Gummersalls: Bennett's Birthday goes to SoCal

Disneyland Round #2.

Where do I even begin?

So my mom called me back in September and wanted us to travel down to California on honor of Bennett's birthday instead of her coming up here. So we booked the flights and made it happen! A week in disney with a 2 and 3 year old! sounds exhausting. Well, it was, but it was also amazing.

We figured out that it would be more cost effective to buy annual disney passes then it would be to get the socal pass (3 days at disney, 1 lego land, 1 sea world), since we would be coming back to Disney in the spring or next fall and this go around we didn't have to pay for either kid.

Sunday Day #1. We checked in and got our annual passes and entered Disneyland. Waiting in line for Peter Pan for nearly 45 minutes. Bennett dancing to pass the time.

Went on as many rides as we could before our kids were tuckered out (11am) and then walked back to the hotel. We stayed at the Anabella which was Lance's mom's favorite hotel to stay at. It's spanish style and directly across the street from Disney making it an easy commute with a stroller. It's definitely an older hotel, but the best part was that inside the room it had a separate room with a full size daybed that we used as the kids room. They slept together peacefully most nights and we could have the tv on or talk and didn't have to worry they'd wake up.

Each and everyday our kids took between a 2.5 and 4 hour nap! So we also got a daily nap in...it was amazing! They did however wake up between 5am and 6am every morning regardless of how late we stayed up. My little early birds. It ended up being okay that they woke up early because it got the rest of us to get up and start getting ready, have a sit down breakfast, and be at the park gates when they opened.

My mom joined us about 50% of the time we were in the park. She rode all the rides with the kids, and had a blast watching them get so excited over everything. My mom and stepdad now have their own annual passes. I'll be interested to know how many times they use them before we come down again :-D

Bennett became infatuated with having his face painted while at Disneyland. He was surprisingly very still as they painted his spider and batman and went around the rest of the day pretending to be that superhero.

When at Disney its a must to try all of the crazy treats and food!! This guy is a churro ice cream sandwich located at California Churro in Downtown Disney. It was delicious and I didn't share.

Jillian LOVE LOVE LOVED all of the carousels. She would literally be crying, kicking, and screaming when the ride ended.

We enjoyed two days of breakfast at the Grand Californian Hotel's restaurant Storyteller Cafe. This place is legit. They had 4 characters walking around from table to table. Bennett was able to meet all of them several times throughout our meal and it was a breakfast buffet. Sounds like a cruise to me!! (DREAMY). Jillian was a hater and scared of all of the characters, but Bennett was almost so excited he chased a few of them to different tables.

Somehow we spent 6 days at Disneyland and never got on this new Cars ride. Granted it was UEA weekend so the last two days Disney was PACKED with people, but we were really trying to get Bennett go to on the "big" rides only to learn that he is one finger (literally) too short for the rides!!

On Friday afternoon we left Anahiem and traveled south to San Diego where my brother and his family live. We went to dinner and celebrated Bennett turning 3 with a "white captain Jake cake" per Bennett's instructions.

Even my new nephew Zar got in on the excitement.

Saturday we traveled to the coast and let the kids see the beach for their 2nd time. Bennett the neat freak that he is was really mad when I took off his shoes and made him walk in the sand, but by the end of the morning he was burying my feet, and throwing sand all about. Jillian as you can tell had a blast even with a wet sock covering her poor exposed blister.