Disneyland Day 5-6: Post Disney trip

Our flight time wasn't until the afternoon, so we had all morning to hang out. We chose to go to IHOP for breakfast and then walk around Downtown Disney once more. Nico ate nearly all of his funny face pancakes and was excited to get some more Legos today. We walked around for about an hour, threw more pennies into fountains, and bought him another couple Lego sets.

And then the drama started.

To make a long story short, our connecting flight to Dallas was cancelled due to ice. The best option we were able to get was SUNDAY! (Thankfully my dad and his work travel staff helped us with this, otherwise it would have been pushed to Monday!) We realized there were worse places to be stuck for 2 more days than sunny California, but we were sooo ready to get home!

In the midst of the phone calls, confusion, and Nico running around with his pirate sword, my mom searched for hotels and booked us a couple nights at the Hilton next to the airport. Phew. We are inexperienced travelers, especially when things don't go right.

The hotel shuttle picked us up, and I finally could take a deep breath. The hotel was great with a pool and hot tub, tennis court, and a complimentary shuttle service to nearby restaurants and shopping.

When I saw that Ra Sushi, our favorite sushi place EVER, was just a few miles down the street, our mood quickly changed and we resumed our cheerful "we are on vacation for TWO MORE DAYS" attitude!

After dinner, we walked across the street to Target to get Nico a swimsuit for the hottub. We found one that was right up his alley!

Within a few minutes of getting back to the hotel and laying down, he announced, "Mommy, I think I'm gonna go to bed now." The snoring began just minutes later.

My new addiction to these Lego sets kicked in, and I built the rest of them for Nico. I love being a boy mom.

We were determined to make Saturday count. The consensus from the locals was that Laguna Beach was the best beach in the area, so after a nice hotel breakfast buffet, that's where the wind blew us for a majority of the day.

Nico ran around in the sand for 2 hours, and he wasn't too happy when we told him that we should go grab a bite to eat for lunch.

On the stroller ride to a nearby Irish pub, he fell asleep. He was so exhausted from this week long trip, so we laid him on the bench and he slept for a couple hours! His long nap equated to a bigger bar bill than we planned on! Really fun day, though!

We took another spin on the beach before the taxi came back to get us. Nico didn't ever want to leave.



We went back to the hotel for a little hot tub/pool time. Our little athlete was set on playing tennis, too.

We ordered pizza for dinner and had a relaxing night in our hotel, before working our way back home sweet home on Sunday!

This was such a memorable family vacation that will always have an extra special place in my heart, since it's really the first big one for just our little family of 3. Hopefully Nico will also remember some of this, but at least he has all of this documented. Nothing beats the excitement, laughter, and expressions on his face from the past 3 days. Feeling so fortunate to be able to live this life.