"I wanna make a bungo couch." - referring to when we push the ottoman up against the couch and call it jumbo couch.
While listening to music in the car, she always asks what the name of the song is and who is singing it. Last night it was Taylor Swift's, "You Belong With Me." She listened to the song a minute then said, "Mommy, I just belong to you." I was fighting tears back so I could keep driving!
Handing me a paper shaped like an oval, "It's a Bolbo. Just like our car." (We have a Volvo.)
Putting laundry into the dryer and Ada's helping me. While wearing her Google hat. I say, "Put it in soup boy!" She says, "I'm not a soup boy!" - pause - "Yes, I'm a scoop boy. Cuz I got my hat. I'm a scoop boy all day long."
"Is that Heavenly Father?" - Ada while watching Lebron James speak. (Maybe she knows something we don't?!)
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Matt & I took Ada to Disneyland for the first time! It was 5 days before her 3rd birthday, so she was still free. Yeah! We dropped Lola off with Nonnie in Santa Maria and continued down the road in terrible traffic to Long Beach, where we stayed the night with Matt's college buddy Steve. He treated us to dinner & his mom runs a regular B&B! She had little water bottles & snacks out for us, then made us crepes for breakfast, and made sure that we had snacks in our bag to get us through our day. Thank you so much Williams! We love you guys!!
So it turns out that their neighborhood is where Ferris Bueller's house is! I freaked out a little bit and had to have my picture taken in front of it in true geek fashion :)
Ada was so excited! She had played the Disneyland Explorer app on Matt's iPad so she was excited to see everything in real life! It's free & fun, great marketing Disney ;)
She thought the tram was a blast...we were joking that we could go home after that!
We brought the stroller for her and told her that was the only way she could go on rides, if she rode there in the stroller. She really wanted to walk but we knew she would get way too tired and might get lost in the crowd. We are so glad we brought it!
I definitely recommend getting there early. We were at the park by 8:30 AM and it wasn't even crowded. We were able to go to City Hall and tell them it was Ada's first time. They gave her that cute button and she wore it with pride! Along with the two pins Steve gave her :) She was one accessorized little Cinderella! We saw Chip first and got a picture with him. Ada immediately had to wrap her little arm around him like they were old pals. She says he was very soft :)
Our only plan was to stay calm and relaxed so that we didn't have an overwhelmed, crying child on our hands. We just walked leisurely around and let Ada decided what looked like fun, instead of pointing at every single thing and trying to get her on every ride.
The first ride we went on were the Astro Orbitors in Tomorrowland! Don't watch the video if you get motion sickness, I'm talkin' to you Aunt Lizzie!
Then we made our way over to the Teacups because word is that Fantasyland gets really busy the later it gets. I used the app Mousewait on my phone and it told us which rides had the shortest wait. The only bummer was that it sucked my battery dry.
This picture is right after Matt accidentally bonked Ada in the head with the camera :( She took off running and he reached out to grab her and forgot the heavy camera was around his neck.
She was not happy about it!
Poor girl!
Once we got into a giant purple teacup, she was magically healed!
Then to try and pull out the Sword in the Stone:
She gave it her all!
Look at the tongue action!
She ultimately concluded that she needed Papa's help and that it was just for big kids to pull out.
Ada's #1 favorite ride:
It's A Small World!
Look at the wonder in her eyes!
She was singing along with the Christmas carols and waving to all of the dolls:
I must say that the Christmas version is much more enjoyable than the original. This was the first time I'd ridden it since I was a little girl...I think my parents took us on it once and that was it! While in line we saw Meridia from Brave and Ada got to wave to her. We also passed Cinderella and she waved but Ada was disappointed that she was in such a hurry. We told her Cinderella needed to go potty :)
...
Enter Frontierland around noon! We laid the stroller flat and put the shade down so that Ada could take a nap if she wanted. She ended up just laying back because Billy Hill & the Hillbillies put on a fun show she couldn't sleep through! It was perfect for her to decompress and relax as we hung out. Frontierland is incredible at Christmastime. They had a huge area for kids to play reindeer games, make Christmas cards, do crafts, meet Santa & Mrs. Claus, and listen to the show. This is where I found these little nuggets of fried goodness:
MONTE CRISTO BITES! I was so happy. The best Disneyland lunch in bite-size form!
...
Now over to California Adventure. The only ride I cared about going on was Tower of Terror, my all-time favorite! Ada & I waited for Papa to go on the ride and had a snack. The child swap is incredible. The second Matt got off a ride, I was given a pass and went to the front of the line. Genius!
While we were waiting for Papa to get off the Cars ride...
suddenly a dance party began in the middle of Cars Land, and the cast members were trying to get kids to come out and dance with them. A ton of older children around us said no, and when she got to Ada, she just ran out and danced her little heart out with no hesitation!
So happy (note the glass slippers have been traded out for comfy shoes)!
Then, Lightning McQueen cruised right in front of us! He was talking and thanking everyone for being there. Ada was big on waving to everyone :)
Getting into the evening (notice the little bags under her eyes), we asked Ada if she was still having fun. Her response:
She made friends all over, in every line we waited in. This was for Mater's Tractor Ride and we all laughed SO hard on it! We were heavy with the 3 of us so it whipped us around really fast! Ada giggled the entire time.
Her second favorite ride was Ariel's Grotto in CA Adventure. After riding it, she said, "The Sea Witch was SO mad! She was like, grrrrrr!" And made the expression below:
Last ride of the night for Ada girl...King Triton's Carosel on the Boardwalk.
After all of that, I was ready to head home. Matt insisted that we stay for the World of Color show so we did & it was brilliant! Like the waters of Bellagio in Vegas x 1,000,000.
All day long, I went on any ride that spins with Ada. Matt says he can't handle them, so I did them all. After World of Color, he says, "Babe! The line is so short for California Screamin'! You have to go on it!" I said no, I was ready to go home, but he talked me into it. I do love that roller coaster...normally. After splitting a churro with Ada and being so tired, I wasn't really feeling it. But I went against my better judgement. It was awesome until I got off the ride. I said we are going home now! I had the worst headache and decided that I just needed sleep. We get to the car and Ada falls asleep immediately. As we're pulling out of the parking structure, I tell Matt he has to pull over NOW. He pulls straight into the AMPM and I run inside looking for the bathroom. No bathroom to be found! I ran into a room that turned out to be a closet and threw up on the floor :( I hear a teenage valley girl's voice behind me say, "Uhhh ma'am, what are you doing?" I turn around, mortified, and say, "I'm so sorry I couldn't find the bathroom in time...do you have any napkins?" She rolls her eyes at me, no doubt thinking that she's the one who has to clean it up later! She brought me some towels and I cleaned myself up and RAN to the car. We continued to an Albertson's where Matt went inside to buy me Saltines and 7UP. I threw up again in the parking lot and a random lady is sitting in her car and asked if I was okay. It was just easier to tell her I was pregnant instead of, "Oh, I just ate a churro and went on a roller coaster and don't have the stomach I used to since having children." She was very sympathetic with the pregnancy claim ;)
So: aside from the last events of the day, Disneyland was a raging success! Ada loved everything and still talks about it.
My Packing List for Disneyland:
- baby wipes
- Purell
- change of clothes (she was not about to take her princess dress off, but you never know)
- comfy shoes
- extra panties (she's been potty trained for a year, but excitement can get the best of any kid)
- sweatshirts/cardigans for everyone
- blanket to hang over stroller during nap time & to keep warm at night
- water bottles
- snacks for waiting in line (clementines, grapes, fruit snacks, crackers, Steve's cookies!)
- Advil, Excedrin, etc. for mom & dad :)
It was so much fun sharing the magic of Disneyland with my daughter! I can't wait until Lola is old enough to appreciate it too, I think we'll go again right before Lola's 3rd birthday.
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