Definitely the Happiest Place on Earth

So much to say and no time to say it! Two weeks ago was my spring break and it could not come soon enough. I made a paper link chain about a week into the semester pretending it was for Sawyer to count down until our vacation to California, but we all know it was really for me. I need things to look forward to in order to get through the mundane, otherwise known as tests, papers, quizzes, laundry, cooking, cleaning.  The good news is that this semester has been easier than the last. Not that I would say it's been a cake walk by any means, but the load overall has felt lighter. Or maybe I have just picked up some better coping mechanisms than I possessed last semester!  I haven't been grinding my teeth in my sleep nearly as much this time, so that's always a good sign! Nevertheless, by the time March rolled around we were ALL ready for a vacation, not just me. This was the first time the three of us were going to be going on vacation outside of Idaho since we moved here over two years ago! 

We left earlier than planned on a Thursday afternoon since I was able to rearrange my Friday clinical. The drive was actually not too bad, mainly because with Matt's iPad loaded up with new games Sawyer was completely entertained. We stayed in a roadside motel Thursday night and hit the road again Friday morning. Once we entered California territory our first item of business was stuffing our faces at this place: 

Ahhhh, delicious charbroiled burgers, fries and their ridiculously good mocha shakes, yes we each had our own. Sharing does not apply when eating at The Habit especially when we you have been dreaming about this day for years, two years to be exact. 

We finally rolled into Encino at about 4pm on Friday. It was surreal being back and being surrounded by all the cars, people and nonstop activity. Encino is where we lived when we were first married almost seven years ago. There were a lot of memories that resurfaced being back in California that I could dive into and write pages about, but I'll save that for another day! The main thing I wanted to write about right now was our day at:

Thanks to my Uncle John and Aunt Kim we were able to stay for a discount at a Marriott hotel in Anaheim. Monday evening we drove down to Anaheim at about 8pm and made a mad dash to Disney before they closed to get our tickets so we didn't have to wait in line in the morning. We were only going to the park for one day so we wanted to make the most of our time and get there right when they opened on Tuesday and stay until closing. After getting our tickets we ate a late dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and Sawyer was enthralled with everything about that place. There are pretend snakes and monkeys hanging from the ceiling, a waterfall in the middle of the restaurant and every half hour there are sound and light effects that go off to sound like a thunder and lightening storm. His eyes were so ginormous looking around and taking everything in that we probably could have called it good, pretended that place WAS Disneyland and gone home! Once we checked into our hotel it was almost 11pm and Sawyer was out like a light. We laid him down on the sofa bed and I'm pretty sure he didn't move a muscle until morning.

The following morning we got up early and made it to Disneyland by 7:30am where we waited in a line in California Adventure to get a fast pass for the Cars ride, which was the main attraction we had been talking about to Sawyer for months! Our fast pass was scheduled for 11:30 so we stayed in California Adventure until then and rode some other rides like the Jumping Jellyfish pictured below:

The Mater Tractor ride and of course took our photo with Lightening McQueen who just happened to be out revving his engine for a big race. 

You could feel the excitement radiating from Sawyer even if his face didn't always show it--he was a little perplexed by Lightening McQueen when he started talking to him.  

Radiator Springs was seriously amazing! Matt and I were really impressed by it all. Disney did such a good job with the scenery that you literally feel like you are right in the movie. Then the actual Cars ride we got the fast pass for was hands down the best ride we have been on! We were a little nervous because you had to be a certain height to ride it- a Sawyer with his shoes on, standing super still with his chin up kind of height. Luckily the employees at that ride really worked with him telling him to stand still, take a deep breathe, puff his chest out and after about 2 minutes of coaching his head finally was satisfactorily touching the height meter and they let him on. Phew!!!! That would have really been a bummer if he couldn't have gone on it. 

After that ride we felt like we could have gone home happy, and it was only noon! We walked over to Disneyland and I can't remember how many more rides we went on but I know we hit up Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Dumbo, the Rockets, Snow White, the Monorail, and the train that goes around the whole park. Sawyer was so incredibly, ridiculously, ludicrously well behaved all. day. long. We were both in shock, but happily went along with it. Even after eating icecream sundeas in lieu of lunch he was still doing extremely well.  He finally crashed in a sugar induced coma around 4 and while he was sleeping we bought him this Mickey Mouse stuffed animal as a souvenir. We never actually got to see the real Mickey Mouse so we told him Mickey came over while he was sleeping and give him this toy. Did we just lie? Absolutely, but his face was priceless when he woke up with that toy in his hands and thought Mickey actually gave it to him. 

Totally worth it. 

While he napped in the stroller we went and sat in the New Orleans Square and drank their mojitos while we people watched. Disney was a zoo that day! So many people were there for the same reason we were...spring break. We were going to rent one of their strollers, but decided that morning to just use our own ghetto umbrella one because it was so little we could zip through all the throngs of people no problem. Once Sawyer woke up we hit a few more rides and then ate the same dinner at the same little restaurant we used to eat at when we had Disney passes the first year we were married.  They have a patio in front that we sat at and stayed put there to watch the fireworks. 

The whole day was more perfect than I had imagined it would be. I had been worried that maybe we had hyped it up too much, that Sawyer would have a melt down and we would look at each other like why did we spend oodles of money to bring a three year old here?! But it was exactly the opposite. Sawyer was an angel kid all day and I actually think now that three was the perfect age to take him because his imagination is in full force, he can still fit in a stroller so it was easy to maneuver him around without his little legs getting tired from walking, and he could go on the majority of rides besides the roller coasters.  Matt and I spent many weekend days at Disney when we were first married and we always had so much fun, but I have to say this time being able to take Sawyer and see through his eyes the wonder of Disneyland topped all the others times we had gone. 

As cheesy as it sounds the day was absolutely magical. Now every day since we have been back Sawyer wants to know when we are going to go to Disneyland again. That's going to be a really, really, really long paper link chain to make. Guess I better start cutting. 

And just for a fun flash back here is a photo from when Matt and I used to frequent Disneyland pre-Sawyer: