Callie's 2nd Trip To Disneyland

 We took a family vacation to Disneyland over the weekend. It was originally planned because I had signed up for the inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon, but I signed up for it before we learned of our second pregnancy. I was hopeful that if I stayed active this pregnancy that I would still be able to participate in it, but it became clear in recent weeks that was impossible. The baby's head is just too far down to do any serious exercise; the pressure is pretty intense on my pelvis. Doing short walks in our daily routine is sometimes difficult. And I know myself too well! I know that if I started the marathon I would push myself way too hard and probably start labor early. My braxton hicks contractions are also getting more intense. So I decided to not do the race. Especially when they sent the final instructions which said that any runner that couldn't keep a 16 minute/mile pace would be picked up. I probably could have done that pace a couple of months ago, but not now. So we just had a disney vacation instead. When I signed up for the race we had already put down a deposit on a room, so we were all set. The whole weekend we kept talking about "Thank god I didn't do the race." I was struggling enough with just walking around the park.  Although when I saw the runners and their shirts after the race I did have some pangs of regret. Maybe next year.

Anyway, we got our flight from San Jose in the early afternoon on saturday. It was nice to not to have to rush too much to get to our flight. We got there early so Callie could walk around a bit. She just about lost her marbles when there were birds inside the terminal. Then we boarded the flight. I wasn't really sure how Callie was going to do on the flight since this was her first flight since before she could walk! But she did great. The flight wasn't full at all so we had our own row. The only thing that was a little tough was that she wanted to be on my lap and well...I don't have much of a lap left! Luckily we had books to distract her and the flight was only 50 minutes so it was really do able. And oh so much better than having her stuck in a car for 6-8 hours! We had several people (including flight crew) mention to us how good she was on the flight. She didn't seem bothered by the pressure at all.
Once we landed we got to our hotel and unpacked a little. Callie had napped on the car ride from the airport to the hotel; about 20-30 minutes and that would be all that she would nap that day! I would have put her down in the hotel for another nap before hitting the park but we were meeting friends at the park so we pushed her. And I'm glad we did, we would have missed them otherwise. We walked over to the park and rented a stroller. It was really affordable ($15 a day) and it is a decent stroller but I think next time we will bring our own. It was just tough making the walk from the hotel to the park without some wheels! Finally, we made it into the park and met up with our friends just outside It's A Small World. I was bummed the ride was closed since Callie liked it so much last time. So we opted for FantastyLand. Of course the second she saw the carousel it was oohs and ahhs. We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

A kiss for Mr. Toad, before she realized what he was all about!

Since she was overtired, any time spent in lines was tough going. But we made it on to the ride. And she was....completely terrified! Crying by the time we were done. I think the ride was too dark and there was just too much for her to take in too quickly. So that was one of the only Fantasty Land rides we did. Since she was so upset we opted for the carousel afterwards.

This is more like it!

 That made her happy! At that point, our friends took off and we were on our own. We thought some food might help her calm down, and we hadn't eaten much that day either so we headed over to Frontier Land for some food at the mexican restaurant. Callie devoured a fruit plate and her rice. The burrito, not so much. It was pretty funny getting into the park so late because we witnessed a great many family meltdowns by that point in the day. We were just getting going, but some people had obviously been there all day. We heard one harried mother yell at their kids "You are never coming back to Disneyland ever again!" Happiest place on earth? Not always! After we ate we got in line for Pirates since she liked it last time and it is Bill's favorite. She didn't do quite as well this time. She was definitely scared by that first little drop despite our little cheers of "Weeee!" She did better on the rest of the ride where we could point out the doggies and pigs and that sort of thing. Since we had tickets for the next day we decided to call it. Especially since she was so tired and my back was already very sore. We got back to the hotel and let her run around for a bit and then put her in the pack and play. We love the Anabella Hotel because they have a little half room off to the side that we can set her up in. She put up a bit of a fight but eventually went down.

When she got up in the morning she was extra snuggly. It was so nice because I realized if I had done the marathon I would have missed it. She came into bed with us and kept turning to each of us and saying "Hug?" "Kiss?" over and over. It was awesome. After we all got ready we decided to walk down to the Paradise Pier hotel because they do a character breakfast, and it's on the way to the park. I thought since she had gotten over her fear of Sharkie that she would have fun with the characters, especially Pluto since she loves dogs so much. WRONG, WRONG and WRONG. Cue the super freakout. The one that scared her the most was Stitch. We did get a picture with all of us with Mickey when we first walked in where she isn't screaming, but she doesn't look overjoyed either. It was a lot like Santa Claus. If they were a little bit away she liked them but once they came up to her, forget it. So we ate fairly quickly and went on to the park.

We noticed as we walked though Main Street that they had added a Mad Hatter shop there so we went in since it was totally empty! I knew the Mad Hatter store next to the tea cups would be nutso. It was great to choose her hat in peace! I put a couple of hats in front of her to see what she wanted and the choice was...Dumbo. She even put in on long enough for a picture or two!


The previous day she seemed curious about the Dumbo ride so we headed over to Fantasy Land. We tried walking through Sleeping Beauty's Castle but that was scary too. Too dark I guess. One of the funniest things she had done the previous night while we were in Fantasy Land was that everytime the Dumbo ride would stop (and she noticed ) she would exclaim "Elephant Fall Down!" So we got in line for Dumbo. Somehow, through the magic of Disney, we all fit in one car! She had a good time and wanted to go "Up up and away!"

Flying high on Dumbo

 So at least there was one ride that she liked this time around!

Kisses for Dumbo

By that point it was pretty near her normal naptime so we put her in the stroller and let her sleep. It was nice for us to have a break, since anytime we were in line for something she wanted me to hold her which was getting very hard on my back and joints. So we got to eat in peace! We stopped for a pineapple float near the tiki room and then found some seats to relax. As she was starting to stir we headed over to tomorrow land because we knew she would love the Nemo ride, since she is obsessed with Nemo. We waited in line, but luckily this line was in the shade.

Chillin in line with Daddy

I wasn't sure how she would do with the dark/enclosed space but she did pretty well.
She was pretty excited when she saw all the bubbles as we were "diving."

Bubbles!

There were lots of calls of "Starfish" and "Fish". But oh boy, when she saw Nemo? Look out. "Nemo!Nemo! Nemo!" She was so excited. It was awesome. Especially after how many rides she had been scared on. When we got off, since we were in Tomorrow Land we thought we would try the rockets.
We figured they would be similar to Dumbo, but probably a little bit faster. She did ok until the end and then she was a little freaked out. But we did get some cute pictures in the process. We decided to finish up in Adventure Land and then call it a day. So we did The Jungle Cruise and Callie's absolute favorite, The Tiki Room.

Jungle Cruise Cuddling

Good god, she loves that thing. "Beeps!Beeps!" And wild clapping at the end of each song.

After that we grabbed some dinner and walked back to the hotel to turn in for the night. We had an earlier flight this time so we got an early breakfast from the hotel and headed to the airport. She did really well on the flight again. Except that everytime she looked out the window she would call out for Nemo because the shape of the window was similar to the one on the Nemo ride. Poor kid! So confusing!

We definitely did a lot less at the park then we normally do, but given how incredibly pregnant I am and how tempermental toddlers are, I think we did pretty well. Bill and I were talking a bit as we left, that we've always had fun at Disneyland but there is just something about seeing your child enjoy it. It is such an amazing feeling. To see her get so much enjoyment and awe out of seeing animatronic birds sing about tiki gods and flowers is just so cool. I guess that's why parents deal with the tantrums and the high ticket prices, to see that look of joy on their kids' faces; to transport them to a magical place just for one day.

You know, this face.