............So many of my smiles begin with you.: Disneyland

It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to take Lily to Disneyland! Having gone there many times growing up it is a very special place to me and I couldn’t wait to take Lily, especially since she’s at an age where everything is magical and the characters are real to her. We decided to wait until Clark graduated and we were driving halfway across country on our move to Texas, so poor Lil asked Clark every day if he was done with school yet so we could go. (Ask Clark and he will refer to the trip as his punishment for graduating Winking smile ).

We got up early and it was great to finally tell Lil that, yes, we were going to Disneyland today.

We arrived when the park opened at 9:00 am and headed off to our character breakfast reservation. I’ve never done this before but we figured we could save time and not stand in line later in the day to meet different characters. Miles was terrified of either Chip or Dale (how are you supposed to tell which is which?) but was comforted by the Fairy God Mother until I returned from getting my food.

After that Miles warmed up considerably and he especially loved Minnie Mouse.

Now I had made the mistake of telling Lil about the most important attraction of all prior to our visit which was, of course, meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen. We headed over that way right after breakfast but I figured that we could get away with skipping it once I saw the line (which I already knew would be horrendous). Clark, being the great dad that he is, said he would sacrifice himself and would wait in line with Miles while Lil and I went on a few rides. I gave him an out but he wanted to do it for Lily. So off we girls went to ride some rides. Lily loved it and luckily we got on quite a few during that time, including the Tea Cups 3 times in a row… Though I know Clark was happy he wasn’t with us for that one!

After a few more rides I grabbed Miles from Clark and the kids and I occupied ourselves while Clark continued to wait in line. Miles especially loved riding the train.

Finally, after 2 and 1/2 hours of waiting in line it was our turn to go meet Anna and Elsa. I can’t even tell you how excited Lily was! We got a quick photo with Olaf (up on the roof) before going in but Lily was sad that he didn’t come down so meet her too Smile

We finally got to go in and Lil was awe struck. She was so excited she just clammed right up and barely said a word to them. It was unfortunate that after all that time in line she didn’t end up talking with them for long (she could have stayed longer if she would have been more chatty) but I could tell that she was over the moon and I can’t thank Clark enough for making sure she got in to see them. It really was one of Lily’s dreams come true!

After that we headed out for more rides and seeing the sights of the park. I must admit I was jealous of Clark since, due to me being almost 8 months pregnant, he got to go on the more “fun” rides with Lil. He even braved Thunder Mountain Railroad since she insisted on riding it (he had a bad experience on it last time we were there) and she ended up loving it. We ate the mandatory churros and expensive frozen lemonades while taking breaks from the walking and lines.

Mid way through the day we watched a parade and the kids were so excited to see some of their favorite characters including Mickey and friends, most of the traditional princesses, Tinkerbell/Peter Pan, Lion King favorites, and the Little Mermaid, among others.

Lily was in heaven!

Here’s our obligatory family picture in front of the castle. **

**As a side note, can I just say that I hate all of these women who, near the end of a day at Disney, still look like they just stepped out of the shower with their perfect hair and make up still in place and not a drop of sweat on them. I, on the other hand, look like I ran every one of the 7 and 1/2 miles my wrist band said we walked that day, sweaty and deflated. And that was just within the first few hours… but I guess there are more important things to worry about.**

I wanted to give Lil the full experience so we stayed late to watch the fireworks and they did not disappoint! They were almost cancelled due to wind but we got lucky and were able to see them.

In order to catch both the fireworks and Fantasmic (another night show) we chose to watch the second showing of Fantasmic but that didn’t start until 10:30 so we had to try every trick in the book to keep Lily awake. She barely made it but once it started she was hooked.

At 11:00 pm it was finally time to go home and we felt every one of the 14 hours that we were there as we walked back to our car.

It was such a great day and I am so happy I got to share that with Lil. Just watching her face light up with every new thing was worth the money and sore feet. Nothing is more precious to me than that.

Lil and I at the end of the day