Where Dreams Come True

Disneyland. We've been talking about it for months, telling our oldest girl that we would be going there on our vacation this spring. And all the characters of her books...Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse...they would all be there. And she would be able to meet them. And she could ride rides and eat Mickey Mouse ice cream and explore Sleeping Beauty's castle. Seriously. We've really been talking it up. Little did we know, we would have the opportunity to go there sooner than we had expected. We ended up having to leave the country to take care of some business and were conveniently sent to the city we had planned to visit for our vacation. So what did we do with our free day while there? Go to Disneyland, of course. And do you think we bought a year pass so that we could go again in the spring (and save some money)? Yes. We did. Now...many of you think "big" when you think Disneyland, probably because you're thinking of Disneyworld in Florida. Even the Disneyland in California, which I frequented with my fam while growing up there, is much bigger than the park we visited. But after one day there, we realized...small is good. When you have a three-year-old and a one-year-old, you barely make it through one area let alone the whole park in a day. But we had a blast and are excited to return in a few months and see all the things we didn't see the first time. Already, E is talking about going there again. Every night, I ask her what she wants to dream about. And she usually responds with one of two things: her cousins; or, Disneyland. Yeah...she, and we, are pretty excited about returning to the land where dreams come true. Or at least the land where you can act like a kid, with your kids, and feel totally good about it. 

Here are some pics of our trip.  Excuse the number. Grandma's orders.

Sleeping Beauty asked E where she came from. In light of the last year, this was a tricky question. Finally, after thinking about it, E answered, "I come from...a hotel." Good answer, girl.
 

 
My shy, sweet girl.

A has finally woken up from her nap (she was sleeping on Daddy), which means she can now join in the fun...and the pictures.

 

We told our girls there would be Mickey Mouse ice cream.

One of the girls' favorite rides ~ Winnie the Pooh.

Another favorite ~ the Small World ride, which E affectionately calls the "doll ride."

Afternoon nap-time has come and gone. Anyone look tired yet?

So...one of the perks of being a blonde-haired girl in a land of not-blonde-haired girls: sometimes you stand out. Well, actually all the time. But sometimes it's a good thing. About five minutes after we entered the park, someone came up to us and asked if our girls would be the Grand Marshals of the Disneyland parade. They made us hats with our names sewn on the back (yes...Mom and Dad got some too) and we rode in the parade and waved our big Mickey hands. E was a little shy and didn't do too much waving. Our youngest, however, stood and waved at the people like she was running for office. She's our social one. And she LOVED the attention.

Because we were at the beginning of the parade, we were able to see the rest of it, a fun experience for all.

This picture was actually taken on another afternoon when we had two hours to kill and decided to go to Disneyland again. Did I mention we got a year pass? Such a good idea. And here is E, getting pulled out of the crowd again during the parade (I'm telling you...you can't hide anywhere around here if you have blonde hair).

Hmmmm. We should have taken this picture at the beginning of the day. Tired girls. But happy ones.