Vacation (Part 2)

The rest of vacation...

Tuesday, 10-11

Our last day of Disneyland – so sad! We actually got up early and went to “magic hour” where Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open an hour early. I’m really glad that we did! Aurora was still asleep when we left – didn’t take long for her to wake up of course. It was very cold and foggy that morning – very cool. Not great weather for my hair, but oh well. It was nice to be cold for once – it’s been a long summer.

We went on the new Star Tours ride first thing. There was no line – magic hour is awesome! It was cool – I like the way they’ve redone it. And apparently there are a lot of different ride experiences – so Nick and I had 2 different rides. Pretty cool. Like he got to see Darth Vader and I didn’t, but I saw the AT AT walkers (OK, that’s probably not exactly how you spell that…. But at least I know what they are called!)

Then we went on the Peter Pan ride – yeah, why is that line always so long? That ride is really not that great… Aurora sort of cared. I think she was still waking up. Then we went on the Pinocchio ride – same reaction from Aurora. And then we got in line for Dumbo where Aurora proceeded to fall asleep. Well, I never get to go on that ride because the line is always insane, so I went on it by myself while Nick held the sleeping baby.





We really got to do a lot of stuff this day which was good since the other days we hadn’t. We got to do Space Mountain which they have changed a little for Halloween – they made it scary. I closed my eyes most of the time. We did the Small World and Astro Blasters again and the Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise – all of which Aurora really enjoyed. Aurora is not the biggest fan of the Teacups yet – she kind of fussed and looked pretty dizzy – it was cute. We didn’t even spin it, but apparently those things spin on their own. Aurora also missed out on the Haunted Mansion twice. She fell asleep in line the first time and then the second time fell asleep on the ride. Silly girl – I guess she just wasn’t interested.

We had a blast at Disneyland, but I do have a few gripes with it now that we have a kid. #1 – the baby swapping thing – seriously you basically have to wait in line twice. They have you go back through the fast pass line, which is not the front of the line! And in some cases, like Indiana Jones, it was another 30 minute wait. During which time the ride broke down, so I never got to ride it – and I was the one that actually wanted to go on it. #2 – the princesses. We really wanted a picture of Aurora with Sleeping Beauty (for obvious reasons). BUT the way they have it set up is you wait in line to see the princesses, but you don’t know who because they are behind a wall. So it’s a surprise. Fortunately some of the people who work there were nice enough to tell us if Sleeping Beauty was there so we knew when to wait and stuff. We ended up seeing Ariel and Tiana. Yeah, I haven’t even seen Princess and the Frog! Ugh! We never saw Sleeping Beauty in the 3 days that we were there. Very frustrating.



Aurora loved visiting the gift shops – she was in love with the stuffed animals. Every time she saw one she would get really excited. She ended up bringing home a baby Dumbo stuffed animal. She kept trying to pick out this ugly bear that they have, but we told her that Dumbo is better and its Disney. She decided that was OK – she wanted two of them – as many as she could carry. But we only got one. I think she will forgive us.



Wednesday, 10-12

Beach day! We actually went to 2 beaches this day. We visited Huntington Beach before leaving Anaheim and then Mission Beach once we got to San Diego. Aurora had a blast both times. She loves the sand and the waves. She clapped for the waves and thought it was fun to get wet even though the water was FREEZING! The weather was very nice – apparently it was “hot” but it felt perfect to us! A nice sunny day.



Thursday, 10-13

We went to the San Diego zoo and it was actually kind of hot. Being in the sun was not a lot of fun – Aurora got cranky every time. We saw so many awesome animals and we even got to see a lot of baby animals. There were some there, like the giraffes, that were younger than Aurora. We saw a hippo baby, panda baby, and tiger babies (and we saw them get fed) – so adorable!!!!!! Aurora was fairly interested. I mean, it’s not people in costumes, but she at least watched them. I couldn’t believe the variety! We saw lots of monkeys/apes – orangutans, gorillas, and lots of smaller ones, and we saw kangaroos, koalas, bears, elephants, big cats like snow leopards and cheetahs, and lots of birds and snakes. The zoo is huge, but we actually managed to walk the whole thing. And Aurora even fell asleep in her stroller once – she’s evolving!



Friday, 10-14

Another day at the beach. The weather was so beautiful! Not for swimming – but we hadn’t planned on that anyway. It was very foggy and overcast – it was hard to even see the water from our spot on the beach – it was kind of weird actually. But it wasn’t cold so that was nice and since the sun wasn’t out we didn’t have to worry about sunburn. We spent several hours enjoying the beach – stuck our toes in the water which of course Aurora loved. That night we went to Seaport Village. We had planned on doing the tour of the carrier there, but we got there too late. Next time J At Seaport Village we walked around the shops, had dinner, and got ice cream. I’ve got to say – dinner and ice cream there were the most expensive nachos and milk shake I’ve ever had. $11 for nachos (that weren’t even good – Nico’s has that place so beat!) and $10 for a milkshake. Seriously – has anyone had a $10 milkshake? Insanity. But we still had fun. And Aurora got to ride the carousel which was entertaining.



Saturday, 10-15

Sea World!!!!!!! Right when we walked in there were characters dressed up – penguins and other sea creatures – Aurora went nuts! She really loves people in costume. We saw all the usual shows – Shamu, the dolphins, sea lion and otter show… Aurora didn’t really care. She was mildly interested. Every so often when one of the animals did something really cool she would clap and smile, but for the most part it was pretty hard to keep her happy sitting there that long. Except for the Sesame Street show. She went nuts! She was talking, squealing, and clapping through the whole thing. Yeah – people in costume. Little weirdo baby. We saw all the other cool stuff they have at Sea World too like the new sea turtle exhibit, the shark encounter, and Nick & my favorite – the penguins. The penguins are soooooooo funny. We spent a lot of time watching them – especially when Aurora was sleeping. Aurora actually really liked the aquariums though – she likes fishies. I would have thought she would have been more into the big fishies :) but she’s still little. Maybe next time.



Sunday, 10-16

We left at 3:00AM. Nick drove the whole way – I was very impressed. It was nice to get home early then. Silly me – I decided to go to my soccer game which was pretty torturous after being up so long, but exercise is good, right?

Then Nick took Monday off so we could have a little more time to recoup from our vacation. We had a great time, but it was pretty exhausting and I think we are all happy to be home.