Disneyland Day 2!

Day 2 started off a little less smoothly because we were trying to find Aleve (after pulling a muscle in my back exiting It's a Small World with toddler in tow the morning before--excellent timing--and the park only sells Advil, which didn't help much) and a sweatshirt for me since I forgot to pack one and froze Friday night. Hindsight's 20/20 (since I ended up dropping a hefty chunk of change in the park for a thermal henley shirt), but should you be in the same predicament, Rainforest Cafe had a clearance section with really cute ones for $17.99. Yeeeah.

ANYway, we made it into the park and while Brady parked, Kaelyn and I went on Buzz Lightyear and Astro Orbiters. Then it was time for Dumbo!

...and we got a yellow one, of course :) Kaelyn's holding the "magic" feather they give you before you board to make Dumbo fly. I had to explain to her the whole story of Dumbo while we were in line, that he never really needed the feather and so on, hehe
Coming in for a landing...
Driving Mr. Toad's car!
Classic castle shot--taken by a Disneyland pro. Notice Kaelyn's hand once again holding my hair. If you look at most photos of the two of us, you may notice this pattern.
"Gitty up, Daddy!"
Love this of Kaelyn. She gets a kick out of riding on Brady's shoulders :)
After breakfast, it was back to the teacups! She had her snack cup with her and just before the ride started, she had taken out a few Cheerios. It was hilarious to see her brain working--she'd look at the Cheerios in her hand then look around, as though to say "What am I supposed to do with these?"
In the Enchanted Tiki Room...

Back over at California Adventure, Brady went on California Screamin' while Little and I revisited The Little Mermaid. Then, strolling around back at Paradise Pier, there was no line at King Triton's carousel (it's all sea creatures, including fish, whales, dolphins, and seahorses). I think we rode 3 or 4 times. I hadn't actually ridden on a carousel animal since I was probably 10 so this was an experience.

While I got my thrills again on Tower of Terror, Brady and Kaelyn walked around the Hollywood Backlot where Kaelyn spotted her old buddy, Sulley (or "Kitty!"). Brady said she started kicking her legs and laughing immediately.

When I came back, we started walking down the street through "Hollywood" then out of nowhere, Brady took off with the stroller, making a beeline to the other side of the street. I was stumped, searching the store window where he was heading.

Then I saw the reason for his rush:

Stitch is his FAVORITE character (which is why we have about 8 Stitch stuffed animals at home) and though Experiment 626 seemed to be in a hurry, he agreed to take photos with us. Kaelyn loved him. Hmm, I wonder if she'll recognize him in the movie now? It's already in her top 5 simply because of the soundtrack, which we listen to quite a bit in the car.

So how, with all the noise and crowds, does a toddler nap at Disneyland? Well, a little like this:

After more rides, Kaelyn was exhausted so we found a quiet retreat between It's a Small World and Matterhorn for her to snooze. We opted to keep her in one spot so she could get a quality nap so it became our hub for the next couple hours. We even watched the parade from there...well, the top of the parade anyway.

Before we called it a night, we ran into the mouse who started it all and got a really quick photo:

Kaelyn was dealing with a lot of teething and a mixed up nap/sleep schedule so she wasn't a terribly happy camper so we decided to head out and get to bed at a decent time. She loved the tram ride back to the parking garage though and we ended up watching the fireworks from the garage. We were curious to see how she'd respond since she slept through her first fireworks experience. She actually seemed to like the noise--she'd giggle at the louder blasts.

On Sunday, we slept in until around 8:30, which is really late for us. Kaelyn's usually up somewhere between 5-6:30. We decided to walk around Downtown Disney and send Brady back in the park to pick up a few things we didn't get a chance to grab Friday or Saturday. (If you buy a multi-day pass, Disney allows you to come back the following day for up to an hour to shop.)

At Rainforest Cafe for breakfast ...the gorilla (who's name escapes me now) was jabbering on and Kaelyn kept pointing to him.

Brady now refers to Kaelyn as a "Car Seat Potato"--put on the right movie, preferably Monsters Inc. or Tangled, and she goes into a complete daze. This picture was taken just as Maximus, the horse in Tangled, came on.
More of the daze + snack.
The drive home went by fast and was pretty smooth sailing. Somehow we still had a 1/4 tank when we got back to Phoenix. Huh. The back seat floor is still filled with books and toys though. I know because Kaelyn's picnic basket was talking to me on my drive to work this morning, lol

Overall, we had such a fun time at the happiest place on Earth :)