Friday, April 04, 2008

Disneyland, Belatedly

Ah, yes, Disneyland. I realize I have not yet recapped it for you.

When we last left the Blah Blahs, Viva's Best Friend's mom had not yet responded about Disneyland, despite the fact that this would be a completely free trip for her and one adult guest (except for gas). Well, my friends, Best Friend's mom never ever returned Mama Blah Blah's calls. Last time the Blah Blahs and Best Friends got together, they spent four hours on a playdate at the Blah Blah homestead. Were the snacks insufficient? Were the baseboards not clean? Was it something I said? Who knows?

Moving on: Auntie Lola and her offspring were more than happy to come along. We were more than happy to treat them, and Viva was more than happy to have her cousins along. You might think that the three kids of different genders/ages would be an awkward mix. But you would be wrong. Viva and M, the 9-year-old, have very similar personalities and really enjoy each other. Viva and T, the 5-year-old, are different temperamentally but close enough in age that they have common interests. Thus: win-win.

Lola and fam rolled up to our house at 8:25 in the morning on Saturday. They actually arrived early, which was shocking. We weren't ready, which is even more unusual. We hit the road at about 8:50, arrived at Disneyland at 9:30, and what with the tram and stroller rental (for all our stuff, not for the kids) hit the park officially at about 10:00 AM.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. Let me share some of it with you in pictures:



Viva with "Jack Sparrow," who could not keep his hands off her hair. (Jealous!) This was on Tom Sawyer Island, the only calm spot in the entire park. You get there by raft, and there are no rides on the island. I could have stayed there for hours.




The teacups. This was pretty much the favorite ride for all three kids. T hated every other ride (you see Lola is having to gingerly place him in his seat. He has an innate distrust of all rides.). M and Viva both enjoyed the roller coaster (T would not ride) and the Buzz Lightyear ride (T was only interested in getting a souvenir - poor little guy. "He has trouble with new situations," Lola said).



The seething tide of humanity at the Disneyland parade. It is impossible to convey to you how many friggin' people clog the park on a Saturday at Disneyland. I think they let in approximately 9 trillion people per hour.



End of the day. From left: Viva, M, and T. The kids are completely high on cotton candy and who-knows-what. At this point, M has already begun begging for Viva to sleep over that night, the other two have joined in haranguing my sister, and Lola has caved despite my protestations that we can plan it some other time. So we shlep back through the park, onto the tram, tramp through the parking lot, remove the car seat from our car, install it in Lola's car, and wave goodbye.

I think I fell asleep at about 8:30. Lola reports that (a) none of the kids slept in the car on the way home and (b)Viva did not fall asleep until close to midnight. That Lola, she is a trooper, all right.

5 comments:

Cee in SF said...

Ah, good times... The kids look like they're having a blast. I did not see the photo of the churro!

My last Disneyland trip had me staring at the back of my sister's head the whole time as she ran from ride to ride with my niece and nephew!

Lisa Blah Blah said...

I know this is incomprehensible, but there was no churro eating by the Blah Blah extended family. Nonetheless, the kids did have a fantastic time!

sploo said...

She gets rough and stuff in her afro-puff. Rock on, Viva! So cute I have to pinch myself.

Liz Dwyer said...

OOH, that's a HOT "Jack Sparrow"! What a good time. The pictures are so cute. I almost threw up on that teacup ride last time we were there. I think that made the kids like it even more.

Lisa Blah Blah said...

sploo: All three of them together are just too much cuteness. It is so hard not to just grab them and kiss them constantly.

angelista: What is hilarious is that one of my co-workers looked at the same picture and said, "That's not Johnny Depp." As if, yeah, somewhere in Johnny Depp's contract it is written that X number of days a year he must appear in character at Disneyland. People kill me.