I love, love, LOVE family vacations. Nothings better than getting to do lots of fun things with my two favorite boys and not having to worry about work, school, or dishes. Last week we loaded up the car and headed off for 10 days of fun. Since this is my personal public journal you'll have to endure a lot of words this post. Here we go!
1st stop ST. GEORGE! Hunter loved climbing on the redrock and playing with his cousins and grandparents. Aw family, we just don't see you all enough.
Then, it's back in the car, but just a short trip down to LV. Hunter didn't know what to think about all of that maymem. We arrived on St. Patty's day so things were even wackier. Hunter was excited to see the Excaliber and began pointing and yelling, "TEMPLE!" Um, no. We had lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe at the MGM. If only every resteraunt we went to had fish tanks, waterfalls and elephants maybe I would get to actually eat my food while it was still hot every time we ate out. We fled from the strip before our little man became completely corrupted. We jumped aboard a plane which Hunter helped take off by patting on his lap and yelling "Blast off!" Anyone seen Little Einstiens? Obviouslly Hunter's a big fan, which is why he should have been giddy because we were on our way to see them for real, in their house along with all of his other friends, Mickey, Donald, Pooh, and Handy Manny. This little guy had no idea what he was in for.
From our hotel we could see Disneyland. That first night we gave Hunter a preview for what he was in for the next 3 days by taking him up on the sundeck to see the fireworks. He was a big fan and still tells me about them each day. So now here we are, the happiest place on earth. As we walked through the gate the "choo, choo" pulled in to the station as if on cue. Hunter bounced all the way on to the train. When they train passed through Splash Mtn. and Hunter could see all the critters singing Zippity Do Da, he just stared. His mind was blown. What is this place? First official ride was Small World. We decided to start out pretty mellow even though Pirates ended up being his favorite ride. He loved the big drop at the begining and thought the pirates were "awesome." He's a thrill seeker already. Back to Small World, Hunter was excited to get to ride on the boat, but then the boat took us to this magical land of singing children and once again, silent stare, mind blown. He will now request the "boat song" as a lullaby at bed time.
So when we told people that we were taking Hunter to Disneyland lots of them would tell us what cute pictures we would come back with. I mean can you imagine, cute kiddo+disney= adorable pics right? Um, no. Cute kiddos do not want to pose for a picture when standing next to a cool ride or someone like Tigger. They rather be chekcing it all out, not looking at mommy with a camera. So most of our pictures are the back of Hunter's head or him yelling at us because we aren't letting him do what he wants. So by the time we were half way through day 2 I gave up on the pictures and left the camera in the bag and decided just to have fun. So here's an example of us trying to take a picture of Hunter with mommy on the dumbo ride (which he loved, weee Dumbo).
A lot of work for one picture. Here's our efforts on trying to get just one cute family group shot. Hunter's wondering why the heck we want him to sit on mommy's knee and smile at some lame guy with our camera when Lightening McQueen is right next to us! Cars is one of Hunter's favorite movies and he totally got prancing, happy feet when he saw them in real life. Oh kids are so fun!
Too much fun. Back to the room for a rest.
Like I said earlier, Hunter was awesome on the rides. Not once did he cry. The only time he showed any nervousness was on the Haunted Mansion, he kept twirling my hair which he does to soothe himself sometimes. He was incredible. The bigger the drop or more whirly the ride, the more he loved it. Craig was convinced we should get him a goofy hat and some platform shoes so we could sneak him on Splash Mountain. He would have loved that ride, seriously, he's crazy. He loved the pirahhnas on the Jungle Cruise and flew out of his chair when he saw Nemo on the submarines. Winnie the Pooh was another one of his favorites. When you get off that ride you get dropped by one of the many gift shops, and this one is of course full of Pooh stuff. Hunter saw a stuffed Pooh bear, grabbed it, kissed it and snuggled up to it sighing "Pooh Bear." We bought the Pooh Bear, suckers.
We went to California Adventure where we got to see Disney Playhouse live. This was one of my favorite things. They do this cute little show whith puppets and all kind of special effects that make it seem like you are really a part of this little adventure. There aren't any chairs so everyone sits on the floor and the kids can get up and dance and be excited. Sooo cute. Hunter was in heaven. Another one of Hunter's favorite things at CA Adventure was a fountain in Bug World where water shot out of the ground randomly. Hunter named it crazy water. He giggled and chased the water around. Everyone watching was cracking up over his antics. It was really hilarious. To get him away from the crazy water we had to bribe him with a sucker. And that his how we became the parents of the only naked child with a giant lollipop at Disneyland.
We didn't meet Mickey until day 3. We were nervous about this because Hunter and Santa were not BFF. Hunter had a major freak out at South Town mall, so we weren't sure how he would take a 5 foot mouse. As we stood at Mickey's door we braced for impact, but when Mickey answered the door Hunter's face lit up and he said in his precious little voice, "Mickey Mouse!" Mickey gave him a high five and a hug and Hunter kissed his nose. It was one of those mommy moments where you get an embarassing lump in your throat because you are just so tickled that your little guy is in complete bliss. I'm lame I know. I get worked up over halmark commercials. Anyhow, Mickey was a huge hit! Day 3 was extra fun because the choo, choo brought Hunter a special surprise. Grandma and Grandpa Q. I was GQ's b-day so we invited her and gramps to spend a day in Disneyland with their only grandchild. My dad said he was fulfilled now that he has ridden Small World with his grandson. Hunter had lots of fun and so did they and Craig and I got to ride the big kid rides and have a day just the two of us. I must say Craig and I know how to have a good time.
We were so sad to leave CA, but eased back in to things by putting off reality a couple more days by making another stop in St. George. More cousin time, lizards and a necessary game of Balderdash. Uncle Steven helped the little ones catch lizards. Hunter thought they were pretty cool and was totally chilled letting one hang out on his shirt. After I took this picture I realized someone had put a lizard on my shirt without me knowing it. I was not chilled, I freaked.
So more good times and good memories. I love my boys and I'm so happy we got to take another fun trip together. Here's to reality (which with these two really isn't that bad) until we make our next escape.
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVERAFTER.
...and a lot of this....
Then we finally got to move on with life. We helped gramps pick some apples. Yum!
Craig played in a flag football tournement. No concusions this year, just a ruptured ear drum. Hunter had fun watching his daddy, and kept making a break for the field. "Put me in coach!"
And check out the Wicked Witch (oh I mean don't worry Hunter, mommy's a nice witch), a festive trick-or-treater, and the one and only Lady Gaga.
Here we are gettin' ready to go collect our Halloween loot.
With the thermomenter dropping every day, we decided to make a break for St. George. Hunter was loving Grandma Barnard's (he calls her Ha Ha Grandma) tub toys. The kid was a prune and the water had turned freezing by the time we coaxed him out of the tub.
We made a trip to the dino museum at Johnson Farms. This was really cool. My favorite was the mud imprint of a dinosaurs skin. That was amazing. Hunter is a big fan of anything dinosaur related. He impressed the volunteers with his dino knowledge. If you are going to work at a dinosaur museum you better know who ornithomymus and parasaurolophus are because some 2-year-old might come in and ask you about them.
And then we came home to this. Aw crap! Hunter is a bigger fan than I am.
Fwew! Anyone make it down this far? Well that was fall. 
Nice weather means we get to re-open the SANDBOX!!!! Hunter was thrilled to have his old buddy back and mommy was happy to find it not filled with spiders and buggies. Hunter has taken up residency in the sandbox and on nice days he will only come in for naps and meals. In most of the pictures he is laying in the sandbox. He thinks this is funny and will strike his goofy pose and say, "Mommy, picture!" and so I oblige.
