Hollywood/Disneyland/San Diego

On our way to Disneyland we stopped in Hollywood where Aunt Courtney met us. Hollywood was cool. Rory took her picture with a guy dressed up as Alex the Lion. We went to the Kodak Theater Mall which had a really cool fountain area in the middle. She was not a huge fan of the fountains and would only go up to it but not touch it. When she finally got brave and ran through a part where the water was off temporarily it came on and got her in the face and then when she ran from that one the next one got her too. She was crying and not happy! Shortly after that Aunt Courtney got there and she got in a better mood. We went to Grauman's Chinese Theater and took some pics of the hand and feet prints. After that we went to Build A Bear. I have been looking forward to the day I could take her there and she could do it herself. We let her pick out her own bear and clothes for it too. She picked out a bear that looks like sherbert ice cream and named it Susia. She had a good time picking out the bear, stuffing it and naming it. When we were on our way to eat dinner Courtney remembered that Susia means dirty in spanish. So our daughter's bear is named dirty. Thanks Courtney. After Dinner we went to the hotel and went for a swim. Courtney left after that and we got ready for bed. When we were going to bed we kept hearing a loud boom. We finally looked out our window and you could see the Disney fireworks. very cool.

4th of JULY
Aunt Sonya came to Disney with us. Aurora absolutely loves Sonya. We went to Disney and met Mickey again first thing in the morning and then met Pluto right after Mickey. Rory didn't even need to shake hands today. It was like they were old friends at this point. We went on Dumbo, Merry go Round, pirates of the carribean(she was a little nervous of the dark) and gadgets Go Coaster. Then we went to California Adventure. I was told that if you have lunch at Ariel's grotto you get to meet her and talk to her. So we finally get there and decide it will be worth the money since she loves Ariel and she was passed out. So no meeting Ariel for Rory. After she woke up from her nap we went on King Triton's merry go round, Toy Story Ride, Bugs Life water park & rides and Monsters Inc ride. She really enjoyed the water park since it was sooo hot and she liked seeing Boo on the Monsters Inc ride. There was also a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse live performance that we went to. That was really cool for her. It was Mickey Mouses show but with handy Manny, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh worked into it.When we were on our way to one of the rides we saw Woody, Mickey from Fantasia and Cinderella. We went and got in line for Cinderella, which only had about 5 people in front of us when the handler came up to the family in front of us and told them that they would be the last people to see Cinderella until she came back at 4:30. There was nobody behind us or around us waiting!!! Annoying. So we go back at 4:35 and the same thing happens again. We are now a family of Cinderella haters. I even tried talking to the handler, explaining that my daughter just turned 2 etc and she didn't care. Now if you ask Aurora about Cinderella and she will tell you No Cinderella, mean Cinderella. After that incident we met CA Adventure Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Mr.Incredible and Peter Pan. We went back over to Disney so that Sonya and Danny could ride some fun rides. Aurora made until 9:00 when the fireworks started and did very well with them. She wasn't scared of them or terribly interested in them either since she was tired.

San Diego
Sunday-Tuesday we spent in San Diego visiting Sonya and Aunt Courtney. Our hotel was beautiful and right on the beach. The first day we wen t to the Zoo. She loved the animals and we got to see a polar bear eating carrots right at the glass. It was really cool. After the zoo we went and checked in at our hotel. The hotel was beautiful and right on the beach in La Jolla. We spent the evening at the beach and in the pool and then got dinner at a yummy italian restaurant. Monday we had breakfast at The Cottage with Aunt Sonya and Aunt Courtney. Rory got to have her own "coffee" and waffles. After breakfast we went and saw the seals. The seals were a hit and there was a baby one that kept posing, very cute. After that we went back to the hotel and spent the day playing on the beach. Danny, Courtney and Sonya went kayaking for a little while. Rory and I collected some sea shells, we all buried her and Danny and just had a good time playing on the beach. That night we met up with Andrew(Courtney's bf) and had mexican food. After dinner we walked around old town San Diego. Most of the shops were closed but a open market was open, there was lots of cool things but Rory was trying to touch and grab everything. The morning we were leaving Danny decided that he wanted to take one last swim in the ocean. He ran in and then ran right back out. I thought it was to cold but that was not the reason. A tiger shark was swimming by where he was. We met up with Sonya and Courtney for breakfast and to say goodbye. After that we headed back to Sac.

Happy 2nd Birthday

We took Aurora to Disneyland for her 2nd birthday. We all had such a good time. We started the day by going to straight to Disney's City Hall to get her a birthday pin and a 1st visit pin. When we told the lady it was her birthday she gave us the pins and also had Aurora talk to Goofy who sang Happy Birthday to her. Very cool for a 2 year old. Having the pin makes it where all the employees tell you happy birthday. After that we were heading to the Mad Hatter store when we saw Pluto in front of it. We got in line to meet him but then saw Mickey Mouse coming out so we ran over to Mickey(sorry pluto) and were the second people to meet him. She was a little apprehensive at first but was fine after she shook his hand. After Mickey Mouse we went to Mad Hatter and all 3 of us got ears. Rory got special Birthday ears.

The first ride we went on was Buzz Lightyear. She liked it but wasn't to good at aiming the gun. She was really good about going on the rides and went on all of the rides she was tall enough for. Her favorites were Nemo, Gadgets Go Coaster(she went on it twice) and Dumbo. We had minimum melt downs while waiting in lines which was great. She had a blast going through Minnie's house and Mickeys house. When we went to enter the Princess castle she got really excited and said Princess Aurora's castle, my castle!!!

Since it was her birthday we let her pick out a few toys in the princess castle store. She picked out a Ariel purse, Ariel wand and a lollipop. We let her have the lollipop while we were looking for a place to have lunch. When we took the lollipop away she started melting down. We let her cry while we were deciding on our orders. She stopped crying so I looked at her in her stroller and she was passed out. Adorable.

We took advantage of her being asleep and went to the main store to buy her a couple birthday presents. After she woke back up we went and rode some more rides. She enjoyed going on peter pan's flight since she recognized the characters. We went on a few more rides and then decided since it was 6:30 we would head to downtown Disney and get some dinner. We went to a pizza place where this guy was doing Disney balloon characters. It was very cool, he made Rory a Princess Ariel(noticing a theme yet?). After pizza we gave her her red velvet big Minnie Mouse cupcake. She LOVED it. She ate most all of it and was then bouncing off the walls until bedtime.

When we got back to the hotel we let her open her presents from us and then she took a bath, watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then passed out within minutes.

All in all I think she had a great birthday.

The characters she met were Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse(we waited 30 mins) and Goofy.