Making Dreams Comes True Since 2013.

You know that dream you have when you're a little kid and you wish and hope and pray that one day your parents will do something cool and keep you home from school so you can spend the day doing something ridiculously fun, like going to Disneyland?

This past weekend, WE TOTALLY BECAME THOSE PARENTS.

Eric and I decided to take a spur of the moment (planned two weeks in advance) trip to the happiest place on earth. Only, we didn't tell Pearl anything about our plan.

Due to a scheduling arrangement we had previously made with her mom, Pearl knew she would be missing school on this particular day. We told her we'd be spending the day doing something really awful and boring. As far as she knew, we'd be spending three hours in the car so that we could give a gift to our friend, Paul.

This is how she discovered we were going to Disneyland.



I'm so glad she never got upset at the prospect of spending the day doing boring stuff because it would have totally backfired to be like "Keep it up and we'll turn this car around!" Eric and I may or may not have been looking forward to it even more than Pearl, and the build up of secretive anticipation was almost enough to make us keel over.

Here are some highlights from our day.

Outside the main gates

Blending in with the natives

The view from the Finding Nemo submarine

In line at It's a Small World

Laying in Pluto's bed, pretending to be a dog 

Toon Town (my least favorite land, in case you were wondering) 

Jessie has a bit of a neck problem (maybe thyroid...?) 

Churro: The best edible item in the park

Waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise: 

She was doing some weird Fonzie thing with her thumb. I like it.

The gun shots on the Jungle Cruise made someone a little nervous 

I didn't even tell her to make a face. Apparently, this is her impersonation of a Brit. 

I think it's spot on.

It's a Small World lit up at night 

The whole day was a success! No meltdowns or complaints, except for maybe me when we were at the front gate getting ready to leave and I realized we'd have to walk all the way back down Main St. USA to look at the professional photos that we ended up not even ordering.

We grabbed dinner at La Brea Bakery, located at Downtown Disney. Our table was outside, under heat lamps, which was perfect because it not only kept us warm, but also allowed us to catch the fireworks.



As you can see, Pearl was delirious by this point.

It was a great day.

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Pearl's First Trip to Disneyland: Part II

MONDAY

After a great night of sleep, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for our complimentary breakfast of two eegs, breakfast potatoes, and bacon. The eggs and potatoes were good and hearty. The bacon was shitty and deep fried and grizzly. Gross.

We finally made it to the park just after opening! This is the big exciting moment we've all been waiting for!!!

And by "all", I mean everyone except Pearl. As you can see, she still wasn't sure about this whole "Disneyland" place.

Once we passed the gates and took our round of memorable photos in front of the giant Mickey face, Pearl began to loosen up. And once she saw a costumed Gepetto taking photos with visitors, she was SOLD.

And then, within 10 minutes of entering the park, this happened:

...Boyfriend realized he'd lost his backpack.

Lucky for us, it was still at the front gate where he took it off for pictures. And even more lucky for us, the Disney cops didn't see an unattended backpack sitting in the middle of the park and call the bomb squad.

I'm not sure what's going on with Pearl's mouth here, but I like it. 

Vicki, Tate, and cousin Hope.

It's a Small World

Being cool in Toontown.

Lunch break.

The Mad Hatter.

A butterfly that kept landing on us.

Aaaaand, this is where my stomach hit rock bottom and I got sick. I ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel room and missed the second half of the day.

Jerk stomach.

And with that, our first day at the park came to an end.

Next post: California Adventure!

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