The Happiest Day!

Yesterday we went to the Happiest Place on Earth for my (early) birthday party! :-) My birthday is actually tomorrow (Friday) - but all the stars aligned and Wednesday was the best day to go. Paprika got out of school early, Mr. M was able to take off work, and the park was practically empty. We hit the sweet spot after Labor Day but before the weekend. Even the weather was perfect - cool and threatening rain - my favorite because it whispers: Crowds, Go Home! :-)

And indeed, we did have the whole park to ourselves. Originally, I was going to have Paprika skip school...but after the whole drama with her changing schools three days ago, I didn't think that would make a very good impression. As luck would have it, her school was released at 1:30 yesterday, so we had the whole rest of the day and into the evening at the Magic Kingdom. Yay!

Our first stop, of course, was at Vivian and Annemarie's brick. It's right by the entrance to Disneyland, so you can't miss it. Our girls' brick is right next to Devon's sons' brick and I almost texted Devon a picture of her brick (like I always do) but yesterday I didn't for some reason. Well, what do you know, but Devon texted me a little while later, and it turned out that SHE was at Disneyland for a work conference! So, we met up for a little bit. What a crazy co-inky-dink, right?!



I love having that little brick right outside of Disneyland - it's my little touchstone whenever we go, and always makes me feel centered when I am there. I remember the year after Vivian and Annemarie passed away, I took Paprika to Disneyland like 50 times (seriously, about once/week) - because I figured that even if I was feeling sad, there's no place that can cheer you up like Disneyland!

After saying hi to our brick, we went on the Carousel, or "the horsey ride" as it's often called around these parts. Paprika named her horse: Fluffy.



Before we left the house, Ginger did not want to put on clothes or shoes (it took her about three hours to get dressed that morning)- but once we got to the park, she was a doll. She had so much fun, I don't think it even occured to her to be anything but delightful! Haha!



Violet had the best time of all, I think! She is such a daredevil. The crazier the ride, the happier she is. She wanted to do it all and was so excited by everything she saw. She loves music, lights, and adventure. She rode all the rides with the big girls, even the Ladybug Teacups twice. And those things are fast!

She rode with Mr. M and Ginger on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and thought it was the best thing ever:



Since it was my birthday trip, I got to sneak away to ride two rides by myself! I rode Soaring Over California (at California Adventure) - because no one will ever go on it with me! I love that ride. We also got to check out the new Cars Land everyone has been raving about. No one in our family has seen the movie Cars (the girls have zero interest)- so I don't think we were as excited as everyone else about it. Haha.

We rode so many rides yesterday. The lines were negligible - most rides we just walked on. So, while everyone else rode Winnie The Pooh over and over, I slipped over to Splash Mountain! :-) I had never ridden it before and I had NO idea how wet I would get. I knew there would be a camera, and I admit, I planned on smiling pretty for it. Haha. Well, I can safely say that I was SHOCKED by the drop at the end of the ride. This is the picture that the ride camera took (I took a picture of their picture with my cellphone):



Gorgeous, right?! Yea, I got off that ride SOAKED. I almost drenched my cellphone but I had the forethought to stuff my phone down my pants halfway through the ride!

One of my favorite moments of the trip was right before the park closed. Paprika begged me to take her on Pirates of The Carribean one last time, so we skipped across the park holding hands to make it in time. She clutched my hand through the whole ride and at the end squeezed my hand and said, "You are the best mom ever!" Yea, that kind of sealed the deal for me...

I have been to Disneyland a lot of times since I moved to California...but yesterday was probably my favorite day of all. And that is saying something! :-)



The End.

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