Low Carb

So Matt and I decided that we were going on a diet starting January 1st. A good New Years resolution like many other people I'm sure.  We started out by counting calories and not eating meat, but that only lasted about 2 weeks.  Then we decided to try a low carb diet.  I have to admit that I didn't think that I could really do it because I've tried before and never made it past 3 days.  What can I say I love sugar and dessert!  We decided to give it a shot anyways.  I tried to be more creative then just eating meat and salad, so I found some recipes to try online.  We actually made it for almost 2 weeks, but then we went on vacation and that was the end of that.  We did start the low carb diet up again 11 days ago, and we are still sticking with it.  It is pretty hard, but I've found a few things that make it bearable (such as low carb Dreyers chocolate ice cream that I mix with natural (aka no sugar added) peanut butter).  We are also being more adventurous with the vegetables that we eat.  The picture above is actually mashed cauliflower which is supposed to be a substitute for mashed potatoes.  Ok let's be honest here.  I don't think that there is really a substitute for mashed potatoes, but these were pretty good.  Overall things are going good, and for some reason I don't feel like I can cheat so I don't.  We are both down around 20 pounds since January 1st, so I will call that a win! (that includes going on vacation too!) 

Just Hanging Out

Caden and I went to the park the other day just enjoying the good weather.  He rode his "motorcycle" as he calls it.  He use to love riding this bike, but he is starting to ride his real bike more these days.  I thought that I should get a picture to remember it though!  He is so cute on this bike, and he can get moving pretty fast.  He's rode it many miles around the neighborhood.

 

So Sweet!

At night I like to lay with Caden for a few minutes to rub his back and talk about his day before he goes to sleep.  Tonight he was looking at me funny, and this is how the conversation went.

Me: What?
Caden: I'm just smiling.
Me: Why?
Caden: Because I love you.

That just made my day!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Caden's new favorite show, so he always wants to dress up like a Ninja Turtle now.  He usually likes to take off his clothes too because "the Ninja Turtles only wear their shell" as he says.  Whenever he watches the show he has to have his swords, and he likes to fight when they do.  Honestly I'm not really sure how appropriate the show is for him to watch, but he is pretty funny.

Caden's Mickey Shirt

We bought Caden this Mickey shirt at Disneyland, and he insisted on wearing it for two days in a row plus two nights with his pj bottoms.  At least it made for less laundry when we got home.

Pictures With the Characters

 

 

 

California Adventure

When we got to California Adventure about 15 minutes before they opened I was appalled at the lines to get in!  I thought that it was going to be crazy busy for sure.  Once we got it in it wasn't so bad though.  We didn't really have to wait much at all except for all of the Cars rides, but I guess that was to be expected.  As soon as the park opened everyone made a beeline for the Cars Land.  It was craziness!

Cars Land was actually pretty cool.  Radiator Springs looked exactly the same as the movie! 

 

This is the Luigi's Flying Tires Ride.  I think that we waited like 30 minutes to get on this ride. We also went on Mater's Tractor ride which was super fun.  I think that we ended up waiting like 30 minutes for that ride too.  Caden didn't want to, but we convinced him to go on the Radiator Springs Racers Ride.  I thought that it was so fun!  You ride in a car around Radiator Springs and get to see all of the characters, and then you race another car around the dirt track.  Caden said that it was too fast, and he didn't want to ride it again. 

 There was a whole area that was like the Bug Life movie, and Caden really liked the rides there.  We rode these balloons several times.

 



 He also rode the lady bugs that spin around.

This train was his absolute favorite ride!  I think that we must've rode it like 10 times! 

 The train goes through a watermelon tunnel that smells like real watermelon and a cookie box that smells like cookies.  It was super cute!

 

Matt and I took turns going on The Tower of Terror and the California Screamin roller coaster since those are too scary for Caden.  Caden really liked watching the roller coaster take off though.   Here was Matt on the roller coaster.

This was when I rode the roller coaster.  I have to say that I think that I made be getting too old for roller coasters because this made me feel so sick.  Now I know why my parents never wanted to go when we were kids!

 

Here were me and Caden riding on the carousel.  It really is a lot funner to ride on the animal rather then stand next to it! :)

Disneyland!

 We bought the 4 day park hopper to Disneyland and California Adventure, so we spent 2 days at each park. We actually ended up doing a package deal through Disney.  It eneded up being cheaper and came with some free perks such as free breakfast, parking, and a free magic morning (get in an hour early one day.)  We got up really early on Sunday morning (4:30 am!), and drove up there.  Caden didn't sleep good because he was super excited and then he got car sick on the way there, so the first day at Disneyland ended up being a little rough.  Caden was also really scared to go on EVERYTHING!  I mean getting him on every single ride was a fight.  It got a little better eventually, but I don't think that he liked it as much as we were hoping.

 In front of Cinderella's Castle.  Caden was super excited about seeing the castle!

 



He was also excited about riding on the Mark Twain sail boat.  It looked cool, but I have to say that it was the most boring ride ever! 

Ringing the bell on the boat. 

This was on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride, and it actually ending up being one of Caden's favorite rides.  Each person gets a gun to shoot at different targets throughout the ride.  We ended up riding this ride 4 times!  I kicked Matt's butt at it too.  My high score was 220k and Matt's was 85k! 

The Finding Nemo Submarine ride was also one of Caden's favorite rides.  I hate the claustrophobic feeling, so I only rode it once.  Matt and Caden rode it a couple of more times though. 

 We got to see fireworks at the park on Sunday night.

 



Outside of the Toad's Wild Ride.  

Riding the Dumbo ride. 

 Caden also loved Toon Town! 

 



Playing the Piano in Goofy's house. 

Driving Goofy's car. (It's a good thing that Goofy already crashed it into the mail box! :))

Driving Donald Duck's boat.  I pretty much had to drag him out of there to give someone else a turn.

Driving the Firetruck.

 

Caden also LOVED to ride the steam train around the park.  It was actually meant to take you from one place to another since it had several stops, but we rode it around without getting off several times.  It was a good place to rest at least.

 

We also stayed to see the Disneyland parade on Wednesday night.  We were originally planning on coming home Wednesday afternoon, but we decided to just stay longer.  That way we wouldn't have to deal with traffic.  It was a long drive home for Matt though.  We didn't get home until 3am.  We really liked the parade though, and Caden got super excited each time that there was a new float. 

I know that he's a boy, but he still liked the princess float too!

Caden's Favorite Part of Disneyland

was riding the bus.  Seriously all day long he wanted to ride the bus back to the hotel.  It was even better that it had Lightening McQueen on it.  Seriously who needs to go on vacation.  We just needed to take some public transit!

 

This is How We Roll

Caden wanted to wear his Transformer pj's, but they are not really warm enough to wear right now.  The solution was two pair of pj's. It worked good for everyone!  He is making his scary face by the way since he is a Transformer.