Vacation after a Vacation

After we got home from California I had to make a trip back to Mansfield to pick up Scout.  My mom so graciously watched her while we were gone, and was ready for her to leave, I'm sure!  Lane and I stayed a while since he was set to start school soon and this would be one of the last long visits we could have before he went back.  It was a little "vacation after a vacation!"

Shopping buddies!

Our first time to In-N-Out Burger since it came to Texas!

Proud of his Disneyland shirt he got on our vacation.

Babysitting this happy girl while her Mommy and Daddy were out and about

 

Hitching a ride with her big cousin!

Attempts at a cousin picture...

 

Patty-cake with Mums

My mom had some water balloons that we filled up for Lane to play with out back.  He absolutely LOVED them!  

 

 

Rather excited!

 

 

His "modeling" pose

 

 

California Day 3

We woke up on day 3 in California and Lane had to do some pirate work on his "ship."  Nothing cuter than a pirate in his undies!

 

We got dressed and headed out to breakfast.  Lane wore his "muscle shirt" and was showing off his guns.

 

Breakfast buffet...YUM!

After breakfast, we went into downtown Laguna to do some shopping.  Well...Daddy took Lane to the beach and a cool playground while Mommy walked around and shopped!  I got a couple of things from a cute surf shop and did some window shopping.

Then, we went back to the room to change and go swimming!  Lane loved opening our hotel door with the key.

Since we had already visited the chilly beach, we decided to hit up the pool.  It was chilly too!!  Lane enjoyed dips in the hot tub and kept saying "Ahhhhh, it's so warm!"  We lounged in our chairs and ate a light lunch from the pool cabana.

Looking the part!  Such a cool guy!

After our swim, we went back to the room for nap/shower time, and then headed out to our last dinner in Cali.  We had reservations at Splashes, which was at a resort right on the water.  It had a beautiful view and was really delicious.  Since we hadn't gotten any decent family pics while we were there, we walked down to the beach and a nice man snapped a couple for us.  He was even able to get a smile out of Lane!

 

I let Lane throw some bread pieces out to the birds and he loved trying to throw them into the ocean.  Made for some cute pics of him smiling in the sand!

A huge wave came up and DRENCHED his shorts.  He took it like a champ and even sat through dinner with wet pants.  (Of all the nights to forget a change of pants.  All I had with me were bright red sweatpant shorts, so we just stuck with the wet khakis!)

 

A sunset shot of my little man.

We finished our delicious meal and headed back to our hotel to get packed up and ready for another EARLY flight the next morning!

California Day 2 - Disneyland!

Our hotel in Laguna Beach was only a 40 minute drive to Disneyland, so we decided to take Lane for a day.  We got there around 10am and immediately hit the rides!

First up was the teacups.  Mommy gets motion sick easily, especially on spinning teacups, so it was just Daddy and Lane on this one!

 

We rode Alice in Wonderland's caterpillar ride and Lane wanted to ride with Daddy again.  I got stuck in the front alone!

 

Standing in line for "It's a Small World."

It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all,

It's a small, small world!

We hopped on the Jungle Cruise

Had a late afternoon snack

A tired Lane, not wanting a picture taken in front of the castle.

Disney Storybook ride

We met Mickey!  Lane wouldn't go by himself, so Mommy and Daddy jumped in.

As we were leaving Lane kind of desperately said "Bye bye, Mickey Mouse."  It was as if he knew he blew his chance to talk to the famous mouse!  He then got brave and gave Mickey a high five and a big smile.

What's next, Mom?

Gift shop time!  With some guidance from Dad, Lane decided on a Pirate dress up set.

Happy boy!

We sat down to wait for the parade to start and Lane practiced his pirate skills with his telescope.

Ready to see some characters on the floats!

Full pirate attire!

Here they come!

Waving to the characters

Lane was showing Tinkerbell his sword and she crossed her arms and then put her hands on her hips.  He thought it was really funny!

We also saw a show while we were there that was pretty cute, but I didn't get any good pictures from it.  We had a great time!  It was a lot hotter in Anaheim than it was in Laguna, so we were glad to get back to cooler temps that night!  We rested, took our showers, and got ready for dinner.  Lane insisted on wearing his pirate gear to the restaurant.  

What a fun day!  Looking back at the pictures, I noticed Lane wasn't smiling near as much as he normally does.  I think he was a little overwhelmed, hot, and tired.  He also is pretty unpredictable about how he will react to situations.  Sometimes I think "He'll LOVE this!" and then he could care less, and other times he goes crazy over something very simple and ordinary!  It also doesn't help that he has become very grouchy and opinionated about taking pictures.  Yay for age 3 1/2!  :)  Despite the non-smiles, he did have a great time and still talks about his favorite parts and asks when we can go back.  He said his favorite part about Disneyland was the train ride with the dinosaurs.  (We took a short train from one end of the park to the other and it passed by a dinosaur exhibit.)  See, simple and ordinary, and he LOVED it!