California Dreamin' - Day 4 (Last Day in Disney and Drive up the Coast)

Clay was a total trooper for our last day in Disney.  Especially considering that the night before, he woke screaming and in desperate need of cuddles.  The verdict?  Teething with his molars and K-9 teeth; poor baby.  Oh and add on to that slightly sunburned ear lobes.  WOW talk about Mama guilt, we put sunscreen on him every 2 hours , had him in a bucket had and if he was in his stroller we had the shade pulled over him and yet his sweet little lobes got some sun.  By the morning he was pretty subdued but didn't seem adverse to going to Disney again so away we went (and this time with a game plan!).


We were at the park right when it opened and headed straight for fantasy land (that part of the park is chronically busy so our plan was to ride as much as possible as quickly as possible - check!)  We went to Dumbo First:

Waiting to ride Dumbo

Clay thought Dumbo was pretty rad!

Peter Pan

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

The Tea Cups!  Clay checking out the wheel!

Alice in Wonderland

 After Alice in Wonderland, we road the Story Book ride (we did all of that in just over 1 hour) and then made a b-line for California Adventure!  I pretty much did a full speed sprint with Clay over to Toy Story Mania (Jim was getting us fast passes for another ride).  That part of the park is amazing - it's set up like an old school board walk complete with a wooden bridge; ironically, my brisk pace lulled our little guy to sleep... like passed out cold - so here he is waiting eagerly for us to ride Toy Story Mania (no worries, he actually got a pretty decent nap - we were at the ride within 3 minutes of the park opening but the line had already woven itself through all the stanchions and was a good 50 yards past the ride itself.)

We had to wake him up to get on the ride; I am sure that was pretty startling (this ride is in 3-D and it whips you around from station to to station).

Merry go round - Clay loved his sea-otter!

Clay got to meet Woody!  Which is perfect, because he got to draw inspiration for what will most likely be his Halloween costume (especially since Toy Story 3 was the first movie he "saw")

Mommy and Clay as action heroes - pretty lame pose.

 Then it was back to A Bug's Life to the awesome caterpillar ride that Clay loved!

Look at all those teeth - and you can't even see the teeth he was cutting on that trip!

Lady Bug ride (just like the little tea cups).

Then we did Flick's Great Adventure and the Monster's Inc. Ride. 

Clay even got to give Mr. Incredible a high five!

After that, we decided we just get a pair of Mickey Mouse ears and call it a day since we were headed up to Santa Barbara but as luck would have it, Mickey came out for pictures while Jim was getting Clay's Mouse Ears! 

Just before meeting Mickey (and just before spitting up right before meeting Mickey)

Before we walked up to Mickey, Clay was pointing and laughing and smiling at him, but up close and personal, he was a bit more reserved.

After a quick lunch and we packed up for Santa Barbara.  But not before a great reminder that we should feel blessed for each day we have with Clay but should also be grateful that he gets to grow up and that we shouldn't wish to keep him young forever (we saw an elderly couple with their mentally challenged son - I was literally thinking at that moment, gosh, I hope Clay stays a baby for as long as possible.  I quickly re-evaluated my thoughts and realized, it's better to be so thankful for the moments we have with him as a baby and realize how blessed we are that he gets to grow up and eventually be an adult because there are people who, for their children's benefit, wish their children could grow up.  That being said, our first family of three visit to Disney was great and it came with a life lesson as well!


Clay slept for most of the drive to Santa Barbara.  When he did wake up, I kept him entertained with one of the most ridiculous versions of Old McDonald ever.  We got checked into our hotel, scouted out a restaurant for dinner, went back to the hotel while Jim went and picked up our yummy food, ate, got Clay bathed and crashed.