Disneyland! DISNEYLAND!!!!

Yesterday, LB and I had a great trip to Disneyland. We were joined by my mom, my good friend Vanessa, and my youngest brother, Donald, who was also celebrating a birthday yesterday. In fact, the trip was the Lovejoy-Fordham Alliance's birthday present to him. While I'm not a fan of Disney movies, I like Disneyland well enough. I went a lot as a kid, and so I have some happy, nostalgic memories of visiting the park with my family and friends. Tom, who never went as a child, doesn't have the same associations and consequently can't stand the place. That's how he got out of a trip. I think Disneyland is a nice place to go if you have kids to take, if you're a kid and riding around in a flying elephant is an exciting thing to do, or if you're a young and you like riding roller coasters. I feel like I'm getting too old for roller coasters. :(

So in the first photo, my mom, LB, and I are taking the obligatory photo at the entrance to Disneyland. LB isn't looking because she's too distracted by the train, which we decided to make our first ride of the day. It circles around the park, stopping at the various lands, like Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland.

Here we are with Auntie Ness on the train.
This is a repeat of the last photo, but I love LB's face. I wonder what she's looking at.
LB looks over the train's railing as we make a stop in Toontown.
After the train, we rode on It's a Small World. Lilybeth liked this ride so much that she announced it at the end with an enthusiastic "I like!" and so we decided to ride it again.

Here she is waiting in line with G.
The little soldiers coming out of the clock of It's a Small World.
One of the highlights of the day for LB was the parade. We weren't going to sit and watch since it was a bit crowded, but LB saw Minnie and Mickey coming down the street on their float and she started to laugh and wave enthusiastically, and so we pushed our way through the crowd and found a spot by the street. LB knows who Mickey and Minnie are because she likes to watch Mickey's Clubhouse.

Here's Minnie dancing on her float.
LB waves at her favorite characters.
Here's a shot for cousin Sophie. It's Ariel riding along on her float. We wish you could have joined us, So-So!!!
More clapping.
Oh, who do you see coming up the road, LB?
Who is it!?!
Oh, it's Donald Duck, another star of Mickey's Clubhouse!
And here's another pic for So-So. It's an adorable little Tinkerbelle!
After the parade we headed over to Toonytown, where LB had a little play at Goofy's House and G bought her the standard Disneyland hat. Thank you, G!
Goofy's House.
Uncle Donald helps her on the slide.
Again, again!

After Goofy's, we went over to meet the big man himself at Mickey's Clubhouse. The line to meet the Mouse threads through his Clubhouse until finally you get to a room where Mickey is waiting to meet you. The wait in line was about 30 minutes, and while we were waiting LB kept saying "Mickey, 'are you?" as in "Mickey, where are you?" When it was finally her turn to meet him, she rushed into the room and immediately gave him a big hug. It was so sweet!

I love how she's still holding his hand in this picture.
In fact, she didn't want to let go, so when her visit was over, Mickey walked her over to the exit, holding her hand, and then said good-bye. It was too cute, but unfortunately none of my photos of them walking came out.

Most of our day of course, was spent waiting in line. Here's the birthday boy waiting.
Me waiting with the birthday boy.

On the carousal.
LB's favorite ride was the Dumbo ride. She laughed as the elephant flew up and down, and when the ride ended, she started to vigorously make the sign for more, and when she realized we actually had to get off, the little lip dropped and the pouting began and a sad little voice said, "I like Dumbo ride."

So we waited in line again for a second ride.

We also rode the Jungle Book Cruise. Here LB spies something in the water.
Oh, elephants!
And we concluded the day with Pirates of the Caribbean and a few photos.


When it was time to go, LB was full of beans. As we were waiting for the elevator to go up into the parking structure, she happily sang "Twinkle, Twinkle." I wanted to put her in her jammies for the ride home so that when we got back to Riverside, I could just plop her in bed and hit the sack myself. But she was so wiggly as I was changing her in the car. At one point she started to do her "Naked-Naked Baby" dance, the cute little dance she does when she's about to get in the bath. Then she started to play hide-and-seek with Uncle Donald.

"I see you, Uncle!"
Once we got in the car, she started to chat happily away with Bink: "Love you, Bink" and "Smell good, Bink." LB loves the way her blanket smells. But soon enough she was out for the ride home. For a little girl who only slept 15 minutes on the ride to Disneyland and then stayed up for eight hours straight running around the park, she did a very good job and was very well-behaved.