So much to tell

Yesterday at the San Diego Zoo - I forgot to mention the kid show we attended: Creepy Crawly Critters. Now, all the kids were in front, but I was off to the side... There was one participation bit where people were asked whether they thought the walking stick was a boy or a girl.. I didn't answer to either because I just didn't know and didn't want to make an emotional decision... and the presenter lady called me "sleeping guy". Several more times, she picked on "sleeping guy"... and at the end, "sleeping guy" was invited up for a extra special treat: To eat BUGS. You all must know that Bugs are my big phobia. So it was pretty big of me to crunch down those dried mealworms and not hurl and scream and run from the park.

Today, we made it up to Disneyland! And we were supposed to meet Randy, Mae, and Jenny at 4pm or so, but the MAGIC just started right away - they were in the lobby right when we walked in! We did split up though, they had Princess business to start and we needed to unpack.

We Monorailed - wait - I just need to say this. Mom, Dad, I have harbored a secret resentment for years - I always wanted to ride the Disney Monorail, but we never did. Today, I rode the monorail, my dream since youth... and the driver asked if I (we) wanted to ride up front in the pilot's car! Just us and a retarded guy, and that was just fine, because I think ALL of our dreams came true. Ok, back to the story.

We Monorailed into Tomorrowland (which has been redone with a retro Jules Verne look, better than the Gil Gerard Buck Rogers look of the 70s it had last time I was here. I immediately went for Space Mountain, and it was FANTASTIC - A pure thrill ride! And it instantly transformed me back into an 11 year old boy. I was yelling and laughing the whole time!

When I got out, there was a message from Randy - he had some Fastpasses to Space Mountain when I was ready (these are a "reservation" to the front of the line - VERY cool) - so 10 minutes later, I was on the ride AGAIN.

Then we did Star Tours, which was a Star Wars inspired "bumpy movie" ride - which was pretty fun, but it made me a little woozy... The design of the LINE environment was actually better than the ride I think... While we were riding, the girls were hearing a story read by a princess, and got to sit with her and get her autograph. Jenny was in heaven.

I should say that Disneyland was VERY spare today - most rides were a 5 minute wait, and even the hottest were not more than 30.

We went back to the hotel for some Swimming - Bella was a bit timid, but Jenny was a swimming MACHINE - the lifeguard asked her to swim all the way across the pool by herself to prove she could do the waterslide - and she DID - to even Randy's amazement! Good old Foss Swim School!

Dinner was at the Blue Bayou - which is inside of the Pirates of the Carribean ride (???) and the meal was delicious - like good even outside of a Theme park good. Pamela got the Pork Tenderloin, and no kidding, it was well over a pound of meat - the pictures will prove it.

Then off to the big Parade, where we got some great seats on the route just 15 minutes before the show... and lo, we were at one of the "performance stops" - which means they stopped the parade do do a mini show right in front of us. We got some great pictures, and Bella and Jenny got special attention by ALL of the princesses!

Are you getting the picture that the day was about as perfect as you could possibly get? The weather was warm but not hot, no lines, and things just kept falling into place. Little bits of MAGIC kept happening.

We ended with Pirates of the Carribean and the Jungle Adventure. Bella loved Pirates - she said "I liked ALL of the parts of it". She was a bit disappointed to learn that there would be no pirates in the Jungle Adventure. (apparently headhunters and animatronic Hippos weren't exciting enough.. she started nodding off). Time to go home!

On the way back to the hotel, both girls fell asleep in their strollers, and were out by 8pm. We just needed to transfer them into their beds, and our work was DONE.

So the first day of Disney was as good as it gets... wonder what'll happen tomorrow?