Disneyland in 2010

We returned home on Friday night from a week in Southern California. Most of it was spent at Disneyland with one day at Legoland. Like I said in a previous post, I like Dland in small doses. Sam could go there every day for the rest of his life and be happy. We compromised with the four day pass. I survived but barely. For my recap, I decided to go with the Best of Times, Worst of Times format again--at this point in the pregnancy, I'm lacking originality.

1. I loved seeing my kids get along so well.


I didn't love telling them to be quiet in the hotel room at 6:00 am for the bazillianth time.

2. Sammie, my niece Kate and I had a wonderful time at the Princess lunch.




They brought this dessert platter to our table and I felt obligated to eat the entire thing myself (this was after the tri-tip, mashed potatoes and two other courses!)


3. After four years of attending Dland's Star Wars Jedi training, Luke finally got picked to go onstage.


We have twenty long minutes of video footage of him rubbing sunscreen out of his eyes.

4. Ryan was really cute on the trip and developed a love for Mickey, Dumbo and It's a Small World.


He also developed a love of churros, hot dogs and diet coke.

Yes, he ate the whole thing.

5. Being hugely pregnant, I learned to love the rides like Pirates, Small World and Jungle Cruise where you sit in a cool environment and take a load off.


I was mortified when I accidentally sneezed on the people in front of us on Pirates. They turned around to glare at me and I couldn't even blame it on one of the kids.

6. After walking for three days through Dland and Lego land, I resorted to this beauty for the fourth and fifth day:


I felt pretty smug tooling around on it until Sam and Luke both started referring to it as "the fatty cruiser."

7. We had the most beautiful weather of the trip at Legoland.

Pretend this is Legoland. I'm having temporary problems with my Legoland pics.

That is, until we were hit out of nowhere with a torrential downpour at 2:00 pm that ended our day. Side note: Legoland is really clean and fun but not for the under four crowd. Ryan couldn't ride anything and it was a total bummer for him.

8. I enjoyed seeing Sam love every minute of Dland. He lives for the magic. Here he is enjoying watching a barbershop quartet called the Dapper Dans perform. He will hate this picture and it is my payback for subjecting me to four days in the park.


Every night, I collapsed into bed with the kids by 8:00 pm. Sam would head back over to Dland to ride the big rides and watch fireworks and basically partake of the magic.

9. I loved people watching more than anything. I started taking photos for a "People of the Park" type post but then looked down at what I was wearing and realized the hypocrisy of doing so. But I will give you a taste:


Though I didn't wear a kilt with combat boots, I did wear the same pair of camo capris the entire four days at Dland. Before you pass judgement, let me just say, they were the only pants I had with pockets and thus I was forced to continue to wear them.

10. I returned home to find my cabinets painted!

No pictures yet--I'm making you all wait until I can present the finished product.

I made Sam promise that we will not return to Disneyland for at least two years. Let's see if he keeps his word.