Our California Trip

We just got back from the most AMAZING vacation EVER!!!  California, and especially Disneyland, truly is the happiest place on earth.  Here is a recap of our FREAKIN' AWESOME trip.

Jared's job interviews went well.   However, no official offer yet.  While he was interviewing Erin (the person we stayed with in LA), Xander and I went to the farmers market in downtown LA.  It was a lot of fun, and they had the MOST delicious fruit EVER!

After Jared got back we all went to the Hollywood walk of fame.  Here are some pictures.

Jared and Xander at Chris Farley's star:

Then here is Jared protecting Xander from Michael Jackson's star.

Ahh!  The beach.  Nothing was more relaxing than knowing I was at the beach in Santa Monica while it was snowing 12" back home.  The weather was GORGEOUS!  And we all had a blast!  Here are the pictures of that.

Xander and I at the end of the pier looking out over the ocean:

Xander in his bathing suit (he discovered that the sunblock made the dirt from the pavement stick to his hands, which he then immediately wiped on his chest.  Thus the big black circles on his front).

There is something so stinkin' cute about a father and son walking together hand in hand:

Then Xander and Mom's turn.  (by the way the water is FREEZING!)

Then we dug a big hole in the sand:

And buried Mom:
After the beach, we showered up, and drove around Glendale and Burbank.  After all, if we are going to move there, we wanted to see what it was like.

The next day we got up and said goodbye to our AMAZING hosts Erin and Charley.  They were sooo gracious to let us stay in their place.  Thanks you guys!

Our hosts:

The view from their place (they lived RIGHT in downtown LA, not too far from China town.  We went and had the BEST chinese there.  Thanks again Charley for that recommendation).

Xanders favorite thing about Erin's place was she had a Playstation and a Wii, so he got to play games whenever he wanted.

I said it before and I will say it again.  Disneyland is truly the happiest place on earth.  

Here is Xander meeting Mickey:

And Xander meeting Pluto (he was too shy to actually go up and hug him, so we snuck him to the side and snapped a picture).

Xander and I on the boat ride.

Jared on the same ride:

Then one of Xander's favorite rides, Star Wars.

And his ABSOLUTELY MOST FAVORITEST RIDE EVER, Buzz Lightyear (you basically go around and shoot zurg with laser guns).

Here is a little picture thing you can have e-mailed to you.

We went to Downtown Disney, to the Lego store, and Xander LOVED the life-size Lego R2-D2.

Here is Xander after a full day of Disney.  Still happy and eager for the next ride:

And finally ready to go back to the hotel.  Two seconds after we put him in the stroller, he looked like this:

Then waiting in line at the new Toy Story ride (it is 3D and really fun, but not worth the SUPER long line).

Xander with his 3d glasses on.

He loved the Merry-go-round.

And one of his other favorite rides is the Monsters, Inc. ride.

He got to meet Mater and McQueen.

And was sooo excited to see Buzz walking around!

We rode the Dumbo ride:

And the "Big boat":

(Ok this is out of order, I know, but here is another Dumbo one).

And the Jungle Safari ride.  Xander LOVED this one too!

And here are Jared and Xander on the Buzz Lightyear ride (for like the bizillionth time).

Xander was even tall enough to go on Splash Mountain, so we took him on it.  He actually really liked it, but got SOAKED!!!  We had to change his pants and underwear before he would go on any other ride.

We were sooo sad to have to come home, and face the snow, cold, and fact that Jared is unemployed.  But we are all glad to have made it home safe and sound.  If you ask Xander what his favorite thing about California was he will still tell you "Shoot Zurg!"