and the boys were having NONE of it. Got them lotioned and dressed as fast as possible, and managed to subdue them with boobs, as usual. We had both babies asleep in the play pens by 7:10, and Mom and I had time to have some dinner ourselves (nachos in the dark!) before passing out in our own beds. We were understandably pooped. The night was similar to the first one, boys were up a few times, then Scott went to snuggle Nana around 4:30, Adam came in bed with me by 5. Overall, it was a great first day!

Naptime in the afternoon! Love the sunshade!

Some downtime back in the room! A & S

Back at the park in the evening, Scott was EXCITED!

Hitchhiking in Carsland! S &A 

Nana & Scotty in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel

Two little bugs (Scott back, Adam front) asleep in playpens

SECOND DAY IN THE PARKS

The next morning the boys woke up early - like 5:30 AM early- and there wasn't much of a chance of getting them back to bed. We laid around with them for a little bit and then decided to get up and sieze the day. We had breakfast on the table downstairs by 6:30. We ate and the boys were getting sleeeepy. Decided to go for a quick walk and hopefully let the boys get a bit of a nap in before we started our day. We walked for 45 minutes and I don't think the boys did sleep, can't win. Got back to the room and they both napped on me for a little while, I might have even had a bit of a snooze myself. Showered, and we were in Disneyland by 9:45. Started off with Starbucks, and checking out the castle. We walked through and looked at all the kiddie rides again, but the lineups were huge on that day too. Made our way over to Critter Country and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, which the boys loved. Lots of bright colours, so fun. After this the boys napped again, so Mom and I walked walked walked, and found a few neat little areas of Disneyland off of the beaten path. I had no idea they had a petting zoo!

Breakfast with my boys! Scott & Adam

Starting the day with some mum mums and toys. A & S

Can't have a morning without my iced green tea! A & S

Nana with A & S in front of the castle

Nana with Scott in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride

We had fastpasses for Indiana Jones so we decided to get that done while the boys were still sleeping. I went first, and got on the ride fairly quickly. As I was riding along, I was thinking 'Wow it would suck if the ride broke down right now' and literally 30 seconds later (as we were crossing the big bridge area) everything stopped. Little fences popped up, the bright lights turned on and a voice told us to sit still and wait. Turns out one car was defective and they unloaded that one. I thought they were going to unload all of the cars, but after about 20 minutes the ride started moving again. It was weird though, the car was moving, but they hadn't turned off the bright lights or turned on the music yet. It was kind of neat. It was a stressful experience for me; I hate being separated from the babies when I can't contact whoever has them easily, especially when I'm thinking I'll be back within a couple minutes. It was also boring, sitting there alone with no one I knew, haha. Either way, I was able to text my Mom and let her know that I would hopefully be out soon, and the boys slept through all of it. The ride was up and running again after a while, so it was my Mom's turn to go, and I took the boys over to Critter Country for a little bit of semi quiet, Adam was ready for another brief snooze. Next up, we wandered through the shops on Main street, and Scott passed out in the Ergo on my Mom. We lucked out and Mickey Mouse had just come out so we were the first one in line to get a photo, which Scott slept through.

Hungry boy Adam

When Indiana Jones broke!

Adam snoozing

Scotty snoozing

Picture with Mickey! Scott left, Adam right. 

We went back to the room around 3, and had about an hour of down time to let the babies crawl around before going back to California Adventure. Did more walking (surprise!) and went through the animation stuff, which was interesting to check out. After that, we were determined to get at least one ride in Fantasy Land in, so back we went to Disneyland! We chose the Casey Jr. Train, and the lineup took soooo long. There was an older couple ahead of us who let pretty much their ENTIRE family come into line with them after we had already been waiting 15 minutes , enough people to fill up a whole train. Would have been nice if Disney did something about it, but oh well. Eventually it was our turn, and the train was fun! I think Adam slept through the entire thing though, he dozed off in the ergo during the long lineup. It was time for dinner afterwards so we stopped off at the Earl of Sandwich on the way back to the hotel. Holy crap, Earl of Sandwich is delicious. We need to get one up here! We decided to forgo bath night, given how successful it was on the two nights prior. Both boys were off to bed soon, and same for Mom and I. It was a very long second day in Disneyland and I was wishing we could teleport home the next day!

 Big smile from Scotty in the room

Heading back to the park, more mum mums! A & S

In the animation building at California Adventure with Scott

Nana and Adam (snoozing) on the Casey Jr. train

Scotty and I on the train. 

HEADING HOME

The last morning came early once again. We had a quick breakfast, got the boys dressed and were packed, ready, and waiting in the lobby by 7:45 for our bus. The bus back to the airport was good, both babies napped after staring out the window at the cars driving by for a while. Check in at the airport was nice and easy again; it was pretty quick to get through security, thanks to us all having Nexus cards. The terminal is pretty small, so there wasn't a whole lot of choice for snacks before the flight. At least there was a Starbucks! We actually saw three other sets of twins (all toddlers) in the airport before our flight, that was fun. Glad to see we weren't the only crazy people taking young twins on a plane. Stopped into the duty free store (you're welcome, Jamie) and then waited to board the plane. Both boys were pretty restless, so I was 'that' Mom who lets my baby crawl on the floor in an airport. Oops. We boarded early again, and had a whole row to ourselves, right at the back of the plane. This time the boys were asleep before we even took off. They woke up after a bit and had fun eating puffs, chewing on Sophie, pretty much just being babies. I successfully tandem fed both babies on the plane, which is a great way to keep both babies silent for a bit. The flight actually went by pretty quickly, and we were home before we knew it! Oh, and we managed to spill the puffs AGAIN upon landing. Crap. There was a small snafu with the Nexus machines not working, but we made it through customs pretty quickly, and off to see Daddy! 

Ready to leave the hotel! A & S

Scotty getting his move on in the airport

Adam standing with Nana

Sleepy babies on the flight. S & A

Almost home! Adam with me, Scott with Nana

 FINAL THOUGHTS

 Overall, it was a very successful trip! We had a great time. Even though the boys won't remember it, they will have the photos to look back on as they get older, and it was a really special time for all of us. My Mom and I have travelled together many times, and it was so fun to bring along two amazing little people this time, even if it meant we couldn't do the 'open-to-close' style of Disneyland like we did in 2012. It was nice learning to slow down a bit, and to take the time to see different parts of the park we had never really stopped to look at before. The boys seemed to really enjoy themselves, and it was a great test to see if they would sleep away from home, which they really did fantastic on. I am so thankful for my Mom and the amazing relationship we have, and it's awesome to see how she is with the boys. She must have been exhausted after 3 days straight with them, I know I was! I don't think we'll go back until the boys are probably 3 or 4, but I can't wait for next time where they are able to do a little bit more, they will have SO much fun. 

Babies first trip - AWESOME!!!!!! 

Adam

Scott