Jude's Six Month Shoot

In October we did Jude's 6 month photo shoot with Sara Seeton.  We have just loved her.  Even when I think the kids didn't smile once or were totally not cooperating, she gets the perfect picture.

It was the first really cold weekend we had in 2012, and I think it was like 40 degrees outside so we were freezing.  This is a picture she took just to warm up and check the lighting, but it turned out so cute of Bella all bundled up with her Little Dog.

Even though it is Jude's photo shoot, we use the chance to all get pictures!  So here are a few of all of us.

This one is funny to me.  Jude is like 'give me back my hat!'

Sibling love...

My little pumpkin...

Ok, this one is seriously my favorite.  He was doing ok until we put him in the wagon, then he was just DONE...

With mom and dad...

I can't believe that was 6 months and we are about to do our 1 year session!  Where did the year go?  I swear he was JUST born.

Adventures by Disney

During our stay we got to experience two different Adventures by Disney tours.  These are land tours just like tour companies have all over the world, only they are run by Disney.  The first one was their Behind the Magic tour, where we got to go in Walt's Apartment above Main Street, the other was a tour from our hotel to Hollywood to see Grauman's Chinese theater, the Kodak Theater (now called Dolby) and other sites around LA.  These are our tour guides Michael and....yeah I can't remember the other guy's name, but they were so fun and why ABD is a great choice if you ever want to tour another country, or somewhere in the US!

The Harry Potter clans hand prints in front of Grauman's.

We also went to the Walt Disney Studios, and got to go to the archives.  I saw this Mousercise record that I totally had as a kid.  I could still sing the song 'Come on everybody and Mousercise, let the music move you 'til you're carried away....'

Also at the Walt Disney Studios they had Disney legend hand prints.  I am a HUGE Elton John fan so I took a pic...

The dwarves hold up the roof...

All over Disney Parks you see hidden mickeys.  Here we found a hidden Gus Gus!

They have actually since discontinued the tour of LA, but they still do the Behind the Magic.  If you are ever at Disneyland and want a little extra magic, I would recommend it highly!

Disneyland Hotel Rooms

For an entire day we toured something like 12 hotels.  We were exhausted by the end, but learned so much good stuff!  Again, my pictures were rushed and taken with an iPhone, so I promise the rooms aren't actually blurry. =)

First was the Paradise Pier hotel, which is one of the three hotels on Disneyland property.  This is the 'cheapest' option if you want to stay on property, but will still cost you a pretty penny.  The rooms are cute, beach themed rooms.  Here is a picture of the double room.

This is a view from one of the rooms with the theme park view. 

This is one of the pool side rooms that has a patio.  Only a few rooms at this hotel have a patio or balcony of any kind and these are them. 

Those rooms look out at this pool.

Next up was the Disneyland hotel.  This was the first hotel at Disneyland, and has recently been completely redone.  This is the double room and if you can't tell, the big headboard over the beads lights up with a fireworks show.

Look carefully at whose hand is holding the light fixture.

This is a king room with the same headboard, but this one isn't on.

The Disneyland hotel has the monorail pool, with two slides.  You can only use this pool if you are staying at this hotel and it is a huge draw for a lot of people.

The other great thing about the Disneyland hotel is Trader Sams.  This is a really cool tiki bar.  They have a few drinks that if you order them, things happen in the bar.  Like one makes some stuff on the shelves dance, and another makes the bar feel like you are going through a monsoon with thunder and lightning.  Seriously a must see if you go.

Since we were on the west coast, we decided to make a quick day trip out to Hawaii and check out the rooms at Aulani on Oahu.

Ok, not really.  They have fake rooms set up here for people thinking about buying in to Disney's Vacation Club, which is basically their time share.  So we got to see what the rooms at Aulani look like and now I am even more dying to go!

The duvet with hidden mickeys...

The breakfast nook...

The kitchen...

Now obviously not every room at Aulani has the big suites, but this at least gives an idea what the rooms and decor look like.

The other resort on Disneyland property is the Grand Californian.  That is the hotel we were staying in so we didn't tour it and I didn't take any pictures!  Sorry.  If you have ever stayed at Wilderness Lodge at Disney World, the theming is very similar.

I won't bore you with pictures of every 2, 3 and 4 star hotel we saw, but I do like a few of them so I will just show a couple. This is the Fairfield Inn across from Disneyland.  They are the only ones we saw who had some Disney themed rooms.

Cars Theme...

Club 33

During our tour of Disneyland, we got to do some pretty cool behind the scenes stuff that normally no one would get to see.  One of them was have breakfast at Club 33.  This is a very elite club at Disneyland that you wait on a list for years to join and it costs a fortune once your number comes up.  This is where Walt used to eat and hob nob, so it was pretty exciting when we found out we were going up!

Here are a few pictures inside...

These are the toilets.  They were so funny we all took pictures...

A picture of Walt eating in Club 33...

The super fancy elevator...

Disneyland and the New Cars Land

In September I went on a training trip with my company to Disneyland.  We got to experience a lot of things, so I have broken them up in to separate blogs.  It is my plan in the next year to start a travel only blog that I can post reviews of trips that I take, so I may go in to a lot of detail, but hopefully if you are considering a trip to Disneyland you will find it helpful!  If you are just a casual follower of my blog, then hopefully you won't find my details too boring, and you can just browse the (not so great, taken from my iPhone) pictures!

The first day I got there early so I could enjoy one day of the parks without an agenda.  First up was Disneyland.  Sleeping Beauty castle is so quaint compared to Cinderella Castle, but as I have said in another blog about Disneyland, I feel like this park is so charming and magical in a totally different way than Walt Disney World.  It is smaller and more intimate, and this is where Walt walked and planned and lived.  So something about it is just enchanting.

 

One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  It is a great thrill ride and the attention to detail starting in the queue all the way through is one of the reasons that Disney parks stand head and shoulders above other theme parks.  It is a do not miss ride for sure! 

Next up was the California Adventure theme park.  If you have not been to Disneyland, but have experienced the World, one splendid thing about Disneyland is how close everything is.  You walk out of one park gate, across a plaza for about 100 feet, and in to the gate of the other theme park.  If you take a right out of Disneyland, in about 30 seconds you are in Downtown Disney and within walking distance of the Disney hotels.  SO easy.

The big new thing at California Adventure, of course, is Cars Land.  I am sort of ashamed to say I had not seen the movie, so we had a Cars movie night at my house before I left.  It is a good thing I did, or I would never have been able to truly appreciate, once again, that Disney attention to detail!  We were told that cast members have heard more than one child ask their parent 'Mommy is this where they filmed the movie?'.  Haha, but it looks JUST like the town from the movie, Radiator Springs.  You can check in at the Cozy Cone motel...

Have lunch at Flo's V8 Diner...

Meet Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen...

 

Look at this amazing rock work.  Would you ever guess those are nothing but fancy backdrops?

 

  

Cars Land has three rides.  I don't have pictures of the Luigi's Flying Tire ride, but maybe that is because I didn't love it.  You are in a giant tire, on sort of a huge air hockey type floor where there is air shooting up to move the tires and you just lean which way you want to go and play bumper tires with other people.  Eh.

The next is Mater's Junk Yard Jamboree.  This one is a lot more fun that I first thought it might be.  There are these catchy square dancing type tunes playing sung by Mater, and the tractors swing you around.  I get motion sick very easily and I had no problem with this ride!

 

 

The major attraction (E Ticket in Disney-ease) is the Radiator Racers.  Try saying it three times fast, I can't even say it once.  This ride is, for lack of a better word, awesome.  I think it might be in my top 5 theme park rides ever.  It is so cleverly done with classic dark ride elements as well as thrill ride with some racing involved.  I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say GO RIDE IT!  Here is a group from my company in their car!

Our first big night there we got to eat at the new Carthay Circle restaurant.  It is one of the two really upscale dining options at Disneyland.  The other being Napa Rose, which is absolutely delicious.  Carthay Circle had things like Firecracker Duck Wings and Goat Cheese Ravioli and it was all absolutely delicious.  I would highly recommend it. 

The next day we got to tour some of the behind the scenes stuff at Disneyland and made a pit stop for lunch at the Big Thunder Ranch.  It is a family style BBQ place, and while I don't know that my barbecue aficionado husband would put it up against Lockharts or Franklins, I still thought it was pretty tasty.  Also, when I first look at this picture I think 'oh it is outside, must be hot!', because I am used to Disney World.  However, in California the weather is awesome just about all the time.  One more perk of Disneyland!

Pam and Heather at BTR...

That night we were treated to a showing of World of Color.  We all got Glow with the Show ears to take home with us.  These are new and light up along with WOC and Fantasmic, and I think they are planning more in the future.  They change colors depending on what part of the show you see!

Lovely night shot of the Mickey Wheel...

World of Color is so neat.  I don't really even know how to describe it, but it is a lot of water screens and fountains set to music with projections on them.  The picture below doesn't really do it any kind of justice, but I wanted to give an idea...

I am putting the other parts of my Disneyland trip in other posts so you don't fall asleep reading a novel size blog post!  Stay tuned...