the happiest place on earth

Horray! We finally made it to Disneyland! I think my head was going to burst if I didn't get to take Jimmy before the next baby is born. 2 1/2 turned out to be a really great age to take him. We missed Aunt Erin and Uncle Danny a lot and we know they wanted to be there, but I was glad we were able to organize the trip at all. Baabee managed to make it and Aunt Angie just happened to come to town at the right time! How can I even describe the trip? I could go on in great detail, but it would probably bore those of you that actually take any time to read this so I will just sum it up with the pictures.

Our homemade version of what we would have had to pay a lot for at the Character Breakfast that we opted out of this time.

The long exciting walk through the parking lot, where Jimmy would only hold Lucy's hand.

And he wouldn't let go for some time.

The first actual "ride" according to Finn: The Parking Lot Shuttle.

Our one family picture (at least we took it in a good spot).

Main Street Fire Station

Main Street Shop Windows (How do I get hired to make these for a living?)

The kids with Walt and Mickey... and the Castle too.

Our first official ride: Dumbo.

In the Monkey Cage on Casey, Jr.

(Jimmy already looks exhausted and it was only the second ride)

Storybook Land Boats (aka: the Whale's Mouth that Jimmy and Finn were so excited to go through... Monstro is Jimmy's favorite part of Pinocchio after all).

Tea Cups

(notice Uncle Pete in the Background... he has to sit this one out or he won't be able to function the rest of the day)

Jedi Training Camp.

Jimmy hasn't actually seen any Star Wars, but he knows it because of his cousins' obsession. His favorite part was this "elevator" that Darth Vader came up on with the "bad guys in white with the guns." When looking at his Disneyland map yesterday, he reminded me where it was.

When everyone else went on Space Mountain, I took the little boys to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Finn got scared because it was kind of dark and then Malificent was just too much for him, so he started pulling me out with Jimmy still behind us. Then Jimmy got scared and they both have bad memories of it... nice call Aunt Mary.

Oh, well. At least I got these funny pictures of them.

And then we got to see the Snow White statues and they were really excited about the fish fountain that came up out of the water. Then we made wishes in Snow White's Wishing Well (which by the way, doesn't sing and echo like it used to... what is that about?)

Then we got to meet Buzz Lightyear, so at least my time with them was not a total bust.

Meeting Tiger

I guess he finally warmed up to the idea of the characters enough to let Eeyore hug him.

Then he crashed in the stoller right before the parade started. It was too bad because we had really good seats, but at least he napped.

Mary Poppins was really cute (and flirted with Finn a lot), but I am still jealous of her. I mean she may be cuter than me, but I think I could do a better job and look slightly more like Julie Andrews (In case, anyone out there works for Disney, keep me in mind).

Oh, well. I did get to partake in the "inter-active parade" because Lucy was willing to join in the conga line, but looked a little frightened that she was leaving us all behind. I jumped in like a good aunt. That is why it is a good thing to have "crazy drama aunts" like me who aren't embarrassed to do dumb stuff--actually we usually kind of like doing dumb stuff.

Mickey and Minnie

Very cool to be so close to them, but honestly the kissed each other at one point and it was a little too much for all of us.

Jimmy woke up for the second parade, but we weren't quite as close as before. He did get to bang on one of the drums that they hand out, but when it was time to give it back, he started to cry. No good. I told him I would go buy him one, but that we had to give this one back. Fortunately, that little lie calmed him down and he recovered quickly, but he remembered about it the next day. I think I told him that I didn't see one in the store and he got to pick out a different special toy-- this mostly appeased him. The people next to us kept telling me to put it in our bag because they almost forgot to collect it from us. I totally would have done it, but at least my husband is honest... even if it did make his child cry.

Toon Town

Meeting Mickey!

My camera sadly ran out of battery (stupid me!) and I didn't get very much after it got dark, but just before it died, I managed to get one of Jimmy in front of my favorite little door. He had just bought his blue mickey hat (probably because that is what Finn had) with his own name (as opposed to mine) stitched on the back.

We tried to go on the Peter Pan Ride after dinner, because Jimmy was napping when everyone else went, but they had just closed it for the fireworks. I tried to sweet talk the guy who was telling people to come back after the fireworks, and then I tried guilting him, and then I started harrassing him until Zach dragged me away. I think he was close to breaking down, but it all worked out because we went on the carousel which is amazing at nighttime. And then after the truly amazing (probably the best I have ever seen) fireworks show, Jimmy managed to stay awake, to make it back to the Peter Pan Ride. I was so happy because it is seriously one of the best rides in the whole place and I knew Jimmy would love it. It was a good last ride to go on and I think Jimmy's sleepiness only added to the magic of the whole thing--he was just sort of in awe the whole time. After that he curled up in his stroller and said, "Let's go home now." We walked down Main Steet and saw Mickey walking by just as we were leaving. We got to wave good-bye and that was a great ending to a wonderful day.