That's right, we are LA bound! Hudson was so excited this trip to ride on the airplane like daddy does for work. He knows that we get to see Uncle Joe and go to Disneyland. He was full of smiles and giggles the whole way down. His bearies were his traveling companion and entertainment the whole flight(s) down!
"That's an airplane!"
Here we are on our first flight the way down. We opted to sit in the back so we were out of peoples way. Nana and Pops sat by us:).
Since we were in the back, Hudson thought it was a bit loud.
But eventually he nestled in and snuggled a bit. No nap but he was delightful as always!
He even made a bearie blanket!
Always a Pops smile or too! Hudson loved looking out the windows, he truly was enthralled with the whole "plane" experience. I on the other hand, had my first "fear" of flying experience. I'm thinking its because I'm pregnant but I thought about all I had to lose with all my family there and that overwhelmed me. Jared on the other hand felt safer because we were all together. It was calming to see Hudson enjoy himself so much!
We got in early around 4pm or so and headed to our hotel. Hudson got some IPAD time. His favorite app is this one where it called him a winner. He gets pretty excited about that:).
That night we just hung out at the hotel and had some dinner. Uncle Joe was excited to see us so he braved the 2 1/2 hour drive to see us late that night. We always love seeing our Uncle Joe. Since Hudson hadn't napped that day, he got extremely silly will Uncle Joe and eventually he bonked his head on the door jam and wanted to go home:(. Pops was worried he wouldn't want to go to Disneyland the next day but he just needed some rest. He cried a bit but some snuggles and good night sleep cured him. This is why I love routines but on vacation they have to be...adjusted.
He woke up a happy boy and was STOKED to go to Disneyland. Jared was a wonderful husband and brought Hud and I breakfast to the room every morning, which was quite a chore because it required two trips daily with one broken elevator. Sounds like no big deal but we were on the 7th floor, the wait can get tedious and he had to do it twice, once for our meals and once for his. Thank you Daddy!
After breakfast, Hudson was rearing to go and brought his bearies everywhere he went!
We had to check out the new Cars Land in California Adventure because my dad was more excited about this than Hudson, I swear! He was right! It was so awesome, words can't describe. It truly is just like the movie. The rides, the streets, the stores, were truly breathtaking. Very worth the visit if you have a Cars fan! You can literally walk up and down the street and find plenty to do from shops to rides. They even have the cars, mainly Mater and Lightening, drive up and down the street. We didn't need a ride, everything was just amazing to look at!
Here is where we sat often, which was fine with me:). Hudson loved watching the race cars zooming by on the Radiator Springs Cars ride. He would just sit and giggle waving his bearies as they drove by. Hours of entertainment, literally hours.
Daddy enjoyed watching the cars as well!
Then we headed off to Hudson's favorite ride last year, the underwater carousel. He liked it even more this year, if that's possible:).
Since we were down on the pier, the Pops went to get fast passes for a ride so Nana and I shopped while Jared entertained Huddy. Well Jared found Woody! I didn't think Hudson would be into the characters but he was. He watched him a lot and we asked if he wanted a picture with him, he said no a few times. Then I asked one more time, yes I am the annoying "are you sure you don't want to see Woody?" mom, and he said "YES!" So we hopped in line. Pops was just joining us and said he needed an autograph book. I laughed b/c there is no way he would get into that but let him go get one. Well we got Woody's autograph and a great family picture or two!
As we were headed to another destination, Pops saw this Jumping Jellyfish ride that he wanted Hudson to go on. I was nervous because I didn't want to push Hudson to early on in the "Disney rides" or he wouldn't go on anymore. This Jellyfish ride was high and a kid version of the Tower of Terror where you just drop over and over (I hate drops!). So I said no but Jared said he should try and Hudson wanted too. Pops and I rode together and here are my boys...
Yeah, he was all smiles and loved it! He thought it was so fun to look through his feet as you dropped every so slowly down. Here is a picture of the ride from afar. Hudson barely made the 40inch height requirement for this one but he sure loved it. Good idea Pops!
As you can see, he is all smiles on his daddy's shoulders! No fear this time. 3 is a much better age for Disneyland!!!
Then we did some other rides like the Little Mermaid and hit up Bug's Life. Now Hudson hasn't seen the movie but he sure loved ALL the rides in this area. All the lines were about 5 minutes so it was nice. The first one we hit was the "Chew Chew Train" with the caterpillar.
Then it was off to Bumpber Bugs with Pops and Daddy! Hudson thought it was very fun to look for daddy's bug car and bump him. He even drove a bit:).
Then we were winding down before nap and I saw this mini ferris wheel ride and asked Huddy if he wanted to go on it. He said no but wanted to go on these spinning lady bugs. Ok! So Nana and I went with him (because daddy can't do rides that spin).
Le's just say it went pretty fast but Hudson loved it! We kept saying "wee" so he wouldn't get scared. I'm so glad there were two adults to squish Huddy because it went fast!!!
Here is a collage of some highlights of our first day in California Land.
Then on the way back from nap, we rode the tram again. This was seriously Hudson's favorite ride! he loved the tram because its like a train, bearies loved it too!
We got back into the park for one of the float parades, yeah!
Mater was at the end and Hudson was VERY excited. So we headed back to Cars land and Lightening McQueen was there, so cool! So I asked if he wanted a picture with him and he said yes. How fun! This picture is in his room with a Cars frame we bought there. He loves it and talks about his trip daily. So fun!
What a great start to our LA visit. We were so enthralled with the California Adventure land, we stayed there all day. Hudson was enjoying every minute and he was absolutely delightful and full of joy. I personally had more fun watching him enjoy the Cars Land and rides and that was the most rewarding for me. So far this trip goes down as my favorite ever...and I've been a few times.
Tomorrow...DISNEYLAND!