On August 26th, 2011, our first child, Derek Joshua became a 3-Year-Old. Where did the time fly??? I remember when Derek was barely crawling. Now he's a little man that can count to 10 in three different languages, who can feed himself, use the potty and do all sorts of other cool stuff. For his Birthday, we celebrated with 4 different events/locations. First, he celebrated his milestone with his Lolo & Lola (Erica's Parents) in Delano. Erica surprised Derek at his pre school with a visit and cupcakes for him and his classmates. We then spent a few days in Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure and then topped it off with a Birthday party at a local park within Chula Vista.
On the weekend of August 12th thru the 14th, the S-B's headed to Delano to visit the Sison House. This trip marked Aubrey's first trip to Delano. With only on pit stop for food and shopping in Valencia, we made it from our home to Delano in about 5 hours. All of us had a great time there and Derek got to blow out his first Birthday cake courtesy of his grand parents in Delano.
On the 23rd of August, Erica decided to pay Derek a visit at his school and surprise him with cupcakes for the class. During this special day, Derek received a Happy Birthday hat that we was very proud to wear and was able to sit in the teacher's chair with two friends that he selected from his class to sit next to him. Derek had the biggest smile on his face not just because it was his Birthday party at school, but because he got to spend that day with his Mommy. Check out some pics from the day.
The day after and through August 28th was the big Disney Celebration Bash. We booked a hotel room at the Carousel Suites, directly across Disneyland, the night before our trips to Disneyland and California Adventure. It was nice to not have to worry about driving up to Disney the day of our trip. We checked in at 4PM, walked around Downtown Disney for a bit to pick up some beignets and do some sight seeing, and then watched the Disneyland firework show from the 3rd floor of our hotel.
The following day, we walked from our hotel and spent the day at Disneyland. Our first stop was catching up with Derek's Ninang(Godmother) Nora. She happens to work at Disneyland so we stopped by and said hello. We proceeded to the Plaza Inn for breakfast with Minnie & Friends. Both Derek and Aubrey had a great time interacting with the Characters, including Minnie Mouse, Chip & Dale, Goofy's son Max, and others. This was the first time the kids had an up-close meeting with Disney characters. The food was excellent and Derek got multiple autographs from all the characters in attendance.
After the breakfast at the Plaza Inn, we proceeded to as many rides and attractions that Derek and the rest of our family could ride. Some of the rides that we rode included the carousel, the Disney Railroad, Autopia, Pirates of the Carribbean, It's a Small World, Finding Nemo Subarmine and Buzz Lightyear. All of us had a great time, including Aubrey and Derek. In the evening, we found an awesome spot for the fireworks towards the beginning of Main Street and watched the show. Immediately after the fireworks, we proceeded to Fantasmic, while unfortunately, the kids knocked out in the stroller. We can't wait for him to grow a couple of inches so that he can ride even more rides!
The next day, we continued to California Adventure on Derek's official Birthdate, August 26th. We noticed that there weren't as many rides that Derek could ride on like at Disneyland, but we made the most of it. We rode the Ferris Wheel, several rides in the Bug's life area, grabbed some hotdogs for lunch, walked back to our hotel for a quick break and then went back to Disneyland for a few rides, then back to California Adventure for the World of Color water show and then back to watch Fantasmic, since the kids missed it the night before. Check out some pics!
On day 4 of our Disney trip, we walked to this store called Ride Makerz, a store where you can build your own radio controlled car and we got Derek's Birthday present. He selected the car, color, rims, wheels and customized his own car. This car is still one of his favorite toys to play with.
The following Sunday was Derek's Birthday Party for the local friends and family. We had his party at a local park called Mountain Eagle Park, where we had some of our closest family and friends in attendance. There were two canopies set up and there was pizza, rolled sandwiches, pancit, lumpia, fruit, desserts and Birthday cake for our guests. Almost all of the kids brought water suits and played in an adjacent water fountain area. Great company and a great party. It topped the celebrations for our big toddler. We can't believe it has been 3 years since our Derek Joshua was born. Hope Derek and everyone else had fun celebrating 3 years of joy and happiness!
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