Baby's First Road Trip!

So we'll just pretend like all the posts I've imagined in my head have actually been published and move on.  Sound good?

To sum up, my baby is now 4 (and a half on Tuesday!) months old.  He is seriously the thing our world revolves around.  And not just because he is still 100% dependent on us for his survival. :)  He is starting to giggle, he has rolled over several times from tummy to back and is getting so close to going the other way.

Moving on.

We took our first road trip last week!  To none other than the Happiest Place on Earth!

We weren't sure how it was going to go with the baby.  Vash seems to have a love/hate relationship with the car and his car seat.  Remy was more nervous about it than I was.  -Not that I was so confident it would be easy or anything.  I think it turned out about as I expected.  He really was a trooper and usually only had one semi-fussy segment each way. 

Loading up the car!

Our little driver.

And NO the car wasn't on!  Geez!  We had to pull off at Mona for our first feeding.

Now that Fuddruckers is no longer in Utah, we have to make a stop in Vegas to get our fix!

Though having a baby that still eats every 2 hours during the day DID make the trip a  bit longer.  Like 4-5 hours longer...oy!  But we made it and like I said, he really was a trooper!  It could have been a LOT worse.

We had so much fun.  My whole family was there at the park already when we got there (they also came a day earlier and left a day later than we did), and everyone was super excited to see Vash.  I think Vash was just happy to not be in a car seat!

First item of business was to get the group picture in front of the Mickey flowers.

Second item of business...check out the baby center!  For those of you who don't know, Disneyland has this awesome place called the Baby Center at the end of Main Street right next to the Plaza Inn.  There is also one in California Adventure behind Cars Land next to the Ghirardelli Chocolate place.

You want to go there.

Trust me.

Especially if you are nursing/pumping.  You go in and they have an area partitioned off with nice chairs to nurse.  An area to pump.  High chairs for feeding older babies.  A kitchen to warm bottles and wash stuff and make food.  Nice changing tables.  Even a big sink with a flusher for all you cool cloth diaper users (or for washing clothes in the event of a blow out...not that we know from experience or anything).  Oh and don't forget the toddler potties.  Oh and the baby supplies they sell in case you loose a binky, need a diaper, baby food, etc. Oh, and the nicest employees you ever did meet.

Did I mention it's air conditioned?

Yeah.

So anyhow, if you are going to make a trip to Disneyland, do yourself a favor and don't forget to check it out.  I just dropped by to see what it was all about and they gave me a little tour and run-down of everything.

The first ride we all went on was the Haunted Mansion.  Why?  Because it's long-ish, cool, and the line was short.  Vash didn't seem to mind it at all!  Though looking back I would have picked something that wasn't so dark.  I don't think he could really see much.  Oops.  :)

First Disneyland ride!

Then we went on Pirates.  Still fun.  Didn't mind the hills.  But it was passed feeding time and half way through he started crying.  I felt super bad for the other people in the boat, but oh well.  I was hoping he would just fall asleep, but that didn't happen until we were about to get off.  Figures.

We were lucky enough to find Mickey on our way out of Disneyland!  Vash didn't seem to care one way or the other.  But I think he was eyeing that big nose to see how he could get it in his mouth. :)  Also I was so grateful to find out the nice worker took some candid shots of his first introduction to Mickey.  I had no idea she was taking those!

 

 

 We also got Vash his first Mickey ears.  They are miniature and so funny!  We thought we'd save the legit ones for when they fit him a little better.  He seriously got so many "oohs" and "aaahs" and we walked around. 

Next we headed over to California Adventure for some dinner.


That pretty much sums up our first day.  We left right after dinner since that baby hadn't napped all day!

We stayed at the Del Sol which is literally across the street from the entrance.  And even better than that...it's right next to a Cold Stone.  :)  We decided to try out this carrier (I think Vash was too little when we tried it before and didn't like it much) to see if it was worth taking to the park.  Vash LOVED IT!!  WIN!  And I'm pretty sure Dad loved carrying him even more.

My dad had bought Vash this Star Wars onsie their first day -and even picked up a 1st Vist button so we put that on him the next day.

See!  I swear this kid smiles!  He just gets so distracted by the camera he's always making that serious face!

 

So here is a little video I took of Vash in his carrier.  I turned it sideways part way through, so sorry about that.  :) 

He liked It's a Small World with Grandma and Amy.

 



We also went on Snow White's Scary Adventure and Pinocchio that day.  My friend Sarah and her family were actually at Disneyland too!  We met up and were going to go on Small World together, but as soon as we got there and were about to get in line, Vash started fussing because he was hungry.  :P  Figures.  I wasn't willing to risk having him crying for 15 minutes on the ride so we just headed back to the Baby Center and went on the ride later.  It was fun to at least say hi! 

The next day we all headed out to Huntington Beach.  Love that beach!

 

 

And Vash loved the beach too.  Beach.  Not ocean.  He was all smiles and squeals!  At least until we  introduced him to the ocean.



We wanted to get Vash's toes wet in the ocean, but apparently the tide was dropping or the waves were just small because every time we set him down the water would never quite come up to reach his feet so we kept scooting up. 

 Well, we scooted a little too far and when the next wave came, it was a little stronger than we expected so the water rushed up to his knees.  The poor kid was NOT happy.

As demonstrated in the face below. 

That just set him off and he could not be consoled.  Seriously, he cried like he cries when he gets his shots.  I felt bad, but geez.  A little dramatic if you ask me. :)

We finally just took him back to the car to eat (since it was about that time anyway and I was not about to nurse on the beach).  When we re-emerged he was happy again!

 



 We all went to eat at Ruby's at the end of the pier.  That place was freaking adorable and more importantly delicious!   And even more important than THAT, the walk put my baby to sleep.  So sweet!  He got lots of attention from all the people on the pier. :)

 Since we were all dressed for water, we decided to have Vash try out the pool.  He likes his baths a lot and this pool was actually pretty warm so we were pretty sure he would like it....

 

 

 And he did!

 

 I'm pretty sure he could have floated in there all day.  Well, if he didn't start getting cold anyway.  He looked so relaxed!  The floaty was from my mom and it was perfect for him.  It even had a little canopy, but we didn't need it this time.

The last day at Disney Remy and I finally got to go on a few rides too.  I had been to Disneyland twice while I was pregnant and was itchin' to finally get to ride the new Cars Land racers as well as my all time fave, Indy.

We had a really good time, the boy was good on the way home and we were actually able to shorten the drive home by an hour or so which was nice.  As Remy put it, Disneyland is definitely a different monster with a baby.  But still so fun!

Pop Quiz

So, do you remember what you did on Memorial Day?

I know, I know.  I didn't even give you any time to study.

Rude.

Lucky for me I remember what I did.  It's kind of a funny story.  So Remy and I had made plans to go to Southern Utah for the holiday weekend.  We even had hotel reservations and everything.  Well one day he called me at work and said that we wouldn't be able to go.

"Oh, brother," I thought to myself.  "what lame excuse has he come up with?!"

"We can't go to Moab because we're going to see Mumford and Sons in Denver in June instead!"


I was SUPER excited!  (don't worry, this will come full circle here soon)  So we canceled the hotel and set our sights on June.

Well, the Wednesday of the week before Memorial weekend, we were really itching to go somewhere. We already had some days off due to our previous plans, PLUS the weather in Utah was going to basically be a washout.  So we were chatting on the phone discussing how lame the long weekend was going to be and we were trying to come up with some warm place to go...St. George, Bryce Canyon, etc.  Of course though, both our minds went straight to....can you guess? 

DISNEYLAND of course!  So we were both googling hotels and we found a cheap one and that was that.  We left 2 days later.  And it was seriously the BEST trip.  Seriously, SO much fun.  Partly because it was spur of the moment.  Partly because we got to go on 2 new rides before they even opened!  Yup, we got to go on the newly renovated Star Tours that was set to open the next week.  And also the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure that was also not opening until the first week in June.

I hope we can take more last minute trips!  They rule!

Our first pic with the big guy himself.

Christmas and Disneyland and Anniversaries, OH MY!

Oh yeah, and don't forget New Years!

So we had a busy Christmas, but it was fun.  We did our gifts for each other on Christmas Eve.  Remy got me diamond earrings!  -Which was really for our anniversary, but he was a little too excited to wait.  Later that day we went with Remy's brother Jake and our nephew Mako to see Tangled.  It was awesome!  Seriously, if you haven't gone to see it...for the love of all that's holy just go!

I like to try to guess what my presents are, so Remy had to use some anti-shaking devices to keep me from figuring what he got me.  :)  So in this particular box he wrapped my CD in a towel and put it in a bigger box with a dictionary to weight it.  He also got me a pair of shoes and put a hammer in the box!

Christmas Eve night was spent at Remy's parent's where we had a nice dinner and hours and hours of A Christmas Story.  Then it was off to pick up my little siblings (who are all MUCH taller than me) and we all spent the night over at Heather and Jared's where we watched...wait for it...A Christmas Story!  I literally forced myself to sleep so I wouldn't have to watch it again.

Christmas morning we went over to my parent's and opened gifts.  My parent's got us a KitchenAid stand mixer!  Yay!  And also our set of Cutco knives (with which I have already almost lost 2 fingers).  It was a great time.  They also got a Kinect, which is SO fun!

Then off to the in-laws! Remy's mom made us a great quilt and matching pillows!  They're awesome.  Then we had a DELICIOUS breakfast with more....A Christmas Story.  I can appreciate it once or twice through, but 2 days worth?  No.  It literally got to the point I had to get up and leave!


Then on the 28th was our first anniversary and we left for Disneyland! First night we stayed in Vegas at the Hilton.  EARLY the next morning we left for California because I just realized I had made lunch reservations at the Blue Bayou.  Why that hadn't dawned on me before I have no idea.

We had a great 5 days in Disneyland and Remy even got his first annual pass! :)

We had fairly decent weather while we were there.  It was pouring rain on our way into California and literally stopped when we got out of the car at the Disneyland parking lot.  Then it was just cool the rest of the time.  

New Year's Eve we spent the whole day in the park.  We got there early enough that they hadn't filled to capacity yet, but we had to stay the whole day just in case.  It was pretty cold that day and night, we wore sweatshirts and coats and had to put on hats at night.  The park was packed of course, but we managed to even ride Space Mountain 3 times without waiting for more than 30 minutes.  :)  We're just good like that.

 

We went to the Park the next day too, and we got a LOT in!  It was so empty compared to the previous days.  It was NICE!  And then on our way out of the park it started raining again...we have such good timing! ;)

 

Come on! PULL!!

 

 Couldn't get that sword out huh?  Bummer!

Taking a spin on the Tea Cups.

Then as we were driving out, we hadn't even hit Victorville yet and this is what we drove through...this was my first time ever seeing snow in California, let alone driving in it!

It was an awesome trip and we can't wait to go back!