Cars Land

Moving and checking out of our home was sort of a nightmare -- a story for another day, I'm sure -- and it is oh-so good to be on the other side of it. We passed our final inspection on a Thursday, left all of our things in our TLF (temporary housing) at Edwards, and drove down the freeway for a much-needed long recovery weekend. And what better place to recuperate than the happiest place on earth? You should be exactly 0% surprised that we headed straight to Disneyland first thing Friday morning. We were super excited to check out California Adventure's newly renovated entrance and brand-new Cars Land, and we were even more excited that Nicole and Jordan got to come with us!

Not only was it fun to share the magic with Coley and Jordan, but it was really nice for me and Matt to get to ride a few big kid rides together. We've only been able to go on three dates since Jake was born, so even 20 minute spurts of couple time throughout the day was a great luxury. Muchas gracias to the siblings, and to Disney for inventing rider swaps.

As for California Adventure, I'm loving the new direction they've taken with the entrance and Buena Vista Street. The park has a much better identity now, and the scenery and atmosphere are lovely. And Cars Land? Perfection. Not that Cars the movie exactly deserves an entire land, but the land itself is pretty amazing. As usual, Disney nailed the theming. You really feel like you walked straight into Radiator Springs! It's hard to remember that Lightning McQueen and the gang are cartoon vehicles when they -- and their little town -- are just so convincingly real. I'm fairly positive that Cars Land is every little boy's dream come true.

 Cars Land:

The Rest:

Jake doesn't think he needs to hold our hands ever. I'm beginning to understand the monkey leash parents a bit more.

He was so proud of himself for being able to cross the trolley tracks and just kept going back and forth over them. It's the little things...

Dinner at the Blue Bayou! Always so fun.

And what's a trip to Disney without visiting Mickey? Jakey sort of loves the mouse and couldn't bear to wait his turn to say hi, as you can see in the video below. So glad the teenage girls in front of us understood.