disneyland: day three

We spent our last day at the parks at Disneyland meeting characters and riding any rides we had missed and going on some of Halle's favorites a few times.

Our first destination was the Haunted Mansion.

Of course Halle wasn't scared and asked to go again as soon as we got off.

She really started to enjoy the rides on the last day and she even started dancing on it's a small world and pirates of the caribbean. She now sings the Pirate's song with a few mistakes. She sings, "yo ho, pirate's me!"

Most of our morning was spent in Toon Town where we visited Minnie and Mickey's houses.

She was pretty excited to find Minnie's pencil that she draws with and to see where Minnie sleeps.

Mickey's house had Pluto's bed in it and Halle had to try it out.

Then came the moment where she met Mickey himself.

She was so shy and hesitated to hold his hand. But later she thought it was so great that Mickey held her hand and couldn't stop talking about it.

By the third day she was getting a little tired of the whole waiting in line thing. She kept saying "almost our turn" about every minute and whining. We were always looking for distractions and had a steady flow of crackers for her.

We let her go up Sleeping Beauty's castle again and again and let her ride Dumbo one last time.

As we were leaving the park I told Halle she could pick out a pen from one of the shops and bring it home. I had to steer her towards the right pen to pick and she couldn't wait to pay money for it. Nothing made her happier then to be able to "draw like baby boo" for the rest of the night.

And when I say the rest of the night, I mean she wouldn't let that pen go until she was asleep.

It was an absolutely perfect trip.

We have never had so much fun together and were pretty sad to fly home the next morning.

We only had three regrets: we didn't put the sun shade up on our car before we left it at the airport, we didn't take a picture in front of our hotel, and we didn't get soup in a bread bowl at Disneyland.

disneyland: day two

We loved our hotel and Halle did too. Her favorite thing to do was pick up the phone (we unplugged it so she wouldn't accidentally call China) and talk to baby Jake.

We spent the morning at Disneyland where we rode some new rides and also did some

repeat rides. She fell in love with Sleeping Beauty's castle and had to walk through it several times before we had to tear her away from it. The first time she went through she got to the end and said "I made it!"

Before we left the park to put her down for her nap we ran into Pluto.

She was so shy until he gave her a kiss.

From then on she kept talking about how Pluto gave her a kiss and it was "so nice."

We spent the afternoon at California Adventure where we met up with Wes's old roommate from Dixie State, Travis Bunker, and his family and friends.

We had a great afternoon riding some of the big rides while Travis's family watched Halle and then had fun on the kiddie rides.

We then hopped over to Disneyland for the parade that evening.

Halle had that same look of wonder on her face the whole time.

Her favorite part was when the performers let all the children come dance in the street with them.

After the parade we tagged along with Travis and company to Goofy's Kitchen.

We had no idea what we were in for.

Goofy's Kitchen is a buffet stye restaurant inside the Disneyland hotel.

Each night they have several Disney characters roaming the floor of the restaurant stopping at each table to chat with families and take pictures.

We had such a good time with Travis and our new friends and Halle loved having all the little kids to play with.

So many characters came by we barely had time to take a couple of bites before another one came around. We saw Chip, Goofy, Cinderella, Minnie, and Sleeping Beauty.

At different times the characters all meet in the middle of the restaurant and music starts to play. The children are invited down to dance with the characters for a few minutes.

Sleeping Beauty took Halle down to the dance floor and danced with her

Then Halle wanted to get down all by herself.

She has some sweet moves.

I have never seen such a look of pure joy on her face.

This was definitely the highlight of our trip.

After the dance was over, Sleeping Beauty grabbed her hand to take her back to her table. Halle tried to take her back and pointed back saying, "Come on."

We couldn't get her to sit at the table after that.

It was an absolutely perfect night and day

disneyland: day one

We flew into Anaheim on Monday morning with four bags, a stroller, and a sick Halle in tow. We reached our hotel and checked in and walked across the street to Disneyland. Yes, all we had to do was take a short walk across the street and we were at the main gate. Such a sweet deal. I pushed Halle through mainstreet Disneyland and she was absolutely silent, I call it silent awe. Her eyes darted everywhere as she tried to take in everything she was seeing. True to her form and personality. She is not one to show a lot of excitement at

first, she has to study and figure everything out. She had this same look on every ride she went on.

The first thing she wanted to do was "ride the horse" so we took her on the carousel.

Our next stop was Dumbo the flying elephant.

She loved it so much she cried and wanted to go back on.

We tried to show her that there are more rides just as fun.

Can you see that look of pure wonder on her face?

Everything was so much more magical with her there.

One of her favorite rides was the spinning teacups.

She wanted to go again and again.

Each time she looked terrified, but every time it was over she asked to go again.

We left the park a little early that night to let Halle rest and to get ourselves settled. Needless to say she fell right asleep after such an exciting afternoon. And you may not believe it, but after that first day her cough and runny nose were pretty much gone, that's the magic of Disney my friends.

halle

You're getting too big.

I really want to freeze time and enjoy you at this age a little longer.

You are always going to be my baby that likes to read books in bed.

The baby who loves monsters, the dark, and all things scary.

The baby who sleeps with me in my bed almost every night.

The baby who has memorized so many songs.

The baby who can't stop talking about people being "so sad."

The baby who likes a binky in her mouth and one to play with in her hand.

The baby who won't drink juice or eat fruit, but loves veggies.

The baby who draws on every scrap of paper she can find.

The baby who wants to color all day long.

The baby who knew all her colors and most shapes before the age of 2.

The baby who loves, Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and Beauty and the Beast.

The baby who loves mini M&M's, crackers, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and popcorn.

The baby who is a non-stop chatterbox, speaks in sentences, and loves to tell me about everything she sees.

The baby who loves to tell dad what she did that day.

The baby who loves to sing songs.

The baby who loves dinos, riding the merry-go-round, and going to see animals.

The baby who needs a dash of chocolate in her milk before she'll even consider drinking it.

The baby who loves to run.

The baby who thinks the sound of our water heater is a dinosaur.

The baby with an imagination.

The baby who stole my heart.

Please stop growing.

hogle zoo 2010

Last week we took our annual trip to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. The animals were more active this time and Halle was so excited. This trip was even more exciting because Aunt Rachel joined us. Halle loved seeing all the animals, riding the carousel, riding the train, and playing in the park. Her favorite animals to see were the monkeys. They had her laughing so hard as they climbed and jumped on trees and ate their food. The baby elephant was a hit as well as some of the reptiles that looked like "dinos." She was a little afraid of some animals and also the lion head drinking fountain. I don't think there is anything I love more than watching Halle enjoy herself. It was a great afternoon. What is it about little ones and animals?