Headed out of Saturday 9/5  morning around 10:30 am.

Sanju started with the driving. Both kids took a nap. Took a break around 1pm for lunch in chowchilla, ate at a Chinese restaurant. Decent food, kids didn’t eat so well. Rithvi was all over the place, none of the child straps were functional to keep her in her seat.

After lunch, I drove for a stretch & around 4, Sanju switched back to driving. Reached Bakersfield at around 5pm. Checked in to the hotel & headed out to arun uncles house, missed the way once & reached at 6:40pm. Nice golfing neighborhood. Very quiet & beautiful home. Got to meet uncles daughter seema, her husband Raghu & kids kavi & prem, 3 years & 17 months old respectively.

Talked to Pappa. He & uncle spoke for a bit. Rithvi didn’t eat too well, Tanush enjoyed chapathi thuppa sakare. Dinner was chapathis, eggplant palya, methi rice & raitha. Tanush watched & was engrossed watching frozen at their house. Rithvi had a good time with arun thatha. We headed out around 9:00pm from  their place. Rithvi was fast asleep, Tanush slept after we got back to the hotel. When Sanju was looking for a parking spot at the hotel & Tanush asked ‘dada, are you going to bark there?’ Had a good laugh on that. Before we went to sleep, Sanju & I realized that we had both mistaken the toothpaste tube for face wash, so we had washed our face in toothpaste before heading to uncles house.

The next morning, we got up around 8, got ready, had breakfast & headed out to Anaheim around 9. Journey was mostly uneventful, stopped for gas on the way. Traffic was not bad until we took the exit to Disney land. To make things worse the road to our hotel was blocked, so we reached around 1 to the hotel. Freshened up & bought a cars cap for gubudu at the store in the hotel. Had lunch at tangaroa terrace that is part of the hotel.

Again Rithvi didn’t eat too well & Tanush was not bad with chicken nuggets. I had shrimp & Sanju had chicken burger. Both were good. It was super hot outside & we headed out to Disney land. We had to walk thru downtown Disney everyday to get to Disneyland or California adventure.

Took photos at the entrance of Disneyland.

Our 1st ride was the jungle cruise in adventure land, both Tanush & Rithvi enjoyed it.

Next we took a walk in tarzans tree house, since it was climbing up & down that was more taxing with Rithvi. Got a pic of Tanush hanging from a rope on the tree.

Then we took the monorail from tomorrow land all around the park & downtown Disney.

After we got off, we wanted to cross over to California adventure park to watch the Pixar parade at 5:15 but the street was blocked in Disneyland due to mickeys parade at 4:30pm. Tanush saw a bit of it. By the time we got to California adventure park, the Pixar parade was almost done but Tanush was in time to see his favorite lightning McQueen followed by tow mater.

We then did the frozen sing along show & I think Tanush likes queen Elsa since then. Rithvi was fine during the show. Next we went to redwood creek challenge trail. This is part of grizzly peak & the section is in the essence of California redwood tree parks. It was very nice.

Tanush climbed up & down the large play structure. He did some sections with Sanju while I rested with ritu. She was entertained by someone’s furry bag. She thought it was a puppy & kept going over to pet it.

There was tiny cave where you could put ur hand & it would tell u what animal u are. Both Rithvi & Tanush were scared of it but enjoyed it. We then had dinner at smokejumpers grill. Tanush was fine in all his meals, Rithvi was good with dairy – milk, cheese sticks, macaroni & cheese. She pretty much had that all thru her trip along with clementines & banana. Sanju & I shared a chicken burger, all the food was expensive but good. Headed back to the hotel, every evening we would see fireworks on our way back. Ritu was fast asleep & Tanu settled down after we got in.

The next day Monday, we were ready, had breakfast & out by 8:30am. Tried to buy a hat for ritu, which was harder that I wud have imagined. All the toddler hats were too big for her. Finally got her a tigger cap that was adjustable but she took great pleasure in throwing it down every time we put it on her. It was too hot & looks like she didn’t want anything on her head.

It was finally 9:30 am before we entered the park. Started with the horse buggy ride on Main Street & got off at the entrance of fantasy land.

We started with the petting area in big thunder ranch in frontier land. We had to wait 10 mins till they opened.

Tanush got to take pictures with Jesse from toy story. There was 1 donkey & many goats & sheep. Kids had a good time, ritu was naughty as ever, hugged one goat & ended up in the animals area, both of which r not allowed.

Next we took a ride on mark twains riverboat, saw Native American tribe, wolves, mountain lions  figurines.

Next we stood in a very long line for the pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was almost 30 mins before we sat on the ride. Felt super dehydrated & so did the kids. Kids enjoyed the ride though I doubt Rithvi understood much of it. Had lunch at French market restaurant. Awesome roasted chicken. Next stood in a long line for the railroad back to Main Street. Tanush took a power nap when we were on the train. Got off at Main Street & walked back to the hotel. Felt like torture in the hot sun, carried Tanush for some of the way. Getting Ritu down for a nap took longer than I thought. Everyone finally settled down around 3pm. Got up at 4 & headed back to Disneyland, reached at 4:45pm. Missed the beginning of mickeys parade.

Next we walked to critter country & went on Winnie the Pooh ride, short wait time.

Then we headed to tomorrow land, Tanush & I went on the astro orbitor ride while Sanju took pics & watched over Rithvi.

Next Sanjeev took Tanush on autopia, a car ride which Tanush really enjoyed.

I watched ritu, having fun pointing to birds flying in the sky & keeping me on my toes. Next we had dinner at red rockett pizza, ritu created such a din that people would turn & look at us. We were relieved when we wrapped up & walked outside. We had cheese & veggie pizza. It was 7:45pm & we thot we would get a good spot to watch the mickeys electric night parade only to find the parade pathway fully packed. Managed to find a good spot for Tanush & the parade was really great.

Tanushs favorite was Queen Elsa’s palace.  It was 9:15 when we started heading back, got to the hotel & the kids went to sleep quickly.

Next morning, Tuesday was Tanushs 4th birthday! I had a reservation at mickeys pch grill in paradise pier hotel at 8:20am. We forgot Tanushs birthday badge  & Sanjeev had to go back to our room while I walked with the kids. Lost my way & Sanju reached before me. There was a line for people with reservations too. After we got in, we got to take pics with Mickey in a life guard costume.

Breakfast was buffet with lots of options. Ritu as usual didn’t eat too well, just fruits & Tanush ate ok. We got to meet daisy, Pluto, stitch & Minnie who were walking around & saying hello at the tables. After breakfast we headed to California adventure. Tanush talked briefly to mom to receive his birthday wishes. Once we got in, we headed to cars land where he saw tow mater & I did the junkyard jamboree ride with him. He was happy.

We then saw lightning McQueen pulling in & we took pictures with him.

Next we headed to animation academy in Hollywood land. Rithvi threw a tantrum just after we entered & I stepped out with her. She had a good time in the lobby chasing lights & looking up at the large cartoons playing all over. Half hour later, daddy & son walked out with their sketches of goofy. Pretty cool!

Next we did turtle talk with crush, this time daddy had to step out with ritu. Tanush had a good time. We walked back to cars land for lunch at Flo’s V8 cafe, Tanush ate ok, Rithvi so-so. We headed back to the hotel for a nap. We had dinner reservations to celebrate Tanushs birthday at goofys kitchen 5:30pm. Before that, the kiddos chilled with their dad in the pool after their nap. It looked like they had a good time, very comfortable & splashing around in the water. A couple of grandpa/grandmas complimented us on ritu’s dapper haircut & swimsuit.

After showers, we headed for dinner, there was a line again but not too bad. We started with pictures with goofy in chefs costume. It was buffet style & there were more options than we could possibly try out. Good food, great desserts. Yes, I had desserts even though I knew Tanushs cake was on the way. Tanushs tiny cake was well done & he got his birthday song. He also got to meet chip n dale & Minnie.

After dinner, which wrapped around 7 pm, we headed back to California adventure park. We stopped in downtown Disney for live music & Ritu had a good time dancing. It was dusk when we reached the park. We spent time at bugs land. We did heimlichs the caterpillar ride, fliks flyers car ride. I didn’t realize the park closes at 8pm. We had to wrap up. We headed to paradise pier for the world of colors show. Again I thought the show was at 9pm but it was at 8:15pm. Looks like I had looked up weekend timings. Didn’t get a very good spot but we saw a decent part of the water fountains & light show.  We were exhausted & headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped to collect our photos with lightning McQueen earlier that day. We had a free coupon.

The next day, Wednesday we headed out early to Disneyland. We were there by 8:45am only to find out that the park opens at 10am, & such long lines before the parks open! Anyway, they let us in at 9:30am on Main Street. We couldn’t enter any of the sections until 10am, the morning was mainly waiting around.

Tanush entertained himself with his toy cars while Rithvi kept us on our toes. Finally we entered fantasy land, the lines weren’t long. We started with Alice in wonderland ride. Both Tanush & Rithvi enjoyed it.

Next we did storybook land canal boat ride. Both kids happy. Next was the teacup ride, kids were happy. We then did it’s a small world. Lines were good till now. I’m surprised how the kids had a good time on all the dark, bumpy, swinging rides. They were absolutely fine.

Next was dumbo the flying elephant ride, the wait for this one was long & I remember it being super hot. When standing in line, if it’s not your kid it’s someone else’s kid throwing a tantrum. It’s hard for most kids under 6 to get the concept of waiting for your turn, not to mention the heat adding to the crankiness. This was followed by king Arthur’s carousel. Rithvi sat on a horse too & enjoyed it. Next we took pinocchios ride followed by snow whites adventure. Kids all good till now.

We were done with everything in fantasyland except peter pans ride & sleeping beauty. We decided to call it quits & had lunch at village haus restaurant. Rithvi had dozed off & was cranky to be woken up for lunch, she settled down after some time & had her usual Mac n cheese. Tanush was ok, he was happy that he would get to have juice after his lunch & was usually good about eating a few carrots & apple slices along with his food. Headed back to the hotel after lunch. Kids took a nap & again we headed back to Disneyland around 4pm. We started with the sleeping beauty castle walk through. Tanush finally got context to the huge black dragon Lego figurine we would pass in downtown Disney along with prince Philip on his white horse. He likes the story now, ever since he saw it. He wanted to go again, but I wasn’t up for climbing up & down the dark castle. We then did Casey Circus train ride.

We then headed to toon town, which is probably the most age appropriate section for my kids. It had a kiddie playground/goofys playhouse. Donald ducks steam boat was next.

Tanush & I next took a walk in chip n dales tree house followed by mickeys house. Sanju entertained ritu in the meantime. We had figured she was happiest when she was let to walk around & explore on her own, rather than follow a set path. Tanush got to meet Mickey in mickeys house.

Sanju then took Tanush on a mini roller coaster, gadgets go coaster. I was happy that Tanush enjoyed it. He likes heights & thrill rides. We then hung out for pics at goofys garage, on the various cars.

It was early but we headed back anyway, we knew the next morning we had a special pass magic morning to enter at 8am. On our way through downtown Disney, we went into ride makerz where kids can make their own ride. They choose the body, wheels put it together & can choose accessories. Tanush was super excited & happy.

The only thing is we didn’t realize it wasn’t a Disney store where we could have used our Disney gift card. We shelled out $100 for his car, I wish they were better about projecting approximate costs.  We headed back to the hotel & called it a day at 9:30pm.

Next morning, we reached the park at 8:15am & there was a line! Everybody around us had the same question, is this a line for magic morning? To understand this better, there are 10-15 gates & there’s a line in all for what we thot was an exclusive entry. Guess everybody else got it too. Anyway, we started the morning with waiting in line for peter pans ride in fantasy land. After that we pretty much repeated rides in fantasyland until California adventure park opened at 10am. We redid king Arthur’s carousel, pinocchios ride, dumbo the flying elephant. I’m happy we actually got to repeat rides.

We headed at California adventure at 9:45, no lines/rush & started with waiting in line for Disney jr live show at 10:30am. We were 2nd in line. Kids enjoyed the show, got to see Mickey & all his friends along with princess Sophia, jake & his pirate friends, doc mcstuffin all in one show.

We then headed to monsters inc ride. Tanush loves the monsters even though he doesn’t know their names.

Since it was our last day, we decided to skip the kids nap. We headed to our 12pm reservation at storytellers cafe in grand California hotel with access through California adventure park. Rithvi was cranky again, from being tired & sleepy. Food was fine, we ordered four cheese ravioli & Tanush had chicken nuggets & Rithvi had Mac n cheese. We headed to bugs land & I did the lady bug  ride with Tanush. Rithvi was fast asleep.

Next Tanush repeated flik flyer ride with his dad & I repeated  heimlichs caterpillar ride. Rithvi was sweating profusely while she slept, poor baby.

We then headed back to Hollywood land to catch the 2:20 show of Aladdin. Before that I walked with Tanush to get pictures with Olaf.

Sanju was already in line for the show when we got back. We had to climb 2 flights of stairs in the hot sun to enter our seating. Everyone around us was in the same state, huffing & sweating it out. It was great show, Tanush enjoyed it. Sanju has to step out in the middle with Ritu, she was cranky from interrupted sleep.   After the show we walked to paradise pier. Tanush got pics with Donald Duck,we then did toy story midway mania.

This could not have made any sense to a Ritu, but she was fine. It’s a ride where u end up at different balloon shooting games. Cutie pie tried to repeat what I was doing. Tanush then went on king triton fish ride carousel. It’s fascinating how kids enjoy the simplest rides the most.

We decided to find a good spot for the Pixar parade at 5:15pm. The crowds in California adventure are not as bad as Disneyland. Tanush & I did the jellyfish ride along with mickeys giant wheel. We were back well in time before the parade was going to get to our spot. It was good to watch the parade all through.

We decided  to have an early dinner & ate at boardwalk pizza & pasta. Food was good. I had a small scare when Sanjeev had left the table with Rithvi when I took Tanush to the restroom. He had not picked my handbag when leaving the table & it ended up in lost & found. Thankfully I got it back. The only thing left was the world of color Show at 8:15, we decided to skip it since we hadn’t collected the fast passes in the morning. Took a few more pic & said our good byes to Disneyland & California adventure park. Phew, we made it this far!

 

On Friday, the day of driving back we started our morning with dad & kids spending a good amount of time in the hotel pool at around 8am. After that it was packing, showers  & breakfast. I asked Tanush if he had a good time, he replied yes. I then asked what he would tell his friends at school about, he replied “nothing”. I pressed on asking what he would say if they asked him about it, he replied “i will tell them it’s a secret”. We started driving at 11am.

Ritu took a long morning nap in the car. Stopped for lunch at IHOP. Both kids were awake & noisy for the 2nd leg of the journey, Tanush played a lot with his leap pad. We stopped for gas around 4:30pm. Tanush was super cranky as he hadn’t slept at all. He slept when we began the last leg of our drive but Rithvi was super cranky now. We managed to get by with reading stories, singing but it was tough. Reached sis place at 6:30pm. hurray! She had planned a mini party with food, balloons & cake for Tanushs birthday.