Summer Vacation 2011: Day 1

Today was the beginning of our family vacation to Disneyland. There isn't a whole lot to tell about today. We left this morning around 8am and started our drive to California. We got there early in the afternoon with a plan to go to the beach. But after driving all day none of us felt like playing at the beach. We got there about an hour before check-in time at the hotel, so we decided to go check out the pool. When Andrew got over to the pool, he started taking off his clothes. Nicole told me that I had better get his swimsuit before he was completely naked. Andrew loved the pool. It was just right for him. It went from about an inch deep to 5 feet deep. He felt a lot more confident with the more shallow water and he was a total fish.After swimming and getting settled in the hotel we decided to go to Downtown Disney to look around and find some dinner. We went to a couple of stores and looked around, including the LEGO store. They have some pretty cool stuff there.Mostly we just walked down the main stretch looking at menus. We also went over to the Disneyland Hotel to check out Goofy's Kitchen. Goofy was there and the kids did not want to see him. This worried us a bit as the kids would be spending the next few days meeting many Disney characters. We ended up walking all the way back through Downtown Disney to go to the IHOP just down from our hotel for dinner. But on the way there we stopped in the big World of Disney store. The kids saw a stand full of lollipops and wanted them. They ended up with Minnie Mouse marshmallow pops and I got a Mickey Mouse one. They were quite yummy! After dinner we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night. Tomorrow is our first day at Disneyland and we are all very excited!