Disneyland

Buckle Up Ladies and Gents it's going to be a long one! :) I'm so excited to get this done though and to relive this part of our vacation!

{Classic}

{This is Nemo's Underwater Adventure and P really liked it. There are parts that get dark and you feel like the sub is under attack; those parts scared him.}

{So excited! At one point when P got scared he climbed up on his Dad's shoulder and bit him. Aaron yelled out, "Ouch! Don't Bite!" Our whole family laughed and the other 25 people on the ride seemed confused about who bit whom.}

{Teacups! YAY!!! He was pretty interested. Disneyland is so visually stimulating for kids.}

{Before the ride got started. We couldn't hold him on this ride.}

{Halfway through the ride... I love it! lol}

{I insisted we go on "It's a Small World" to Aaron's dismay. I adore this ride and think it's amazing it still works and runs.}

{After the soothing boat ride.}

{The Jungle Cruise}

{Even more to Aaron's dismay we went back to Small World to see if it would put the over-stimulated boy back to sleep.}

{Can you see the over-stimulation and sleepiness in his eyes? It worked, every time we rode this ride he crashed.}

{Another classic photo, I think we're pretty stinkin' cute in this one. Thanks Aunt Rach for taking it.}


The rest of these photos are from what we called "Porter's Day". The last day we were in California it was just the 3 of us so we felt comfortable just riding all the kiddy rides. Looking back there are still a lot we missed out on, but honestly a little guy like P can only take so much excitement.

{Aaron and Porter in The Tiki Room. Porter liked the majority of the show. He sat in our laps watching and dancing.}

{Waiting in line for Dumbo}

{"Dad can we get a blue one?! Or that green one would work? Is it our turn yet?"}

{We all went on the ride together so we took advantage of the little photo op. If you can't tell Porter LOVED it!}

{I couldn't pick so you get 2 versions}

{This photo is so perfect to me! The expression on Porter's face with the whale about to eat us. This is Storybook Land.}

{We jumped on the train that goes around the park and Porter let us know that he was done. :( There were tears and then...}

{There was one cute, asleep, and worn out little boy!}

Disneyland was so much fun and this trip made me really excited to come back when I have older children! This trip also made me appreciate the 2 times my parents brought us to Disneyland and it just felt like the biggest adventure ever. I know now these kind of trips take money, travel, and some natural stress of leaving our comfortable homes. I'm so grateful they gave me those memories and that we had this chance to go! It sure does bring out the kid in ya!

Buddy Walk 2010

I love Buddy Walk Days! This is only my second but I absolutely love these days. I had some stressful moments today, but that's my own fault for not being able to just go with the flow and leave stress & worry behind. I got over it and was able to enjoy the day. We were among the small group that did the 5k at 9 a few hours before the festivities began. On the way we realized we'd forgotten our camera. My sister was great and brought hers and we've asked our family members to share their photos as well because we only have part, but I'll share what we've got.

We're headed to the State Fair in like 10 minutes so you just get photos for now. ;)

I've Been Distracted

{This will be our team flare this year.}

I know I promised more vacation, but I've been too distracted with these things:

• Buddy Walk 2010-- Going to be so much fun!
  
• family movie night- filled with giggles. Thanks "Night at the Museum 2".
  
• family dance parties to the credit music after said movie
• recovering from vacation
• therapy- Porter's had a lot this week. He took 4 independent steps at O.T. today!
• getting excited for general conference... I know I'm a total church nerd.
  
• living and loving
  

Newport Beach

Prepare yourselves for many posts, with many photos from our vacation. I'm sorry to have to overload like this but there's a lot of documenting that needs done and this is the best way for me to do it. I'll try to keep it to one ginormous post a day. :)

One of our first adventures was to go and visit the very popular, very busy Newport Beach! It was such a fun little trip.

{Baby Boy LOVES the sand!}

{The beach was a huge playground of new things for Porter. He never stopped exploring.}

{Porter trying to rescue Aunt Dev}

{I was so excited to let Porter play in the Ocean because he loves water.}

{He liked it but quickly became frightened by how much water there was, it's unpredictability, and didn't like the fact that it was freezing! I wasn't a big fan of the temperature either, burr!}

{This is my favorite Photo from that day.}

{The braver of us body surfing-- Chase, Karli, & Micah}

{Dev being persuaded, coaxed, swayed... okay forced to join the others.}

{We all just enjoyed the sunny weather after our trip down to the waterside. P's Dad kept tossing sand over Porter's legs to keep his hands busy and working. On a side note: can you see the sand on P's face, yeah, he liked face planting in the sand and eating big mouths full. The kid knows how to worry me.}

{Karli & Chase}

{All of us-- I'm not sure where Dad (Randy) is.}

{Our little Family}

{Ty & Rach}

{Dev & Micah}

{This is what Aaron's sand tossing resulted in.}

{Porter was pretty dang happy about the situations. It took us much longer than I thought it would to excavate my favorite baby feet!}

{Sand covered munckin}

{This is right before Aaron did the meanest thing ever! I (heart) Baby Cheeks!}

Aaron rinsed Porter off in the ocean. There were people pointing as they walked down to the water, first because cute naked baby and second because everyone knew exactly what was about to happen. IT WAS SO SAD!!! I got to rescue Porter and wrap him up in a dry towel. I was surprised by how quickly he calmed down, he just needed me to validate him and listen to what a mean daddy he had. I loved it for about 20 minutes he wouldn't go to Aaron and gave him crusties. Several times while on this trip I became the favorite and it was AWESOME!!! I decided to walk back to the car with Porter just wrapped in a towel so I could dress him without worrying about sand. It was fun because people were noticing him left and right. I walked past a restaurant and an entire table came over to the window to wave hello to our cute boy! Just have to say the response to Porter having Down Syndrome is very different in California. I noticed 2 extremes and very little middle. People either responded with overflowing warmth and kindness or they just stared really hard. Interesting...

It was a fun and relaxing beach day where we discovered we have a Beach Lovin' Baby!