4 Hours of Magic

As is now clear, our now swimming-free Sundays allow for all sorts of fanciful activities (or inactivity).

Sure, sleeping in and lazing around are one option we will be sure to indulge in, hopefully on a regular basis. But this past Sunday called for something more, something bigger, something to generate ear to ear smiles.

That's right. Putting our season passes to good use, we felt the pull of the Happiest Place on Earth.

From 8 a.m. until noon only, I cautioned. Mama wasn't ready for another 10-hour day battling crowds and heat. But a scant 4 hours of conviviality? Oh yeah. That sounded like something I could handle.

So being the eternally early person I can't help but be, we lined up with a couple of hundred other folks at 7:59 a.m. to watch chirpily eager park workers remove the ropes to the promised land. And we were swept up in the rush to make it to a new first-up ride, where we didn't have to wait at all.



Amazing how much you can accomplish in a few hours on a Sunday morning. We decided to mix it up a bit and try some new things.

Like visiting princesses.





And going on this spinning ride that terrified her at first.



She must have watched it 5 or 6 times before she was ready to take the plunge.



After mustering all her strength, she boarded our applesauce container, clutched my hand, and then proceeded to rock it out. Naturally.



Then there were the bumper cars at California Great Adventure. Really short lines meant we could go on them more than once. Three times to be exact. In a row. She progressed from being my passenger on the first run, to sitting behind the wheel and letting me steer on the second run. To the third run, when she took complete control and mastered the art of focusing her energy on bashing head-on into others. With intensity. Gleeful intensity, I'd call it.





Moral of the story here: I can definitely wait 10 years for her to get behind the wheel of a real car.

But her favorite discovery of this visit?

Disney pins. I never was aware as to how big pin trading is at the park. They sell hundreds of different pins all over the place, and people wear them on lanyards around their neck. Apparently you can go up to workers and try to trade with them. It's a whole underground kind of thing.

After noticing the pins all over the place, Lauren decided she wanted in on the action. Big time. So I bought her a lanyard and let her choose her first pin, with an agreement that each time we come to the park she can add a pin to her collection. She must have spent 20 minutes studying the racks of pins in one of the shops before making her final choice.



It's Minnie and Mickey in full wedding garb perched inside a giant diamond ring. Yes, this one sure does love her fairy tales. Bless her little heart, hope that never changes.