The Happiest Place on Earth

We drove 6+ hours south to Southern California to go to Disneyland the next day. My gracious Aunt Cathy let us stay at her house. She lives just minutes from the Magic Kingdom. The girls loved staying with her. Their room was full of toys for them to play with. That night my cousin Andrea threw a BBQ for us. They served great food and our girls got along perfectly with hers.

The next morning we woke up to rain. We thought we would have to postpone our plans a day. Around 8:30 a.m. the rain stopped and the sun started shining. We decided to brave the weather and to just go. The weather turned out to be perfect. It never rained and stayed sunny and slightly cool in the high 60s. The crowds were perfect, too. Most rides only had a 5-10 minute wait.

I have been to Disneyland a few times, but it was the first time for Stephen and the girls. It was also the first time for me at many of the sights. Every time I have gone before I always focused on the big attractions, but since we were with the girls we focused on the small, simple rides. We learned early on in the day that the girls weren’t going to be able to handle anything even slightly scary. It even took some convincing to get Eva to go on Small World, but she then loved it.

Our first ride was the Peter Pan ride. I prepped the girls by telling them it would be fun and magical. They were scared throughout the ride and came out a bit traumatized. It was too dark and unpredictable for them. I didn’t sympathize with them and thought they just needed to be brave. After all, we came all this way for these rides. Scary or not, we were going on them and getting our money’s worth.

So after Peter Pan we got in line for “Snow White’s Scary Adventure.” The name didn’t help ease their fears. The girls’ animal instincts kicked in and the girls began kicking and screaming that they didn’t want to go on it. The line was very short and once we got to the front we realized there was no use forcing them to go. The girls won and we walked right out the exit. It was quite dramatic and comical for me and Stephen. The rest of the day we spent going on the calm and simple rides like the carousel, Dumbo, the train, the steamboat, the jungle cruise (my favorite; I love the corny jokes) and the cars (Mally is a terrible driver). We really had a pleasant day enjoying the park at the girls’ pace.

Mally with Mickey. We waited 30 minutes to meet him and Eva wouldn’t go near him. “That’s it, no more waiting in line to see any characters.” Needless to say, we didn’t see any princesses. But the girls didn’t seem to mind.

Around 4 p.m. Stephen was ready for a nap. Eva crashed on the floor within minutes of arriving back at my aunt’s. The girls were troopers and lasted the whole day. You can still see her satisfied smile.

The next morning we headed out to L.A. to meet a few of Stephen’s high school friends. One of his friends lives in L.A. and through Facebook he found out that two others would be on vacation in the area at the same time. We all met up at a café for breakfast. It was very nice chatting with the group.

Then we were northward bound for the Bay. As we were in the Gilroy area (you know you are near Gilroy because the air literally smells of garlic from all the garlic fields; it smells fabulous) I began to feel like I was home. I love Northern California so much more than Southern. It must be the mixture of cooler cleaner air, lusher vegetation and a little bit less traffic. I feel more at home up here.