M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

March 11, 2014

Our day in Disneyland was tiring but memorable. Even though Coby is too young to probably remember it long-term, he did enjoy it a lot for the day and still remembers it after returning home. We spent the morning in Disneyland and the afternoon in California Adventure.

In Disneyland, we rode:
- Official Disneyland Fire truck
- Casey's Train
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
- Autopia (2 times)
- Monorail
We met Daisy Duck and had sightings of Pluto, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse.
We only made it to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and Main Street, but that likely gave a good feel of the park to Coby. He probably would have enjoyed ToonTown but we ran out of time.

A highlight of Disneyland was definitely the "Disney Fire Station". Coby could climb on the fire trucks there to explore. And we all had a chance to ride down Main Street in one - the driver has been driving it for 41 years!

Checking out Toady's car outside of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Coby loved playing in the car outside of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. No need to wait in line to ride it, when he was equally happy playing on the one that didn't move. (Though we eventually did go ride it and he liked that too.)

Checking Coby's height - yay he is more than 32" and can ride Autopia!

First ride on Autopia - looks a little apprehensive as Daddy navigates the track. 

Second ride on Autopia - looks more excited now and ready to take control of the wheel. 

Mickey sighting on Main Street!

First character meeting with Daisy Duck. 

While Coby napped in the stroller, we walked to Bubba Gump and ate lunch there outside of the park.  After lunch we walked back to the park and visited California Adventure where Coby eventually woke up.

In California Adventure, we rode:
- Ariel's Grotto (2 times) - Coby kept saying "again?". He really liked this ride.
- King Triton's Carousel of the Sea
We also explored Cars Land and met Mater and Lightning McQueen.

Lines were not too bad on a Tuesday, but still a bit long for Coby to handle. We thought he would like the train at California Adventure, but he didn't want to wait for it.

Meeting Goofy as we enter California Adventure. 

Coby intently watching the Newsies trolley stop and sing. 

Newsies trolley stopping and performing, with a surprise closeup appearance of Mickey Mouse!

Bye Mickey, after he leaves with the Newsies trolley

First visit to Cars Land. Cars Land is new so none of us had ever been there before and were excited to see it. 

Visiting with one of the tractors called "Mater's Petting Zoo"

Live visit with Mater! Thought Coby would love it but he deemed Mater "too noisy" and still says now that Mater is "too noisy" because of that visit. They had him sort of creaking and squealing. 

Waiting in line for King Triton's Carousel of the Sea. 

Coby was not interested in riding one of the animals on the carousel so we all just sat on one of the carousel benches. 

We were fortunate to meet Reena's high school friend Erin, her husband, and 2-year-old son Caleb in the evening. We visited California Adventure with them, and then went back to Disneyland to watch the evening parade. Both boys loved the parade and watched it closely. Coby was singing "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" as they sang it at the beginning of the parade.

Coby and Caleb admiring the trains on Main Street. 

Waiting for the evening parade!

A visit to Downtown Disney

March 10, 2014

We decided to take Coby to Disneyland as a short trip away from home and somewhere that likely would intrigue him. He knows about the Cars characters and Mickey Mouse, though doesn't know most of the other characters. He definitely was very interested in anything train-related that he saw.

Our tickets were 1-day passes (didn't think he could handle more than 1 day), so on the first day, we just explored Downtown Disney. Turns out his favorite thing was a parking shuttle tram! Even though we were not parked in the parking lot, we boarded the tram and rode it back and forth a few times. He thought it was the best train ride! He also was very intrigued by the construction vehicles in downtown Disney working on the different buildings. Lucky for us, we caught a "crane parade" when all the construction vehicles retreated for the evening in a big long line down the road - who needs the official Disney parades when the construction parades are more exciting (that's what Coby thought at least..)

In Downtown Disney, he loved the Lego store and a store where you can make a customized car. He played with his first remote control car there and really loved making it move and watching it go fast and slow. At the Lego store, he built some cars from legos and raced them.

Welcome to Downtown Disney!

Loving the parking lot tram "train" ride

First try at using a remote control car

Building a race car (and an airplane) outside the Lego Store

Testing out Coby's lego car on the race track

Building inside The Lego Store

Fist bump with the Hulk

Beauty and the Beast lego-style

The (un)"official" Disney crane parade!

Tired after a day in Downtown Disney!

One crab, two crab

It is dungeness crab season here. There are lots of crabs being caught by fishermen in Half Moon Bay. Jeff went with some friends and bought a few crabs from the boats at Johnson Pier.

He'll Be Coming Around the Mountain...

We decided while staying near Mt Hood it would be a good opportunity to take Coby skiing for the first time. It is best to learn when you are young though we weren't sure how balanced he would be. He had seen people skiing at Timberline earlier in the week and seemed interested. He was so interested that at the house he wanted to try skiing with remote controls taped to his feet!

We rented skis for him in Welches, OR, near where we were staying. It was only $10 for boots and skis for him and $2.50 for a helmet, so seemed like it was worth trying and see what he would do.
We drove to Mt Hood Meadows which had a really great beginner area with two magic carpets! One was a small magic carpet really geared to small kids and the other one was a long magic carpet, even encapsulated in a tunnel. He called both of them "ski trains" and wanted to keep riding them. He stayed on his skis for 2 hours practicing. By the time we were leaving, Jeff was able to let go of him for short periods for him to balance and glide along on his own. He really liked it, never complained, and kept saying "again?" to go back up to the top and come back down. Looking forward to taking him again sometime, maybe to Tahoe next season!

Ski Bowl - Mt Hood

Today we took Coby to Ski Bowl at Mt Hood to see if he would like tubing. There wasn't much snow and the existing snow was man made but he did seem to like it. He went down in the tube once. He was more interested in riding the moving walk magic carpet up which he called a train. They also had a small indoor play structure which he tried. Jeff was able to tow him in his own sled at the bottom of the hill too.

Coby's Second Birthday

We had a small train-themed birthday party with Coby with a few friends and family.