Southern California

We took a last-minute trip on Friday to Southern California. Jed had Monday off, and we decided to get out of the cold. We caught a late flight on Friday and hit the beach on Saturday. It was way warmer than we had anticipated (80 degrees!). Kate quickly aced out her clothes in the ocean so we had to do a little shopping :)

She had so much fun running from the waves and playing in the sand. We headed back to the hotel and took a good long nap, then headed to Downtown Disney.

Everyone knows about Build-A-Bear, but have you heard about Build-A-Ride? You build your own car with accessories and can make it remote control. Of course they had the Cars characters, so we ended up with a Sally (I think it's more for Jed than Kate, but she did get to sleep with it that night).
Sunday we hit Disneyland. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be, and we were able to go on a lot of rides. First ride - Dumbo, followed by the Teacups. Kate wouldn't let us help spin the cup, she wanted to do it "by myself".

Kate was really excited to see Goofy and Minnie. She just loves Minnie. Minnie gave her a big kiss.

We were able to get the California resident hopper pass. Kate started having a melt down around lunch/nap time, so we just pushed her in the stroller until she fell asleep, got some lunch and headed over to California Adventure Park. It was the first trip there for all of us. We went on the Monsters Inc ride and Kate said "again?". Then we met Sully - he was huge as you can tell.
Then onto Flick's Flyers, the ladybugs, a train, and the splash pad - Jed and Kate's favorite by far.

Jed wanted to go on Tower of Terror (not my cup of tea) so Kate and I went to see Handy Manny (or "Hammy" as Kate calls him) instead.
And then we found Lightning McQueen and Mater! Kate was so excited. California Adventureland is opening Cars Land in 2012. Guess we'll be going back then too!
Jed also wanted to go on the Roller Coaster, so Kate and I wend on the carousel. She thought she was so cool that she was on her own animal.

Then it was time for dinner. We tried to get into Goofy's kitchen the night before when we were at Downtown Disney, but it was booked, so we made reservations for the next night. It's kinda cheezy - all you can eat buffet in a ballroom/conference room at the Disneyland hotel - but the characters come around during dinner. It was fun, but we wouldn't do it again. Kate was so excited to see Minnie. She wouldn't eat her dinner or sit in her chair, but when Minnie came over, Minnie patted Kate's seat and Kate sat then down. Then Minnie pointed to Kate's food and she started eating. Minnie gave her a few hugs and kisses and then left. Later she came out again. Of course Kate was not eating again or sitting on her chair, but when Kate saw that Minnie was getting closer, she jumped up into her chair and started eating! She did the same thing with Pluto. And Mulan came over - but Kate had no idea who she was.



After dinner we headed back over to Disneyland to go on Buzz, Autotopia, and Nemo. Kate was glued to the window of the submarine during Nemo - it's a pretty cute ride. Then we caught our bus and Kate immediately fell asleep with her Minnie's and Mickey in hand.
Monday morning we played in the pool a bit before we had to check out. The water was cold, but Kate didn't seem to mind, she was having too much fun with her Daddy.

Then she laid out for a minute - but only for a minute.

We stopped by the beach before heading back to the airport and back home. We had a great time just hanging out with Kate all weekend long.