Diseyland--Day 4 (AKA "The Day We Lost Andrew")

(Note: I wrote this post when I was in California and just added the photos later. So it reads as if this actually happened today).

We spent the day today in California Adventure. Our hotel has its own entrance into the park and it was so nice! We were able to get in and ride a lot of rides before the lines grew.

Dan took this photo of Kaitlin and we all thought it was so funny. At 2 she already looks like a tourist! She's such a little mimic.

We started our morning at Soarin' Over California and the nice worker offered to take a photo of us! I love how the Disney workers are so friendly and polite! Even the tourists have actually been really nice (except one really grouchy lady who yelled at the boys in Disneyland for not walking around her--wow. I felt sorry for her to feel so angry in Disneyland!)

This was taken on the big Ferris wheel that gives you a great view of the park. I can hardly believe Matthew is going to be 7 at the end of this month. He's growing up way too fast....

Dan and I road the California Screamin' Roller Coaster together. (I think that's the name). Dan loves all of the thrill rides. I can do them...once. I used to be able to ride them more. I guess I'm losing my nerve a little bit! We had a little "date ride" and popped over and got to do this one together. It was really fun. Although when it started to go I thought "Uh-oh, was this a mistake?"

Andrew rode "The Tower of Terror"--twice! Seriously! He'll try anything that he's tall enough for! I did start to question, if he should be riding some of these things. Some of the rides were a little scary! But he did just fine. Matthew on the other hand, is so cautious and passes on many rides. They approach Disneyland just as they approach life. And while Andrew can cause me such worry, his adventurous spirit is really fun in this context. So that was the fun part.

And then we lost Andrew. That was the horrible part.

The lines were really minimal and it made it so nice with the children. The one exception was the new Toy Story ride. Which had a LONG line with many many switchbacks FULL of people. We got in line and moved around the switchbacks amongst the masses when I looked down and said, "Where's Andrew?" I'm immediately checking all around our legs...nope. Looking back in the line...did he just not move with us? No. Looking ahead...did he keep walking? No. I started telling myself "Don't panic. Don't panic." I started crossing over the chains and calling Andrew's name. I couldn't see him anywhere. My heart was racing and I'm thinking a million things at once...I'm not sure how long he was gone--I couldn't find him anywhere. I've never lost a child in a crowd like this where a quick sweep of the immediate area didn't just reveal their presence. But everywhere I looked there were just people and no Andrew, and it was scary. It was long enough that I was starting to panic inside and was just starting to look into the ride to find a Disney worker to help us and tell us where to go for lost children when I heard Dan yell, "ANDREW!!!!!!" I looked up and he pointed a few rows ahead of where I had climbed through the crowd. I heard people saying, "They're in the line up!" (Meaning Andrew's parents) and I know I said, "Thank you so much" to the person who handed my little man back to me but I know I didn't thank them as well as I should have as I just wanted to get my hands on Andrew who had such a scared and sad look on his face and as soon as I had a hand on him he started crying and crying. What a horrible feeling. We still don't know what happened except it was awful and scary and Dan and I were both trying to hold and hug and kiss Andrew at the same time. I couldn't hug him enough. Oh that's a terrible feeling.

I took this photo after we found Andrew (and had held him for a long time and was finally willing to hand him over to Dan)....

Right before we got on the ride where we lost Andrew--(which ended up being one of Matthew and Andrew's favorites. It was really fun!

And then after we got off....

Another memorable thing that we did was have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I've never been to one before and it was so much fun!! It was such a soothing environment and the animals kept the children completely entertained. There were gorillas behind the boys that would move from time to time and they spent their whole time watching and waiting. It was great!

And then there were little thunder and lightening storms that were perfectly timed to coincide when Kaitlin was having a little fit and distracted her perfectly. It was so nice! Not to mention, Mom and I shared some lettuce wraps that were SO good. I'd love to go back again.

We also caught the parade--I love the parades. They just are so much fun. They just always make everyone happy. Kaitlin was so funny when the Toy Story characters arrived Kaitlin's eyes locked in on Bow Peep in her pretty dress and she kept pointing and turned and pointed and watched her all the way down. The Bug is all about a fancy dress. It was fun to watch her because I was exactly the same way...it made me smile.

And on the flip side, the Green Army men interacted with Andrew which was so neat because he loves them and was thrilled because "he had a gun." Meanwhile, little Matthew my worrier actually made me hold him during the parade because there were so many people and he was "afraid of getting lost." Bless his heart. Andrew's experience scared him, I think.

A few more images from the day....

We had dinner in the park and then Dan took the boys to a quick stop at the Lego store to play a bit and Mom and I did a little souvenir shopping. Kaitlin picked out a wand.

I really prefer Disneyland but California Adventure was a fun stop. We had a great day, and tomorrow we'll return to Disneyland for our last full day here at the park! I'm so sad that our vacation is nearly over. We've fallen into a little "vacation routine" and it's a nice little life! This weekend I'll have to return to laundry and grocery shopping. But I'm not going to start thinking about that. Right now I'm all about Mickey and having fun with the kids.