so close....

in our ongoing attempt to enjoy everything around us

we continued our 'explore the OC'.

this time we headed north to downtown disney.

without traffic, our house is 9 minutes to the disney exit.

what?!?!  

totally awesome.

i admit.... 

it was REALLY hard to be that close to disneyland.

i've got a massive disney itch happening.

we're saving up for some season passes.....

i am ready to get my mickey on.

(um... that came out wrong.)

we had to tell the kids what we were doing ahead of time.

since jackson can read, he spots the disneyland signs miles away.

we promised lots of fountains instead.

did i mention how much i love everything disney?  sigh.

bella fell asleep in the car.  she was a bit grumpy to start with and demanded to sit in the stroller.

that was okay with me.  

i got to hold this little sweetie's hand.

we quickly found a fountain that seemed normal.

then it started shooting water out the top like fireworks.

jackson was loving it.

charlotte couldn't keep her hands out of the water.

and i couldn't get enough of her first "silly pigs"

(our name for messy pigtails)

we decided to eat at the most over-priced restaurant ever rainforest cafe

(we will now be eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches the rest of the week to make up for it)

we thought the kids would love all the animals.

they minute they stepped through the door, their hands were full of stuffed animals.

worse than the candy you have to sit in front of at the grocery store checkout

 (sidenote... my camera is not the best.  i have a dream of getting a new one... one that will actually take pictures inside.  

it was dim lighting inside, so it was really hard to get good pics without a flash. which i hate.  

so i had to do some editing.  sorry if they're a bit grainy)

the first time the 'thunder & lightning' went off, 

the kids were totally freaked out and didn't quite know what to do.

 after some reassurance, they were loving all the fun details in the restaurant and store.

the giant fish tanks were a big hit.

especially when they found dori from finding nemo!

we had a yummy (small) dinner

jeff & i split a burger and had a snack when we got home

the kids were out of their seats every few minutes to see the animals 'come alive'

 charlotte much preferred standing up and walking all over sitting in the booth like a big girl 

to the high chair

we left the rainforest cafe to find

the biggest drumset ever!!!

jackson wanted to play them so bad.

instead, we watched several songs.

it was, um, interesting.

 mullet?  check.  ripped-off sleeves? check.

there was lots of fog and flutey-sounding background music.

jackson watched intensely.

i love that he had the same pose his daddy gets when he's watching something.

we had a great time exploring downtown disney.

i'm ready to go back soon.... but hopefully to keep walking into the magic kingdom itself!