California - March 2010

Our first vacation in 2010 was to visit our friends Vicky, Jim, Ethan and Natalie in Southern California. We spent a couple of days with them, celebrating Jana's birthday (Stefan's birthday, which is on the same day was celebrated a little later, see below). The boys enjoyed the beach and our friends Jen, David and Jen's sister Rebecca joined us for a day at the beach.

Stefan had the honor of taking IB Guy with him. It was special treat from his preschool class with Ms. Lynn.

With IB Guy on the plane	Enjoying the plane ride and the movie that comes with it	Jana and Natalie...	...and Vicky
	Natalie, Sebastian, Stefan and Ethan
Happy Birthday, Jana				Flying to California and playing are tiring!
David and Stefan with IB Guy

After spending time with our friends, we visited Disneyland for Stefan's birthday. It was Sebastian's first time at Disneyland. He instantly took to the "It's a small world" ride, which we had to do a few times. For one day, friends from Colorado Springs, who were in Stefan's preschool class, also joined the fun.

For Stefan's birthday celebration, we organized a special dinner where Stefan's and our friends, Shianne and Stephanie, David and Jen, Trevor, Susan and Travis, and Vicky, Jim, Ethan and Natalie joined us at Rainforest Cafe.

	Jana and Stephanie	Shianne and Stefan	Stefan and David	Sebastian, Natalie, and Stefan
Shianne, Stefan, Ethan, Trevor, David, Sebastian	Asking Jen for a dance	Vicky, Jana, Sebastian, Ethan, Jim, Natalie, Stefan, Marc

On the second day it was back at Disneyland. We were actually able to get in an hour before official opening times and had a blast riding the Peter Pan ride and several other rides at Fantasyland before the crowds came. We stayed again all day and met up with our friends here and there.

			Sebastian's favorite Disney character
			Sebastian was not fond of Mickey Mouse (initially - see for a change of his attitude below)
				What should we do the next day?
Tired boy

On our third day at Disneyland, we spent time at the California Adventure Park. Our friends Tracie and Cody joined us there. Stefan had not seen Cody for a long time and the two boys had so much fun together. Sebastian was in heaven when he saw the "It's a Bug's Life" part of the park, as it is his favorite Disney movie. For dinner we were joined by our friend Denise who we had not seen in a long time.

During the day, Sebastian also discovered the Thunder Mountain Railroad ride and we had to go five times in a row, as he was having so much fun. But the most fun was had that day when we rode the Tea Cups until the park closed. On the way out the boys got a special treat in meeting Mickey Mouse just one last time.

Stefan and Cody			Tracie and Cody

Wrapping up our visit to Southern California, we spent some time with good friends. First the boys made some crafts at the Sawdust Factory where we hung out with Stephanie. Then Robin and Randy invited us for a barbeque which Tracie and her kids and Stephanie joined, too. On our final day, before flying out, we met with the Hernandez family for brunch.