Happiest Place on Earth...for the Most Part

Disneyland yesterday was "almost" everything I imagined it to be! Here is a very LONG tower of pictures. =)

The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, and the entire day was a lot of fun, except for a few minor details. For example, the first ride that Elijah had his heart set on was the Haunted Mansion, but it turned out to be closed because they were taking down the "Nightmare Before Christmas" decorations. That wasn't too big of a deal though, because we headed right to the Pirates of the Caribbean after learning that the mansion was closed, and Elijah absolutely loved that ride. After Pirates, we headed toward Splash Mountain, and we had been in line for about five minutes when they announced that they had to close down that ride for mechanical difficulties. Thank goodness that we had only waited for a few minutes, but still--it was a bit of a bumpy start to our day.

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After that, the day dramatically improved. The lines were incredibly short, with the longest wait being about twenty minutes. We went on Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean (twice), Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (twice), Space Mountain (twice), Finding Nemo, Small World, Matterhorn, Gadget's Go Coaster, the Rockets, Autotopia...and so on.

The only other thing that got under my skin yesterday was lunch. Clint's mom said she was bringing lunch for all of us, which was actually really nice. But I assumed she was going to bring smaller ice chests that we could put into the lockers, that way we wouldn't have to leave the park at lunchtime. Instead she brought a giant ice chest that had to be left in the car. So when it was time for lunch, we had to completely leave the park, get on the tram, and walk all the way back to the car which was parked inside of a big parking structure. It was a LONG walk (at least a mile there and back), and the whole lunchtime process gobbled up about an hour-and-a-half of our day. But what bothered me the most was the fact that it was so beautiful and sunny, yet we were stuck eating Elijah's birthday lunch sitting on cement in a dark parking structure. It was downright dreary. Again, I didn't blame Teri for this--bless her heart for making all of us lunch! Plus I think it was one of those things that only I felt perturbed about. I had this image of Elijah blowing out his candles and opening his presents in a sunny picnic area under a blue sky, or in a cute Disney cafe with Mickey ears on his head, not in a dingy building underground. And unfortunately I get really irritated when my little idealistic visions don't get realized. But once we went back into the park, everything was bright and cheery again.

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Overall the day was great, and Elijah has been beaming from ear-to-ear today and is still bubbling with enthusiasm over his birthday. I, on the otherhand, am exhausted.

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I can't believe my baby is six years old. I can't take it. I wish time would just freeze right here. I don't want my little guy to ever become too cool and manly to wrap his scrawny little arms and legs around my body in his tight bear hugs, giggling the whole while and telling me that I'm silly, or pretty, or that he loves me.