Our Mega-Vacation Comes to a Close

After docking back in LA, we spent two more days at Disneyland.  It was really hot, but since we'd already spent a few days doing our favorite things at Disneyland, we took it easy and had a lot of fun.  In fact, we took things so easy that I didn't even bring my camera on the second day, we just enjoyed ourselves so I only have a couple of phone pictures from the second day.

 The boys were troopers. Ollie loved watching everything going by

 Creed had so much fun on the rides.  His favorites were the Winnie the Pooh Ride, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World, and Monster's Inc and all the rides in Bugs Land at California Adventure.

 Creed kills me with his cuteness.  He loved wearing Ollie's Mickey ears.

 We borrowed them back a few times for photo-ops for Ollie.

 Creed also loved the parades and the fireworks.  I think Larry had a hard time holding him on his shoulders while Creed danced his heart out.

 Larry's birthday was a few days after we got home so as one of his gifts, we sent him off on a three-hour haunted tour of the Parks.  It was a VIP tour that took him on the Tower of Terror, Thunder Mountain, Snow White Ride, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.  He was really proud of his pose on the Tower of Terror.  Can you spot him in this photo?

 We didn't see the Playhouse Disney show until our last day, but Creed thought it was worth the wait.

 Let's be honest, his face in these pictures was worth the whole trip!

If You're Going to San Francisco . . .

One day was not enough time for San Francisco, but we did our best to fit in as much as possible.  We started bright and early at Fisherman's Wharf (A tourist trap yes, but you have to see it, you know?)

 We enjoyed the views of Alcatraz

 And had fun checking out all the cheesy shops (Larry's favorite was the sock shop. He treated himself to a pair of socks with Ninjas all over them, which he thought was awesome, and I thought was weird).  Creed's favorite was the candy shop.

 We spent a long time at Musee Mechanique (which was the real reason we headed to Fisherman's Wharf).  It's a museum of old arcade games and mechanical instruments.

 $5.00 bought us a lot of entertainment (and the cutest photo booth strip you've ever seen.  If I find it I'll scan it in for you)

 Then Larry and Creed feasted on seafood while Ollie kept himself busy posing for photos.

 Which really wore him out (he spent a lot of his vacation snoozing in a stroller)

 We skipped the trolley car line and walked up the steepest hill I've ever seen (Which was quite humorous as we struggled to push strollers, and we stopped mid-hill in a laughing fit.  That was probably the most memorable point of the vacation for me).  We made it the to top to walk down Lombard Street, known as the crookedest street in the world.

 And Ollie slept on.

 I couldn't have planned a sweeter moment in San Francisco; as we walked down Lombard Street the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill flew back and forth squawking.  I was awed.

And the view from there was pretty magical too.

 We walked back down the hill and through the Italian area of town where we stopped for pastries.

 And spotted a Banksy on our way to Chinatown.

 We had just enough time to pick up a few souvenirs in Chinatown before we headed back to the ship (I was a little disappointed that we didn't have time to slip our own fortunes into fortune cookies at the factory, but it was a fairly perfect day so I can't complain.)

 And Ollie slept on.

 And I have to say a pretty incredible way to see the Golden Gate Bridge is going under it on a cruise ship.

I highly recommend it all!

Creed and Ollie Are Goonies for a Day

Our cruise stopped in Astoria, Oregon for a day.  It's a cute town best known for being the site of the Goonies house.  You can take a tour, but we didn't attempt it with the boys.  It poured all morning so we stayed on the ship, but we walked around a bit in the afternoon.

Creed loved walking along the tracks

Larry loves reading historical signs.  This is a common site throughout all of our vacations.  He can never skip a historical sign.

Oh, he can also never skip places with names like Pig'N Pancake.

I loved spending all afternoon puttering around with these cute boys.

And Ollie thought it was pretty great too.

We managed to find a little beach on the edge of the river and Creed loved playing there.  It's one of the things he talking about the most since our vacation, which is funny to me after all of the adventures we had, but I guess it's a good reminder that all he really wants is to play with us.

Ollie makes a pretty cute sailor, doesn't he?

Creed & Ollie Take a Cruise

So part of the reason we were in Vancouver was that's where we started our cruise.  When we told our friends we were going on a cruise, they all asked, "You're bringing your kids?"  Yes, that's exactly what we did.  Not only can Ollie seem to barely survive two hours away from me, but we really wanted to spend Larry's vacation time all together because we really like that guy around here.

When we were tossing around ideas for our vacation, I wanted to take a road trip to San Francisco, Larry wanted to go to Disneyland, and we both thought that it might be fun to go on a cruise. It just so happens that every September, you can go on a Pacific Coast cruise on ships relocating from spending the summer in Alaska to the winter in Miami.  Perfect!  Not only did it end in LA to allow a stop at Disneyland, it stopped along the way in Oregon and San Francisco.  Plus, I think taking the kids on a cruise to Mexico or Alaska when they are so small would have been stressful because of the extreme temperatures and the fun excursions we would have to skip because they are too little.

I think the cruise ended up being a dream vacation for Creed.

We had barely said goodbye to Vancouver 

When Creed settled in for fine diningAnd we all started relaxing.

I think the ship was just a huge playground for him.  He was always up for exploring and trying new things like golfing

 Maybe I never noticed it before because this was our first time cruising with kids, or maybe it was just this particular cruise line, but I was really pleased by the number of family activities on the ship.  Who doesn't love cupcake decorating?

or pizza making, or family lego time? Awesome!

I hadn't even thought about how cruises provide free kids clubs.  Since this trip was about family time, we didn't plan on sending Creed to the kids club, but they had a huge space that included a theater and a jungle gym and they had a lot of fun activities so Creed actually BEGGED to go a few times (I can't blame him for not wanting to miss being in the Princess and Prince Parade.  He got a balloon sword and looked like this when we picked him up.  The counsellors said he insisted on yellow for his eyebrows and mustache)

And it was nice to enjoy a quiet dinner now and then (well, not that quiet, we had Ollie with us). 

And then there was a teeny kids pool

and two big pools with a giant yellow water slide. Can you spot Larry and Creed in the hot tub with a bunch of random guys?  Larry says they were very nice and laughed and Creed's splashing.  I was too busy laughing to notice.

There was a rock climbing wall, a bowling alley (how does that work on a cruise ship that is moving?),  a sports court, and even a few kid-friendly shows (Creed LOVED the jugglers)

He also loved the towels folded up like animals that greeted us in our room every night (I loved them too.  We didn't have to drag him back to our room to go to bed because Creed was so excited to see them).

And can we talk about that bed?  Normally, that little couch would have pulled out to make Creed's bed, but since Ollie's crib was in the way, they pulled a bed down from the ceiling every night.  Creed thought that a bed that magically hid in the ceiling was the coolest thing in the world.  No way was I letting him sleep up there with just that tiny railing though.  When I walked in the door after dinner our first night and saw it, I exclaimed, "Oh, Creed!  Look at the cool clubhouse they set up for you to play in!"  We called in the clubhouse the whole trip, and he never realized that sleeping up there was a possibility.  I think playing in the "clubhouse was his favorite part of the trip because it what he tells everyone about when they ask him about the cruise.

We got a room with a balcony, not because we are posh but because we needed a little extra room and this whole cruise was very cheap since it's not most people's dream cruise.  I was a little nervous about the kids with a balcony but the railing was solid glass and it went really high so we just kept a close eye on them and it wasn't a problem.

If you are thinking about going on a cruise with kids, I promise you these smiles are worth it.

Can we do it again tomorrow?