Saturday morning

Well I guess Julia wanted to have some cereal for breakfast this morning and so she helped herself!!



At least there was no milk involved!

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Disneyland!!

We just got back from Julia's 1st trip to Disneyland!!! It was so much fun and we made some great memories. Grandma and Grandpa Cromwell came with us and that made our trip even more memorable!

We had our Disneyland count-down chart and the morning we left Julia got right up and wanted to pull off the last chain. She said, "go on plane and see Mickey and Minnie!" I said "Yep, its time go meet Mickey and Minnie!" She was so excited and could hardly stand it. The plane ride out went really well and we went straight to the hotel and met grandma and grandpa and headed over to the park.

Julia was talking her head off with who she wanted to meet. The second we walked into the park it was sensory overload!! She wanted to look at everything and climb on everything. We started to walk down main street and the Horse and Trolley were up ahead of us. Layne let Julia go and off she went. She tore off running down the street after the trolley and she almost caught up to it too! Lots of energy to say the least!!

The one day we got into the park early we hit is just right because all the characters came out to see us. Julia saw Pluto and again took off in a dead run and then quickly stopped about 3 feet in front of him not sure what to do. I told her it was ok and to give him a hug. Her first encounter with a character. Then we saw Minnie...she had no patience to wait in line but it was so cute. She kept saying "I see Minnie." Then Mickey appeared and she apparently forgot all about Minnie and wanted to run right up to him. Well, Layne stood in line for Mickey while we gave Minnie a hug. She kept looking at them so curiously. To watch her with them was priceless. Donald Duck was across the square and I said now we have to go see Donald. She took my hand and we ran over to the line, all the while she is saying over and over again, "I'm coming Donald!!" It was so funny!!

After we were done seeing all of them she kept telling me all the others she wanted to see. Where's Goofy, Goofy not here yet?" I just kept telling her we will have to go find hime. Well, we did meet Goofy the next day. Now Julia had a thing about me going with her to see the characters so when it was our turn to see Goofy I said ok go ahead and she just started screaming. Goofy, who was standing, sat down and put his head in his hands and sat there. Julia said, " Goofy sad, he's crying." I said go give him a hug to make him feel better. Priceless....so when you ask about Goofy she will probably tell you Goofy was sad. Well meeting everyone was PURE MAGIC!!! To finally have her get to see all of them was such an experience. You talk about them all the time and watch them on TV and then to finally get to meet them!!

Meeting the Princesses was a little different. She was really tentative at first and wanted me to go with her to talk with them. They actually are real and talk with her. They had 3 different princesses in one spot and each time Julia got to one princess she would point to the next one and show Cinderella or Jasmine who was next! The first night we saw Cinderella, Jasmine, and Aurora. As soon as we were done she said to me, "Mommy, where is Snow White, we need to go see her." Snow White is her favorite and so I told her we will have to come back to see if she is here another day. Well, long story short, the last day we were at Disneyland we saw Snow White not once but twice. She was so excited. I went over to the princess park as soon as the whole park opened to go wait in line. And I had asked the night before when or if Snow White would appear. They told me the mornings are the best time to meet her. So she was the first one we meet that day. As soon as we got done with those 3 princesses again, she said, "Mommy, where is Belle and Mermaid?? I want to go see them." (Its never enough, right?) Well, we did head over to California Adventure and they have Ariel's Grotto. You have a very expensive lunch and you get to meet "Little Mermaid" and 4 of her friends.....so that is how we saw Snow White again and Belle was there. So we saw every Princess!! Tink and Terrence and Rosetta too!

Some other hightlights from the trip.

*Most of the rides didn't even scare Julia...she did have a few moments when she would say, "I'm scared," but we just told her its ok or made it into something silly. She absolutely loved the Tea Cups and the "Cat" ride. Which is really Alice in Wonderland. I guess the Cheshire Cat was a little scary for her but after a dozen times riding it she kept wanting to ride it saying "I want to go on Cat ride, I'm not scared anymore."

*The night Grandpa pointed out the witch from Snow White up in the window, Julia couldn't take her eyes off of it.

*Going on Pirates and having her literally saying one second, "This is fun." and then as we turn the corner, "I'm scared, too scary."

*Wanting to go see the Snow White wishing well about 15 times a day! She loved that spot!

*Riding a small world and having her tap you on the leg and say "Look" at every single thing in there.

*Wanting me to sing the Pirates theme and the Tikki Room song over and over again!!

*Getting to ride in the "boat" to see NEMO AND DORIE!!

*Going up in the Huge Tree House only to have her come down and growl like a lion at the top of her lungs for the next 10 mins!

DISNEYLAND was a success! It sure is a MAGICAL place! It was a wonderful time, nice warm weather, great company, and lots of memories made!

Snow Mice!

Well, we got a huge snow storm overnight. Its been a pretty warm winter and we've haven't had a ton of snow since the new year. So as soon as Julia woke up she looked outside and said "what happened, it snowed mommy, go outside play." So we got bundled up and went outside. The snow was wet enough to finally make some snowmen! She had fun trying to help me roll the snow balls and helped me pack them in tight to make the tall snowmen. We actually tried to put 'mickey' ears on them to make them Mickey and Minnie mouse-snow-mice in honor of our trip next week! (Here we come Mickey!!!) At least we can leave the snow behind and hopefully enjoy some much needed sunshine!

Taking Pictures

Every time Julia sees the camera she has to try and take some pictures. So this is her attempt after trying to tell her she doesn't need to hold the camera up to her face. She held it out a little better on the last few as you can see! Not bad for a 2 year old!

That is her finger in the way.

Not quite ready for the day but not a bad shot!

She took this one without any help!

Layne's Birthday

Layne turned 33 this year! We started the celebration Sunday night with dinner at the Mott's. We had a birthday dinner so everyone could come because the real day was on a Tuesday! We played some Wii and had brownies for dessert. Well Tuesday we had a good day celebrating his big day. He had to work so after work we went to have dinner at Olive Garden and then home for birthday pie and presents! Julia was so excited and wanted to help open all daddy's presents. Happy Birthday Layne! We are so happy to have you in our lives!