Well, we're back from SoCal, and John and I are KO'd (knocked out). I could probably sleep for 20 hours straight if given the chance.

Manny and Christian both did great on the plane. Christian slept the whole way, and Manny was entertained by the tv's on the back of the headrests. We flew Virgin America, and I LOVE their airplanes. They have satellite tv, video games, and movies that you can watch. The only downside, is that you have to pay for snacks and other food (drinks are free), but with everything else you get in return, I'd say it's a fare trade.

We arrived in LAX on Friday afternoon. We had planned to hit up Disneyland that evening, thinking we'd be at the hotel around 5:00 p.m., giving us PLENTY of time to see the sights. But you gotta love L.A. (especially L.A. traffic), and our plans turned sour when it took us 3 HOURS to get to our hotel! So, instead of going to Disneyland, we went to Downtown Disney.

We met up with John's friend Fernando, and went to dinner. We thought we would be awesome parents, and take Manny to the Rain Forest Cafe. We thought he would get a kick out of the decorations and animals. Well, the joke was on us...he was TERRIFIED. They sat us right next to the animatronic gorilla, and every time that thing moved, or made a noise, Manny was in my lap (and that damn monkey moved every 15 minutes or so). I'm sure it was plane exhaustion, but it's a bit difficult to eat, or hold a conversation when there is a 30lb two year old sitting on your lap. Luckily, John took over before our meals arrived.

We stayed at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel, and let me tell you, our accommodations were definitely 5 star (insert sarcasm here). The great thing about the hotel was that it was literally a 10 minute walk to Disneyland, and kids ate for free at their in-house restaurant.

On Saturday, we met up with some old friends of John's (Marianne, Kieth, and their adorable daughter, Rena) and went to the San Diego Zoo. I think this was Manny's favorite day. Throughout the rest of the trip, he kept talking about wanting to see giraffes, and hippos (even when while we were at Disneyland). He's been asking to go back to the Zoo ever since.

All of their exhibits were amazing. My favorite exhibits were the orangutans and gorillas. At the orangutan exhibit, there were two that were totally playing to the crowd. They were laying against the glass, and interacting with the people watching.

At the gorilla exhibit, there were several gorillas laying against the observation glass. There was a momma gorilla with her two babies...soooooooooooooooo cute.

We left the Zoo around 3:30, and headed back to Anaheim. Once we got back to the hotel room, we ate some dinner, rested a bit, and went to California Adventure.

Our first stop was the, "It's a Bugs Life" play area for younger kids. Manny's never really been a fan of rides, but we thought we would give them a try. The first ride John took Manny on was the "Tea Pot" inspired Lady Bug ride, and to our surprise, Manny LOVED it! We went on a couple of other rides in that area (all of which he loved), and ran over to the new Monster's Inc. ride. I think this is my new favorite ride in the entire park (both for California Adventure, and Disneyland), it was amazing.

They really captured every important part in the movie, and all of the special effects were outstanding. There were a couple of parts that scared Manny, most of them included Randal (who scares me actually...haha), but every time he saw Sully (aka Teddy Bear to Manny), he got this huge grin on his face.

Later that evening we watched the Disney Electrical Light Parade. In all of the years that I've gone to Disneyland, I've never actually seen this parade. I'm really happy that Manny was able to experience it, it was really beautiful.

On Sunday, we spent the entire day at the Disneyland Park. As soon as we entered the park we were greeted by Pluto, Goofy, and Mickey! Considering our experience with the Gorilla on Friday night, we were a bit concerned that Manny would freak out when he saw the life size Disney characters...but he wasn't! He was super excited!

We saw Pluto first, and then made our way to Goofy. I really wish we had a video camera to capture the moment when Manny met Goofy. He was so excited, he literally jumped in place for about a minute or so. It almost brought a tear to my eye to see how happy he was. He gave Goofy a high five, and then we got a picture with him.

We skipped Mickey (the line was waaaaaaaaaaay too long), and headed to the Nemo ride. To our surprise, it was only a 45 minute wait! I've talked to a lot of people who were disappointed by the ride, but I thought it was great. I don't know how they did it, but they had animation under the water.

The rest of the day was spent walking around, and going on rides. We were very happy that the lines weren't very long. The longest line was for the Nemo ride. Every other ride was about a 5 or 10 minute wait. All in all, it was an excellent day.

I forgot to mention that by mid-morning on Sunday we had gone on the Buzz Lightyear ride. After the ride, we went to the shop, and bought Manny a Buzz Lightyear doll. He wouldn't put that doll down for the rest of the trip. You will see Buzz make an appearance in every picture after he was purchased.

So the Bauson Family vacation was a success! I wish we could have stayed for another day. Manny really enjoyed himself this time. June is the PERFECT time of year to visit. The weather was perfect, and the park wasn't that busy. We'll definitely try and make this an annual event.