Meeting Mickey Mouse

This morning we woke Evan at 9am...he didn't get to sleep till 11pm, but thats another story. He is sleeping so much, I think its the timezone confusion and of course all the mental and physical stimulation.

We had a 1015 booking for Minnie & Friends character breakfast in Disneyland Park. I had been told that it was the best character breakfast as there is the most interaction and also the food is great...Hah!!! People who think this are seriously deluded.

Although our booking was for 1015 we weren't seated till almost 11am and only after I complained. They said they had been calling us for 20min... I don't think so we were standing right there in front of the desk the whole time... Grrrrr

Anyway Evan really doesn't like waiting for the characters to come to you. Unfortunately that is how its done. You wait at your table till the characters come around. Mmmmm that sort of doesn't work when the come close and then leave. Not a happy 2 yo. Anyway Mummy complained to the character supervisor and eventually Tigger, Minnie Mouse and Eyeore came to visit us. Tigger was really cute and had Evan bouncing around chasing him.

The food was absolutely disgusting. The bacon was basically just gristle, the sausages - pure fat, the waffles were smothered in whipped cream and the french toast was limp and greasy. I couldn't believe how people were tucking in with such gusto. Evan ate almost nothing and we had coffee.

After that little misadventure we went to Mickeys Toontown to meet the man himself at his house. You walk through Mickey's house and right at the end you are escorted into a room to meet Mickey and have photos with him. Evan loved it. He was so excited when he saw Mickey in person. He gave him the biggest hug. It funny as he has been quite weary of the other characters, but not Mickey.

As we were leaving Evan goes " I met Mickey" and then proceeded to tell anyone that was within earshot the same thing.... very cute.

We also went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Evan was a bit shocked by all the noise and commotion. You sit in your 2 seater rocket ship and go through the galaxy armed with your own infrared blaster. The challenge is to hit as many aliens as you can to get a good score. Mummy & Evan didn't do that well, but at least Daddy did. We loved that ride as its new one that wasn't here when we were last at Disneyland in 2003. As we were leaving we walked through the Buzz shop and I got Evan a Buzz astroblaster, he then proceeded to annoy almost everyone in the park by zapping them and yelling "gotcha"...LOL

Had another ride on the teacups, easily his favourite ride after Its a Small World. There was no queue so it was an easy walkon, same with the Buzz ride. Let me say that waiting in line with a toddler can be challenging... so it was nice to give that part of it a miss.

Then it was time to go back to the hotel (or "home" as Evan calls it") for a well earned rest. Mummy and Evan had a good sleep, whilst DH did the washing. Its been so hot, that we have been going through several changes of clothes each day and I was running out. Still always an excuse to buy more. Unfortunately most of the stores only have winter clothes in stock. I tried desperately to buy Evan another pair of shorts yesterday, only to have to pay $34USD for a pair of quicksilver cargos....they are cheaper in Australia.

Tonight DH took Evan back to Disneyland whilst mummy went and did more shopping. I had a great time at Old Navy and got some great bargains. Evan and DH did the Disneyland train and Its a Small World (again). Evan was back in bed by 8pm, so hopefully we will get an earlier start tomorrow.

Unfortunately still having problems uploading pics to Blogger. I think its the internet connection and the firewall they are using as I have the same problem at work. Will try and create an album on photobucket to see if that works. Will then post a link if I succeed.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow....

Ok the image above has been imbedded, so thats why its so big. Too hard to do the rest that way, so here is a photobucket link, just click to see the Disneyland slide show so far. There are lots more pics on the "real"camera and video too. But don't have the energy for that tonight.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v663/sydangel68/Disneyland/?action=view&slideshow=true

The Journey to Disneyland

Well we are in Anaheim at last. We left Sydney at 130pm on Saturday and got here at 1030am Saturday, love the time difference. The flight was ok, Evan slept for about 4 hrs but only with me holding him. Lets just say I ache all over from holding a 16kg little boy for so many hours. Still at least he got some sleep. Neither George or I have had any yet and its 9pm here on Saturday night. Evan crashed and burned at about 6pm tonight whilst we were in Target getting some nappies and other supplies. We got him back to the hotel and into bed without waking him, so he must have been shattered.

Update: Started this post last night and couldn't finish it, so went to bed. Its now Sunday morning 7am and I am wide awake after a good nights sleep. George has gone in search of a spa/sauna at the hotel's fitness centre to rest his weary muscles. Evan of course is still asleep. He woke briefly last night at 11pm to tell me that its daytime and time to get up. I convinced him otherwise and he has been asleep since..LOL

Today we have breakfast at 1030 at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. Its a character brunch where Evan will get a chance to get up close and personal with all the Disney gang and enjoy brunch at the same time. Lucky I booked for that time as I think Mr Sleepyhead will be down for awhile longer. Hoping he has a huge day sleep as tonight we have premiumn seats for Fantastmic at Disneyland. Its not till 9pm. Its like a shortened version of Fanstasia done with holograms and other special effects on the Rivers of America within Disneyland. Lets hope its not too scary for Evan.

Yesterday we briefly ventured to DownTown Disney and Evan got his first glimpse of all the Disney Merchanise on offer. Purchases included 2 Mickey tshirts, 1 Captain Hook Mickey, 1 Mickey lollypop, some Mickey sunglasses and a Pirates of the Caribean Donald Duck for the bath. I think that was pretty good given that the World of Disney Store is the largest in the world. Its massive and has so much to chose from, Evan was a bit overwhelmed.

We then had some lunch at a funky New Orleans type place. Evan had the kids meal which was mini corn dogs with smilie fries. I haven't seen him eat that much for a long time. He loved the min corn dogs, they were basically hot dogs cut into bit sized pieces covered in cornmeal and fried. Got to love then healthy American food.

Here are some pics of him wearing his sunnies, eating the lollypop and trying a corn dog. Promise to take more pics today. I was operating in sleep deprivation mode yesterday. Grrrr it isn't loading the pics. Will try again later.

Animals Animals Animals

Evan and his friends Charles(top), Jackson (bottom left) and Guy (bottom right)

Today we had a fabulous day at Taronga Zoo, here in Sydney. Jackson is the lucky boy whose father is a Zoo Keeper!!!! What a great job. Anyway Jackson got to invite 3 of his friends and families to the Zoo for the day. It was awesome. We arrived at 9am and spent sometime at the Zoo education centre. Evan got to pat a baby croc...CRIKEY! (RIP Steve), an echidna, a koala, a turtle and get very up close and personal with an over friendly Emu. Evan loved the hands on experience and so did mummy and daddy.

Here are some pictures of the day... the boys were worn out and ready for a nap by Noon. They insisted on running everywhere, looking for more animals as they went.



This is Evan giving the little baby croc a pat. Apparently those little teeth can pack a mean bite.

The boys also discovered a big old tortoise in the yard, which had to be harrassed. They were fascinated by the size of it and its hard shell.






Evan was a bit disappointed that there weren't any elephants. We hope they will get here one day. Meanwhile the cement elephant did the trick in keeping happy.

Busy Weekend

These were the highlights.....

Sunday was Aunty Simone's birthday, so we got a couple of dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and headed over to make a "special donut" cake.

Evan as usual thought it was his birthday and helped blow out the candles and of course devoured at least 2 donuts.

He was chanting "donuts, donuts, donuts". His daddy was so proud that we have a little "Homer".

Sunday afternoon was haircut time. I really like Evan with short hair, but the barber did a less than stellar job. I am really disappointed compared to last time. I am tempted to take him somewhere else this weekend and get it "fixed". Only problem is he gets so distressed when he gets the haircut, that I am not sure thats its worth the trauma. Will see if the do settles down by the end of the week.

What do you think?

Sunshine

My mum has a special song that she sings to Evan and he has now started to sing along to it. Its amazing how quickly he can learn the words to songs. Yesterday I found him in his room singing it to himself and then of course he clapped himself too!

A New Pram!

Yes I went shopping on Sunday and came home with a new pram... I am almost embarrassed to admit it.

I got the Quinny Zapp in black, its amazing. At 16.5kg, most strollers struggle under Evan's weight, where as this stroller just glides along. It can hold to 22kg, so we will get quite a bit of use from it.

Its mainly for our trip as we needed something that we could take on board the plane, and this folds up very small and has its own carry bag. I was dreading landing at LAX and having to carry and exhausted toddler through customs and immigration. My last experience with immigration at LAX is that it can take over a hour. This way Evan can sit comfortably in the stroller and maybe even have a nap.

The best part is he loves it and wants to keep going for rides in it. Lucky I can fold it up and put it out of sight for now..

Here he is testing it out.....

Happy Fathers Day

Evan had a wonderful fathers day with his Popoo (Grandad) and Daddy. We went to Coggee Beach for Breakfast. Evan thought its was great as he got to ride his scooter whilst waiting for the food to come. Plus he got lots of cuddles and kisses from his grandparents.

He ate 3 little chippolata sausages which is very unusual as he rarely eats more than a couple of bites at breakfast time. Must have been all the sea air. As a treat he then got some strawberries and ice cream. Yes Christmas had come early for Evan!!!

After breakfast it was time to check out the beach and have some more time on the scooter. He even contemplated taking his scooter down to the sand but we were able to convince him it wasn't a good idea.

I can see a trend emerging