December was such a fun month!! Brad finished the semester with amazing grades and ready for a vacation! Since neither one of us are working we decided why not go to California for 2 weeks for Christmas?! So hold on to your mouse because it's a long fun month!
We were still wrapping Wilson's hand but had an appointment with the Burn Unit early in the month to check his hands healing progress and find out if he still needed it wrapped. We were really excited when they said he was healing perfectly, we celebrated with McDonald's and I didn't have to feed it to him!! Yay!!!
The celebrating didn't stop there, the next day momma decided we needed fresh HOT Krispy Kreme Donuts! Wilson loved it and I loved his bedhead!
There is something about this outfit that brings out the wild, mischievous, and adventurer in Wilson. He looks so cute but man he was into everything!
Daddy wasn't covering this UVU game so we decided to go as a family! Wilson loves "boosketball" and will sit and watch for a shocking amount of time. Wilson yells at players and refs, points to the hoop, and cheers when the ball goes in! By the end he was a little restless so we took selfies!
The older he gets the more and more I'm finding him doing funny and a lot of time naughty things or tricks! One of his new ones is climbing onto the table to look at the painting.
Since we were leaving to California pretty early in the month we did an early Christmas with Linda and Boop! We went to see Christmas Lights at a near by park and you just had to drive through, it was so much fun and Wilson loved having his window down to look at all the lights!
This is one of the tunnels you get to drive through! I loved all the colors and how they matched it up to music on a radio station!
It wouldn't be Christmas is we didn't make Grandma Olson's Sugar Cookies! Wilson loved eating the dough and lots of flour, he wasn't into decorating the next day, which was probably best because that would have been a little stressful. We went to the Bowles and decorated with them! It was the perfect way to make it feel like the holidays!
Just some cute pictures of our sweet boy. He looked so cute in his puffy coat and even cuter passed out like that! Shannon gave Wilson their second booster and he had a blast dragon that all around the apartment.
The best part of having a sister with a growing toddler is hand-me-downs! Jules and I were both giving the boys Mega Blocks for Christmas this year and Shannon gave us a big bin to split, Wilson was "helping" me.
We had a lot to do to get ready for our drive to California and one of those things was to get all the junk out of the trunk of the car, Wilson was having a blast with Brad's baseball gloves and a fun whiffle ball bat!
Brad and I have always left for California at 3AM so we beat traffic all the way down, this time we did hit some snow in the morning which slowed us down a bit but we were out of it after about 2 hours of driving. Wilson did really well and slept most of the morning and we stopped for breakfast in St. George. It was Wilson's first time in a play place and he thought it was the greatest and was not happy when it was time to go.
Brad has a love for Albertson's Chocolate Chip Cookies and we happened upon one in St. George so we had to get some. Turns out Wilson is a lot like his daddy and was loving the cookies too!
We made it!!! Wilson was so ready to be out of the car and I'm pretty sure Brad and I were too!
I have to give mad mad props to my long time friend Greg who got us in to California Adventures while we were in town, he was so so nice to sign us in and making our trip extra special!
It was fun to be in Disney in December because the decorations are so fun and Brad was in heaven.
This was also Wilson's first trip to Disney!! So first things first we went and got him a button (which he didn't wear, he only wanted to hold it) and we got him his first pair of Mickey Ears!
They can't be his Mickey Ears unless his name is on it! No joke I was almost in tears looking at these!
After we got his ears, there was a line right outside the shop for Mickey! We hopped in and we ended up being the last people to get to see him! Wilson was very nervous and was not really a fan of a giant Mickey Mouse! He was more of a fan of him from a distance. haha
Another cool thing was Santa was at California Adventures and there was no line to see him!! Wilson did a little bit better with Santa but was still nervous!
I couldn't do a ton of the bigger rides because I'm pregnant, so while Brad did a ride we would find a character or a little ride for Wilson.
We ran into Frozone while Brad was on Tower of Terror and Wilson was starting to get a hang of the character thing! Plus it helps that he had just watched Incredibles in the car during our road trip!
Wilson and I went on a few rides in Bug's Land while we waited for Brad. After we met up again we went on Heimlich's Choo Choo! Brad and I thought it was super funny and Wilson showed no emotion and just watched.
I love Cars Land and we had a blast in there because Wilson really recognized the characters and the landscaping!
We went and played by one of the tractors and Wilson thought that was fun!
We got in line to see Lightening McQueen but missed him by a few people but right because him pulled up Mater!! Again, it made Wilson kind of nervous but he knew who he was and was happy to look and listen to him!
Brad hopped on to Radiator Springs and so Wilson and I went and saw Red! Wilson did pretty good with him and Brad went as a single rider and was done in less than 10 minutes, it was awesome!
We did a few more rides and Wilson finally passed out in the stroller. We our go to lunch at the Corn Dog Castle and watched a little bit of a parade. After we ate we moved to a quieter area and let Wilson rest and let Brad go ride some rollercoasters!
Once Wilson woke up we went to go see Buzz, but we again missed him by a few people but we got to see Jesse! She was the only one that could get him to smile! It was really cute and she was so sweet to all 3 of us!
We rode the under the sea carousel and Wilson really liked that and loved to look at all the fish!
After that and a few more rides we called it a day!
On our way to the car!! Wilson was such a trooper and never cried, we were there from 8:30-3:30!! I think he had fun and if he didn't Brad and I had a fun time taking him and watching him absorb the magic that is Disney!
Here's the full list of everyone we saw and rides we went on:
Santa, Mickey Ears, Mickey, Monsters Inc, Brad-Tower of Terror, Frozone, Flik Flyers, Heimlich's Choo Choo, Mater/Lightening McQueen, Brad-Radiator Spring, Red, Corndog Castle, Brad-California Screaming', Jesse, Mickey's Fun Wheel, Midway Mania, Carousel of the Sea, Brad-California Screaming', Ariel Underwater Adventure, Monsters Inc.
A fun thing we all wanted to do while the Henshaw's were with us was to go walk around the Christmas lights! Mom made a big batch of Hot Chocolate and we caravanned over to a fun neighborhood and walked around the lights!
Wilson and Dean looked so cute all bundled up!
Brad and I loved the lights and loved watching Wilson ooh and ahh at the lights even more!
It's amazing how much more wonderful things are when you have a little one.
Dad picked a day not to cook and we all met up at Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Brad won best Uncle and got these boys to sit still for a few minutes. We love seeing them together but together they are a handful!
We did a TON of just lounging and hanging out which is exactly what Brad and I wanted out of our vacation! Mom and Dad bought a fun little tykes car and Wilson took full ownership of it! We had a few rainy and a few cold days where he couldn't go out and play in it and he was pretty sad about that. But if it was warm enough he was out playing in that car!
These two were so entertaining!! This picture just cracked me up, I love how they are both watching the gardeners do their thing. haha
New Christmas Jammies from Grandma B and Grandpa Bob!
Christmas morning was so fun, Wilson looked adorable and was so cute! He loved all the fun things in his stocking and really loved opening all his presents! Daddy helped him get started and he caught on pretty quick!
Wilson's face when we told him to say "cheese" haha Between being excited about presents and everything it was an intense and funny face.
We followed our same traditions that we grew up doing, first we went and had brunch and presents at Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house! I didn't get any pictures there but it was so fun seeing all the cousins and hanging out all together!
Next we headed over to Grandma Snowball's for dinner and did presents and singing! It was so fun to sing our traditional christmas songs with my family. I love those songs and have missed singing them.
More hanging out with the car!
Love watching these two play together! They did pretty good getting along, Dean was perfect, Wilson thought it was funny to throw toys at people and sometimes hit. But all in all, they were good boys and were so cute!
Gah they are so stinkin' adorable!!
Grandma B, Brad and I took Wilson and Dean to the La Habra Children's Museum and they had a lot of fun. They have a toddler room for the smaller kids and they played in there for awhile.
There is a discovery room where they played in a car, garden, and dinosaur bones. Wilson loves Dinosaurs and had fun looking at them.
We couldn't do an outing and not have them matching! They were obsessed with this car and the older kids were so nice to let them play in it and even played with the boys to make it more fun!
The museum has a small carousel that runs every 20 mins or so and Wilson was so not a fan and Dean loved it. He waved every time he came around and Wilson liked waving back once he was off!
The last room was animal room and Wilson stuck his finger in all of the animals mouths while Dean ran around and eventually found some furs to play with!
It was such a fun outing and it was a perfect distraction for the afternoon!
Dad's only request was for us all to take the train to Olvera Street in LA. It was so much fun!! We all hopped on the train and the boys loved looking out the window. It was a 30 minute train ride down to LA and Olvera Street is right across the street from the train station! We brought strollers for the boys which worked out perfect.
Fun on the train!
We wandered around and saw a beautiful nativity and people dancing. There was a ton of street vendors and places to shop!
We went down to Olvera Street for a few reasons, one of them was to get Taquitos from this place, and they did not disappoint! We had to wait in a bit of a line but totally worth it!
The next reason we went to LA was to go to this restaurant that has been around forever. We all got the French Dip and it was so tasty! Mom told us about how Grandma Snowball used to eat at Philippe after her shifts at work!
Last was because we wanted churros!! Basically we ate and walked ourselves through Olvera Street and I wouldn't have done it any other way! Churros were a perfect way to end the night! The boys enjoyed getting out of the strollers to wander and play for a bit, then it was back to the train station to head back home!
This isn't the end of our trip but just the end of the month see you in the New Year!!
To be Continued...
