California Vacation...part 1

We had such a fun time in California on our vacation last week...this is going to be a long post or a few long posts. I took so many pictures while we were there. We flew out on Sunday the 19th and stayed until last Friday, the 24th. Both flights went really well. I was kind of worried beforehand because we hadn't gotten a seat for Gunnar since we don't have to till he's 2.
Here he is having fun playing and eating while we wait for our plane...

And both of them together waiting...
(get used to Ashton's "Cheeese" smile...you'll see it in almost all of our vacation pics)On the flight out I just had tons of stuff to entertain both of them, and they did fine. Everyone told me to give Gunnar benadryl, but I didn't and he still did great. We did playdough, color wonders, stickers, had snacks etc... and he only got a little wiggly at the very end. He never fell asleep since he was on my lap the whole time, but we were just relieved that we didn't have any meltdowns! Of course Ashton loved it, especially when there was any turbulence. He wanted "more bumps". After we got off the plane and put Gunnar in the stroller, he zonked out......and we went and got our rental car and drove to Carlsbad where we stayed for the week. That drive was kind of long because for whatever reason on a Sunday afternoon there was a ton of traffic. At one point Ashton whined "But Daaaddddyyyy...we're driving as slow as the parade cars!" Too funny! But really we were. It would have only been a 20 minute drive but turned into an hour. Oh well once we got there and the boys got to get out and play they were happy. We stayed about a block from the beach in a little rental condo that had a full kitchen... and bedroom...nice bathroom... ...and a fold out couch for Ashton in the living room. We put Gunnar in with us in a pak'n'play. We loved the place we stayed at! Our first night we got settled in and walked a couple blocks and got some good mexican food, then came back and just let the boys play around the condo and went to bed.

Day 2 we spent mostly at the beach. Both of them loved it.

Ashton ran in and out of the waves forever... ...and Gunnar covered himself from head to toe in sand. Then we went back and let Gunnar have a nap, then went to the nearby Outlet stores. It's always hard to shop with the kids, but I did get a few things at the Carter's outlet.

Tuesday we got up and got ready for Legoland.

It was only a 10 minute drive from where we stayed which was awesome. We decided that the less time we had to spend in the car on this trip, the better. And Legoland was awesome!

Especially for Ashton at his age. He loved everything about it. All of the amazing lego creations of everything you could imagine...
Here I am with the boys and the lego Mom with her lego baby...

Ashton with the lego Dad and boy... The rides... (here's Ashton waiting patiently for one) ...the water area where he got sopping wet and could spray things with water. But most of all he got to go on his first roller coaster and he loved it! He kept going back again and again and even talked me into going on one of them with him. I'm not a big ride person, but I really wanted to see his reaction on it and it was so worth it! As we were getting on I told him I was nervous and he reassured me "Don't be scared Mommy, if you hold on tight you won't fall and crack your head open." Thanks Ashton! It was so fun to sit next to him and hear him giggle and laugh and say how much fun it was! And after one of the big dips he turned to me and said "Is it fun?" in the voice that we use with him and Gunnar. So funny!
Gunnar obviously couldn't go on too many things, but he had fun just wandering around looking at stuff and played in the water a little. He eventually fell asleep in the stroller that day and slept for awhile while Lars kept taking Ashton on the roller coasters. It was nice that Ashton was above the height requirement for almost all of the rides there. After a long day we went back to our condo and hung out for a little while, then went and got pizza for dinner.

That is all I can do for tonight...stay tuned for Part 2.