a dream come true: Disneyland.

confession: all my life, i've dreamed of the day that i could take my own kid to Disneyland for the first time.
confession 2: i may have been more excited for this Disneyland excursion than i was for Christmas this year (gasp!). crazy, i know...but true.

and you know, everyone kept telling me, "no no, you shouldn't take your little toddler to Disneyland- they won't enjoy it- and they won't even remember it...and it will be a nightmare..and what will you do about a nap? and expect lots of lots of meltdowns."
to all of those everyones, i say, you. were. totally. wrong.

i thought meeting Elmo was the best day of her life.
but that was until she went to Disneyland.
she LOVED it! we all loved it.

Ellie was awe-struck, amazed, giddy, happy, funny, ecstatic, and pretty much just in heaven. i've never seen her like that. so entertained, so engaged, so overjoyed around every corner.
sure, there were "moments." but c'mon, she's an 18-month old. and the moments were few compared to the happy ones. and also, the "moments" usually were associated with waiting in line and then experiencing rides that she was entirely uninterested in or freaked out by (aka, Peter Pan's Flight- which i totally talked up because she loves Tink...but came to realize that Tink is only in it once for like 2 seconds and she's like 6 inches....my bad)- which, can you blame her?

Ellie's favorite parts of the day:
-the Winnie the Pooh ride, which she did with Gammy, and meeting Winnie the Pooh (she loovvveeed the characters)
-the It's A Small World ride- which they've re-done into this Holiday ride...it was SO cute, the music didn't get stuck in my head- and Ellie kept saying "again, again again?" after we got off.
-The Celebrate/Dance Party Parade. we were front & center for this parade- and Ellie LOVED this! the characters all came and danced right in front of her, which she was totally stoked about. she even got to dance with them, too (which mostly consisted of me dancing and trying to coax her into dancing). she was also amazed that Mickey & Minnie gave her high-fives. "woooowwww," she said. so cute.
-giving Tinkerbell a hug. she was a little freaked out by Terrence (from the Tink 2 movie), but then once we walked away, she kept asking for him. i think the fact that these characters weren't in a big suit made them a little more real, and therefore a little more intimidating for her...but man, she was amazed to see Tinkerbell, in the flesh. she LOVES Tink.
-eating a big bag of cotton candy at the end of the day. in fact, she fell asleep on my shoulder walking to the car, and when i was buckling her in her carseat, she opened her eyes, and in a groggy lil voice said, "moore caandy?" and then went right back to snoozin. made me laugh.
-enjoying the whole day with her Gammy & Pops. she loovvveed having them there.

my favorite parts of the day:
-watching every little expression that came across Ellie's face with each new thing we did.
-having Gammy & Pops there to enjoy it all with us...and to watch Ellie so mr. M and i could go on a few rides together. sa-weet!
-the Monte Cristo sandwich at a little cafe in New Orleans.....deeeelliiisssh
-enjoying a whole day, stress free, with the hubs!
-seeing Ellie keep the Minnie Mouse ears on for most of the day. so cute!
-having Ellie crash on my shoulder at the end of the day. it was the perfect, sweetest finish.

all in all, it was the most lovely day- my favorite of our trip, and i think Ellie (& M's) too. i guess you could say it was a dream come true.

xoxo