Sydney Fuller

Huntington Beach

With Disney wrapped up, it was time for a more relaxed day. So we drove about 10 miles to the beach. The girls were so excited to run on the beach, play in the ocean, and collect shells. As expected by the parents but not by the kids, the water was pretty cold so we opted for staying dry. However, the big flat beach area made something inside the kids want to run. And run they did! For about an hour, they never stopped running around for more than a minute.

Sydney, hope you had a great vacation! We love you, Nene!

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Thanksgiving at Disneyland

Last day at Disney so we figured we ought to beat the crowds and get to the park when it opened. So we packed up everyone so we could be over there by 8 AM sharp. When we arrived, the park was practically empty as compared to prior days. A nice change! So we quickly made our way to the things that we hadn’t had the patience to stand in line for in prior days. First stop — Tinker Bell! She has a movie that just came out so she is on the hot list for everyone. So we waited through the line at Pixie Hollow and then got to meet the fairy ourselves!

As we got in line for the Princess meet-and-greet, Sydney said she didn’t want to do this. What? What? What? She explained to Kim that princesses are not as cool as they used to be. So Kim and Sydney ducked out of line and headed over to Space Mountain! I figured this would be an experience of terror but Kim had her convinced it would be great fun. About 30 minutes later, they returned with Sydney running up to me. Tears in her eyes — tears of joy! Dad, that was the best ride EVAR! Ah, my little girl is growing up. She went on and on about how fun the ride was. About this time we were next in line to go in to see the princesses. Sydney shoved Reagan aside and went in first. Guess she still likes them a little bit. Ariel was first up!

Next was Belle. She wasn’t very talkative so we moved on quickly.

Finally, there was one more princess — well, a mouse dressed up like one. Kind of a bummer since the kids already saw her and wanted one of the original 6. But they enjoyed the visit in any case.

Just outside the Princess area was the Princess beauty salon. I had told the girls that I would treat them to this. They really weren’t that into the idea. Kim wasn’t either for the price. But I thought it was a “must do” event so we got right in. Your turn!

When she got out of the chair, you would have thought she was modeling her wedding dress. So excited to look at her new hair-do and model it for the camera. She explained to Kim how she wanted her hair like this every day for school. Kim just looked at me like “thanks a lot”. But she got over that quickly as she took the pictures and enjoyed seeing her daughter with her beautiful hair.

I thought we were done and started to walk out when Kim mentioned “I think she needs a dress”. Oh man, who is the big spender now? So we looked around and Sydney settled on a Rosetta (fairy from the new Tinker Bell movie) dress with wings and all. She then went on to model it for us.

I am not sure what is going on here but we said smile and Sydney’s eyes started to bug out! Too many photographs.

While Reagan was taking a brief nap, Sydney met up with a bunch of characters including Jessie and Woody from Toy Story, Mrs. Santa Claus, Chip and Dale, and more. A lot of quick interactions but Sydney wasn’t really talking to them. I asked, “Why didn’t you talk to Woody?”. To which Sydney replied, “Dad, that isn’t really Woody. It is just some guy in a costume. Geez.” Crap. The magic is gone. Oh well.

We walked by Its a Small World and there was virtually no line. So we grabbed our things and jumped in the boat for the big holiday themed ride around the world.

Plenty of holiday decorations everywhere. But the best part — new music! Got some Jingle Bells in there and other holiday songs to break up the regular soundtrack.

The kids were in the front row of the boat pointing and shouting at everything as we passed by. Space Mountain might have been fun, but this ride sure gets them talking.

Ok, so I took the opportunity to capture some of the ride on video for the kids to watch later on. They love watching these videos after the vacation and saying “Remember when we …”. So you can enjoy too!

I captured a variety of moments with the girls on our last day. Hopefully, it will serve as a great reminder in years to come of the experience of the vacation and how much fun our girls had.

We left Disney around 9:30 PM as the fireworks got started. People had camped out for hours to watch them. For us, it was a chance to cut through the crowd and get out before the mass exodus. As we got on the tram, the fireworks were going off and we had a good view of them the whole way to the car. As we got off the tram and walked to the car, I was reflecting on how we do Thanksgiving our way. No turkey for us. So now for 4 years in a row (she only has 5 on the planet), Sydney has enjoyed vacationing on Thanksgiving. I think of Thanksgiving as a day were we are always together doing something a little more adventurous. And for that, I am thankful.

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Universal Studios

For a break from Disney, we headed out to Universal Studios for the day to see if we could catch up with some of the kid’s other favorite characters. Luckily, the park wasn’t nearly as busy as Disney so everything was quick and easy with no lines. We even found characters wondering around without any kids nearby. Awesome! First stop was with Shrek — a Sydney favorite! We saw Donkey outside selling waffles. He was motorized but there was a guy inside the box talking like Donkey and playing along. I told him the girls’ names and he went to town. After Sydney gave him a pet on the nose, he went on to explain that she probably got a booger on her finger but it would be free and she could keep it. That was hilarious to this 5 year old!

Of course, we had to catch up with the star and his lady!

But it is a movie studio so it was time for some acting!

That was fun but time for your scene, Sydney. Look scared!

There was one guy we just had to see and we found him hanging out right as we got into the park! SpongeBob Squarepants! We have seen all your shows. We love you! What have you got for us? He started making farts sounds and chasing the kids around. What a thrill! And after the photo, he tried to get me to push him around the park for the rest of the day.

We decided to do some face painting for a treat. However, in the middle of her 15 minutes make-up application, Sydney fell asleep!

Another celebrity sighting! Quick kids, get a picture! However, these two pranksters stole our stroller first and ran around on it before allowing us to take a picture.

Just as we were on our way out of the park, we found this familar girl and asked her for directions. She has a map as you might know!

The kids were asleep before we hit the freeway. The true sign of another successful day! So a little video of some of the meet and greets to wrap up the day.

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Christmas at Disneyland

After the full day at Disney’s California Adventure, we headed across to Disneyland to catch the Christmas parade and hit a few more rides before calling it a night. While we were able to get front row for the Pixar Parade, the crowds were several deep 45 minutes before the parade began! We found a spot and settled in for the show.

Lots of holiday guys came out to dance and parade including gingerbread men and snowmen!

Goofy had built his float out of a gingerbread house!

Sydney was very excited to see the Disney Princess float. They were all there in their “beautiful dresses” showing off their dancing moves.

And what is Christmas without toys? The guys from Toy Story showed up to help out with the parade. Hey, we just saw them in another parade and now they are in this one? Busy guys!

Rudolph didn’t come over to us but here was one of his friends. They were doing a line dance of sorts.

The photos probably don’t do the parade justice so Kim took some video to share!

After the parade, the vote was in…everyone wanted to go back to the Haunted Mansion again. It is themed as The Nightmare Before Christmas right now as a special holiday event. We knew this in advance so the kids have been watching the movie the past few weeks in preparation for the trip. So as we waited in line, Syd got her Jack arm warmers on and was ready to endure the terror in the mansion!

I was late on the trigger but here you can see how Jack took over the “rising room” at the start of the tour.

The kids loved pointing out every part of the spooky makeover!

After that we rode Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad, and several others that had short lines. We headed over to the big holiday centerpiece, Its a Small World, but the line was the longest in the park. It was about 9PM and we hadn’t eaten yet and everyone was starting to crash. So we opted to get out of the park and grab some dinner and crash. We have another day left on our 3 day passes so we will be back!

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Disney’s California Adventure

Ready for day 2! We decided to head across the lot to Disney’s California Adventure today. A new park for us. Nobody has ever been there. We headed to Playhouse Disney and then went on the Monsters Inc. ride. Here is a picture of me, Dad, after a day at Disney buying food and toys and standing in line. Or maybe that is Mike from Monsters, Inc.

Sydney loves this movie so it was fun to go through the scene by scene reproduction of the movie. Every move and guy was yelled at and explained to us as we made our way through the ride.

We stopped by and said hi to Wall-E as well. Everybody was excited to see him. But no Eva!

We saw the Big Cheese yesterday so today we had to stop when we saw Mrs. Big Cheese in her holiday outfit.

It was time for my fatherly duties — I had to endure the tea cups for my daughter’s enjoyment. Why do these things get harder to do as you get older? I always thought my wife would do anything for her kids. Apparently, not. Tea cups are out of the question.

Finally, it was time for the Pixar parade. Sydney has grown up on these movies so she was excited to see all her favorite guys pass by. We sat near the end of the parade route in a little corner so nobody was around us. Seemed like the show was just for us!

But you just can’t get the feel of the parade with photos alone. So I brought out my little video camera and grabbed a few clips.

After the parade, we looked down it and it seemed so early! Disneyland is just across the way and the Christmas parade is starting in 30 minutes. Ready, set, go! The night was just getting started…

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Disneyland

In 2004, Kim and I took Sydney to Disneyland. See had such a fun time but it was too much to do for a one and a half year old baby. Fast forward to last year when she went to Disney World. What a great time! So when planning this year’s annual fall vacation, Kim and I were deciding what beach to go to. However, when Sydney commented how the guy in the costume at Red Robin was really a guy in a costume, I knew the magic was nearing an end. I had a sudden rush — we have to get them back to Disney again! So we scrapped the beach plans and booked a trip to Disneyland the next day. We knew it would be a smaller adventure and that was good. We were looking for something more manageable. And with other attractions in the area, it was an easy win.

The park is busy but isn’t crazy. We got through a ton of rides on our first morning and only ever waited in line to see Mickey.

We ended the night on the Buzz Lightyear ride. You ride along in a car and participate with your laser gun at saving the planet — or something. There was a greater than life-size Buzz outside with this cool video face.

The big thrill of the day for the kids was going into the Haunted Mansion because it is all decorated up with The Nightmare Before Christmas movie theme. Everything has been redone to match the movie. Pretty cool! We just enjoyed it on the first time through. Will try and capture it the next time through. Or the time after that. Or after that. As the night cooled off, we went looking for some warmer clothes. I wanted to buy Sydney a sweatshirt but she insisted on these Nightmare arm warmers! I have some plain ones I wear for running in the cold. So she must be getting her fashion sense from me? She looked pretty cool and slightly goth in her arm warmers I must say.

The decorations on Its a Small World are the big attraction. So much so that we didn’t want to wait in line today for it. We will be back for that. We have a 3 day pass!

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Kissy Momma

Sydney titled this post!

Nailed This Bike Thing

Sydney has been slow to get interested in her bike. Not sure why. Too scary or likes her scooter too much. We haven’t pushed it much. Well, when Nana was in town recently, they went for a ride and Sydney has had more interest in the bike ever since. So this weekend, the family biked to lunch along the St. Vrain Greenway. We did about 10 miles with the kids in the bike trailer and then returned to the starting point to get Sydney’s bike out of the car so she could ride the greenway herself. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I was waiting for “my legs are tired” or other whining to ensue. But it never happened. She rode and rode and rode. Over bridges and up hills. She would stop and talk to the prairie dogs that make their homes along the trail. “Ok, bye cutie”, I overheard as she was done talking with the little furry friends.

After all the riding, we were so proud of Sydney! Family photo op!

Then when we got them back in the car, it was back to the same old shenanigans!

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Mom’s Birthday

Mom’s Birthday was today and we went to La Fondue for dinner. Sydney ate every food we put in front of her — lobster, steak, chicken, shrimp and more! She has a huge appetite for anything “fancy”!

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