Visiting the most magical place on earth with the most amazing person in the world...

For all intents and purposes, my father was a Southern California native. Growing up it was our family tradition to visit Disneyland once a year. My Dad hated traffic and crowds, so he would pull us out of school in the spring time for two days or so and we would pile into the mini-van and drive there. We continued this tradition until he passed away.

Fast forward almost 18 years...

(Blake's First Mickey Ears.)

The opportunity to continue this tradition presented itself between Blake's complete obsession with Mickey Mouse, his fearlessness of rides, and my need to see Disneyland at Christmastime. Of course it didn't go off without a few hiccups. This time we chose to fly... $90-ish dollars round trip and Blake flies free- who wouldn't take up that offer. Sure beats 14-ish hours in the car and $300+ dollars in gas!

(B on his first airplane trip.)

We arrived in Long Beach in the morning and the first hiccup was that Blake's ginormous stroller didn't fit in the trunk of our rental car. Luckily they let us upgrade for like $10 a day to an SUV and all was well! Next, while driving to our hotel, Noah remembers that he left all four (Grandma & Grandpa Frederito came with us) Disneyland tickets at home. This leads us to scour local supermarkets in hopes of getting the resident/local Disneyland discount. That didn't happen... Something better did. When we finally get to Disneyland later that morning, Noah- being the discount freak that he is, asks about a military rate. Mind you, this is not something that is advertised anywhere- they had one... $99 for a 3-day park hopper! That is the STEAL of the century, seriously. 

(Family photo op!)

Disneyland was a lot of fun and Blake was able to go on a lot of the rides- He would have been able to go on Pirates of the Caribbean had it been open (not that I am still dwelling on that or anything!). His very first Disneyland ride was Dumbo the flying elephant, and I have to say his favorite was It's a Small World. That poor kid didn't even really nap that day, way too much excitement! My most favorite moment of the whole trip was when Blake met Mickey Mouse. He kept on touching his face and he was so amazed that he was 'real'. He also got his first pair of Mickey Ears!  He was pooped by the end of the day, but he wouldn't sleep in his own porta-crib so we ended up putting him in bed with us. For those two nights Noah and I got absolutely no sleep- he would sleep crawl around the bed, and we would get a kick in the face of a punch in the ribs. 

(Blake's first Disneyland ride EVER!)

(Cousin Love after riding Dumbo.)

Day number 2 at Disneyland ended up being sort of a bust. The weather was awful- and when I mean awful, I mean torrential downpour. I thought the weather was always nice in Southern California! We decided that morning to give the day a shot, it wasn't raining yet. The day lasted until about 1. However, we did get some good souvenir shopping in that day, Blake and his cousin, Keaton, got the most adorable matching Mickey Mouse sweatshirts and we picked up our yearly Christmas ornament addition for our tree- a pair of Mickey Ears!

(Keaton & Blake cousin love in matching sweatshirts.)

(He's Real!!!!)

Day number 3 was also the day we were flying home, but we gave Disneyland one more try. We went on a few rides, took pictures with Pluto, and soaked in the Disneyland Christmas time magic. If you love Disneyland, I highly suggest going during the holidays, it is absolutely incredible... Sleeping Beauty's castle at night when it's lit up is, without a doubt, magical! However, don't do what we did, and go on the FIRST weekend the Christmas decorations are up, which coincidentally, is also Thanksgiving break. By the end of the trip we were all exhausted and grumpy, and believe me, it was completely evident on the flight home. However, all grumpy-ness aside, it was incredible to be able to take Blake there and share in the excitement that my father shared with me so many years ago.

 (B & Mommy in Mickey's Car.)

(Can't beat these Christmas Lights!)

Big Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Gabe & Aunt Jen, and Grace and Keaton for coming with us! Can't wait for the next Disneyland trip! :)

(We got stuck on the Casey Jr. Train ride... They won't let you take pictures, but I snuck one!)

Fast Forwarding through the Fall.

(Baby B Cuteness.)

I have been an awful mommy blogger for the last few months.  In my defense, I had just gone back to school for the first time since being preggers with Blake and boy did it take a lot out of me! By the time winter break came around I didn't want anything to do with the computer and just wanted to sit on the couch and catch up on my favorite shows that were eating up all the space on the DVR! Believe me, there were SEVERAL times where I opened up my computer to write a new blog but I just couldn't do it. Well, and I would get swallowed up by that black hole of a thing called Pinterest. So this blog entry is going to pay homage to all the fun fall things that we did... I'll probably have to write a separate entry for our big Disneyland trip but we will start with October...

OCTOBER.

(All of us at the Pumpkin Farm.)

One of our favorite past times in October, especially because we live in the middle of NOWHERE, is to go to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland.  We made a few trips last year which made mommy happy because their desserts are to-die-for! Blake loves all the animals in the petting zoo and mommy loves their corn dogs. It's a win-win situation!  I think we actually went three times this year. Once just our family, once with Grandma & Grandpa Frederito, and once with our BFF's, Hamson & M. We had a pretty warm fall this year so the weather on all three trips was really nice. Gosh, I love that place...

(Keaton, Grace, & Blake at Apple Hill.)

We also took a trip to Apple Hill with Grandma & Grandpa Frederito, Aunt Jen & Uncle Gabe, and B's cousins, Grace & Keaton.  I had only gone to Apple Hill maybe once or twice before a LONG time ago.  Don't get me wrong, it is really fun, however, going on a Saturday in the middle of October/November is a horribly, awful idea. The traffic is insane, it honestly took us an hour to get anywhere once we got to Apple Hill, and the place is just jam packed with a zillion people.  Next time, we are going in the middle of the week. Seriously.  All negativity aside, it was a great day with the family and Blake LOVES hanging out with his cousins!

(Our little Elephant.)

For Halloween this year Blake was an elephant, and oh was he a cute little elephant. Luckily, we get elephant costume cuteness more than once a year because cousin Grace has her annual costume birthday party every year! 

NOVEMBER.

(B at Disney on Ice)

November slowed down for us but just a little bit. The month kicked off with a special mommy-Blakey date to Disney on Ice. B is OBSESSED with all things Mickey Mouse, that kid will stop ice cold in his tracks the second Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on the TV. In fact, the only thing allowing me to successfully write this blog entry is Mickey Mouse. Anyhow, he loved the show, plus Mickey and Minnie hosts the show so whenever they would come out on ice Blake would just light up. It was so cute. November was also home of the first big Disneyland trip. However, I will share all Disneyland details in a separate entry.

(There!)

Obviously this Thanksgiving wasn't Blake's first, but it WAS B's first time eating all the Turkey Day yummy-ness. And boy, did he really enjoy it. Thanksgiving was a small event this year, unfortunately due to some family drama, Noah, Blake, & I had our first Thanksgiving together as our own family. It was really really nice to hang out at home, alternate Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and Football on the TV and smell all the goodness that was cooking in the kitchen.

(Thanksgiving Goodness!)

DECEMBER.

(Christmas morning kisses from Lily.)

Our little family tradition is to get a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving, so Blake donned his festive Paul Bunyan red and black checkered fleece vest and we got ourselves a great Christmas tree from Lowes. December is such a great month for me, I love the cold weather, hot Starbucks drinks, wrapping presents, and Christmas movies. I love a Charlie Brown Christmas, Noah loves a Christmas Story, and now Blake has a favorite Christmas show as well, and of course it involves Mickey Mouse. This was coincidental, and coincidentally it involves one of my favorite Blake memories. I was wanting to DVR a new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode so I stumbled across one that was an hour long and scheduled to record it. It is entitled Choo Choo Express and Blake is in LOVE with it. I noticed that when ever he would watch it he would say "Choo Choo" in the sweetest, cutest little B voice.  Now, he Choo-Choo's everywhere he goes, and I mean EVERYWHERE. When he wants to watch it he points at the TV and says "Choo-Choo!" His little Choo-Choo warms my heart like nothing else can. It is quite possibly my most favorite thing in the world! 

(In his jammies on the Polar Express!)

Speaking of trains, Blake got tickets to ride the Polar Express with all of his cousins.  The Polar Express train ride is a REALLY big deal here in Sacramento. The tickets sell out almost immediately and parents will come short of selling their souls to get their kids tickets.  I had no idea it was a big deal- until I read news articles and saw newscasts about how hard it is to get tickets. So thanks to B's Aunt Heidi, the whole family was able to score some tickets. It really was a lot of fun and something I think we might try to do every year. Especially if Blake continues on the train kick.

(Blake and all of his Christmas presents, obviously he was a good boy this year!)

Because B was an especially good boy this year he scored big time with Santa and everybody else who is in love with him! Santa brought him his very own Lego Duplo Choo Choo Train & Aunt Lisa gave him Rock Star Mickey. He also got LOTS of Lego Duplo, some Hot Wheels, The Little G plush giraffe by Little Giraffe, lots of books, a V-Tech Innotab, a ride on Mickey Car, a Mickey Mouse Pillow Pet, a pop-up tent and tunnel, and lots of clothes. He definitely scored and between his birthday and Christmas he doesn't need anymore toys for at least the next five years. Plus, we have no room for them! lol!

That pretty much gets us caught up to the present. 

(Playing XBox with Daddy.)

But, before I wrap up this novel, I wanted to share Blake's milestones and favorite things! At 15 (two days shy of 16) Months Old, Blake is growing by leaps and bounds. He says so many words, he can say 'mama', 'dada', 'dog', 'bad dog', 'hello', 'bye-bye', 'night-night', 'choo-choo', 'uh-oh', 'there', 'oh', and 'hot'. He is starting to say 'bath', 'milk', and 'love you', but it's not very clear or consistent- maybe in the next month or two. He seems to know a lot more than he can say, you can ask where something is and he will point at it and say 'there'. He is a budding nudist, and will take off his socks and pants. He will take his pants off if his diaper is full or if he has pooped, I think it is a sign of potty training, but the kid can't even walk yet!  He finally took two steps on his own last week while Grandma and Grandpa were watching him. Luckily I was around and got to witness it! So hopefully he will be walking in the next month or two. The kid loves to dance and sing, he LOVES music. He claps and head bobs. His favorites right now are the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hot Dog Song, Anything from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and LMFAO... Yes, I know the last one is totally and completely random! He has quite the personality, very independent and funny, yet so, so sweet and mellow. One of the funniest things he does is yell for his dad.  He will just yell 'DA' and it's so funny. It reminds me of Will Farrell's character from Wedding Crashers. He is such a sweet, loving, funny little boy and Noah & I are so incredibly blessed to be able to call him ours!

(No more Paparazzi, Mom!)