Disneyland!

Just before Thanksgiving, Reed and I took Cal to Disneyland. We were so excited about it, but we were trying not to get our hopes up. With a two-year-old, you never really know how an activity is going to play out. Tantrums? Disinterest? Exhaustion? It's a gamble, to say the least. Fortunately, it turned out to be a very fun day.

The joke in the Richey family is that every one of us kids has been ecstatic just to ride the parking lot shuttle. My mom always wondered if she should save herself $300 and just let us ride the shuttle back and forth to our car. The picture below doesn't capture it, but Cal was no exception to the Richey-family-parking-shuttle rule. He loved it.

First stop inside was the Tiki Room, which my family lovingly calls "the Freaky Room", as it has frightened a couple of our younger members in yesteryears.

Cal loved the bright lights and the singing:

After the Tiki Room warm up, he was very excited for what was next. Here's a shot of him running to the jungle cruise:

When Reed and I were first dating, we went to Disneyland together, and split a Mickey-Mouse-shaped strawberry shortcake. We decided that if, after his mission, we ended up getting married, we'd come back to the same place and order the same thing and split it. I thought it was so romantic when Reed brought it up the morning of our Disneyland trip.

Then we got to the restaurant and realized there have been some cost-cuts in the happiest place on earth:

We had a good laugh about our tradition-in-a-cup. (And btw, it was still pretty delicious!)

Then it was off to Dumbo, which I haven't ridden for years. (For family members who remember, the last time was actually that rainy day where everyone in the park was wearing the same yellow Mickey Mouse poncho. Good times, right?)

Reed showed Cal how to control Dumbo's altitude:

Cal caught on and LOVED zooming Dumbo up and down.

Here is the one shot we got of the three of us (Cal is still trying to use the joystick):

Then it was off to Small World:

King Arthur's carousel (one of the only non-terrifying rides in Fantasyland):

Cal loved the submarine ride, which I have never been on:

Tomorrow land astro orbit. I got so motion sick on this ride (yep, I'm that cool):

Cal was ecstatic to see the train coming. He was yelling out "Choo chooooo! CHOO CHOOOOO!" when this photo was taken:

At this point, it was close to dinner time, and Cal's exhaustion was starting to show:

So Reed and I put Cal in the umbrella stroller, where he immediately fell asleep. Reed took me to dinner in downtown Disney, and since Cal was asleep, it felt like a night out without the baby! All in all, the three of us each had an awesome day (and night) at Disneyland.