Saturday morning we packed the stroller, two small suitcases, a couple of bags of miscellaneous items, lots of snacks, toys, and books, and two small boys into our Prius. It was a tight squeeze. Simon declared his space a “mess” more than once (of course, he made it that way more than once). I had planned the route along 101 instead of HW 5 so there would be more interesting places to stop along the way; that meant the ride was nine hours instead of a mere seven.
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The intent was to stop every hour and a half but two hours into the trip everything was going so well that we just pushed on, and on, and on. We stopped for lunch in Paso Robles at a restaurant decked out like an old west saloon. Simon met some kids at the mechanical bull ring and they spun and jumped and had a great time until it was time to move on.
Our next stop was Solvang where we honored our friends who were, at the same time, on their way to Denmark. After a walk around the town and dessert, we decided to make a visit to the Emu and Ostrich farm before eating pea soup at the infamous “Pea Soup Andersen’s” restaurant in Buelleton.
After dinner we drove on to the Best Western, Carpenterina (a suburb south of Santa Barbara) to rest for the night. It is impossible to describe how thrilled Simon was with being in a hotel. Everything was wonderful! And beautiful! And perfect! And he decided right then and there that he wanted to spend the entire vacation IN THIS HOTEL ROOM. No Legoland. No Disneyland. The Best Western WAS the place to be.
We convinced Simon to leave the hotel on Sunday morning with promises of other hotels and even a trip back to that same hotel on our way back home. We drove for about an hour and a half before stopping at a crepe shop where Simon met Lila – an equally gregarious four year old. The two instantly became the best of friends. Simon even shared with her how he came from “Mommy’s egg and Daddy’s ssss [what’s that word?], Daddy’s things that go like this [moves his arm in a swimming motion.]” Grrrrreat.
After leaving Lila and her parents (who said nothing about the Birds and the Bees lesson), we drove another hour and a half to Legoland in Carlsbad. It was Star Wars weekend in Legoland, so as soon as we walked in the park Simon was faced with storm troopers, Darth Vader, and R2D2 as well as lots of little kids in costume. Simon knows about Star Wars a little but, for the most part, could have cared less. He did agree to let us take these photos:
Notice he doesn't snuggle up to the dark side.
He really likes R2D2 but he calls him 2B2-2.
Simon was not so keen on riding the wild rides at Legoland or watching the fireman show. He is very safety concious at this point as well as sensative and doesn't find watching people in danger amusing - even if they are pretending. Adlai and I visited the lactation room several times to become reacquainted with silence and air conditioning. Ahhh air conditioning... We used the "baby care" room at all three parks we visited. (Sidenote: The Disneyland "baby care" room has been open since 1955 which makes sense - give women a place to wash out poopy diapers and hide the nursing women at the same time.)
Legoland closed at dinner time so we left the park in search of food. Once food was consumed, we drove another hour and a half to our hotel in Anaheim – across the street from the Magic Kingdom.
It was at this hotel where we let the boys take their first bath together. What a party!
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Coming soon: Part Two! Disney's California Adventure and Disneyland
