Disneyland 2/20/09-2/23/09

- Where do you go to have a magical experience, a place where you can leave your troubles at the gate, where you can feel young again? That place is Disneyland. Walt Disney’s quote says it all, “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” We decided to take Andrew to Disneyland to celebrate his 6th birthday. The trip would feature many firsts for Andrew. It was the first time he took pictures with characters, like Mickey, Tigger, etc. He rode Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller-coaster train that goes through a series of high-speed twists and turns, for the first time and loved it. Andrew also explored what used to be called Tom Sawyer’s Island but is now referred to as Pirate’s Lair. Andrew and Evan had lots of fun riding on Buzz Lightyear’s blaster ride and Andrew loves to go on Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, and of course Star Tours. On Sunday was Andrew’s birthday and there was a special Happy Birthday ticket and a button that told everyone that it was his birthday. No matter what ride he went on the Disneyland crew would wish him a happy birthday. For dinner we went to a local pizza place that we used to frequent in Northern California, called Round Table Pizza. After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a “Bolt” birthday cake for dessert and then headed back to the park. Evan still is in love with the characters and a couple of times he tried to poke the characters in the eye, to which they would cover their eyes and play along. When Evan spots a character, he cannot get out of the stroller fast enough to rush to the character, much different than Andrew who did not want any part of them until this trip. The best thing about the trip besides seeing the joy on both of their faces, was hearing Andrew tell us that he just had the best birthday ever.

Scott