Seriously...The Happiest Place on Earth

It doesn't matter how old I get. I will ALWAYS love Disneyland. It will never lose its sheen for me. There's just something about the vibe at Disneyland that makes me weirldy giddy. I thought I would get over that "can't sleep the night before" kind of excitement with age...but nope. It's still there. Which is probably why I woke up at 5 am on Friday morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Disneyland time was HERE, and my body just knew it.
Friday was probably one of THE best Disneyland trips in my vast history of Disneyland visits. First off, we got in for free (that's a story in and of itself...let's just say that one of my sister's ER patients must have had a severe crush on her, because he got all of our family members, that didn't already have an annual pass, in...free of charge!). To add to that, both my mother and my brother in law have "foot" issues that prevent them from standing for long periods of time, so they got "front of the line" passes that kept us from waiting more than 15 minutes per ride all day long. And...to top it all off, the weather was PERFECT. Nice and cool all day...coat and scarf weather, which is my favorite kind. The best part, though, was spending the day with the ones I love most. The only thing that kept it from being an absolutely PERFECT day was the absence of my sister, her little ones, and my dad.

Now...the following picture (on the right) deserves honorable mention. And...my mom threatened me that I wouldn't get any Christmas presents this year if I made this thing public, but showing this little jewel off is well worth the risk! My mom does NOT like "adrenaline-inducing" rides (or activities for that matter) of any kind. She's kind of a baby. Which is why I was surprised when she was willing to try the "Tower of Terror." Oh gosh, BIG mistake. As you can see by her face...she did not enjoy herself. While the rest of us were loving it...she was living through the single most terrifying experience of her life. When we asked her what she thought, her response was, "That was SHEER terror." And no, she wasn't exaggerating! Oh gosh, I laugh every time I look at it...

The last time that Graham and I went to Disneyland, was three LONG years ago, and I sure hope we don't have to wait that long to go again next time. Although, I don't know if my husband wants to go to D-land with me anytime soon...for some reason he gets really embarrassed when I dance and sing my way through the land of Disney. I can't imagine Why??
The next day, my mom, her friend, Mary, all of my sisters and I went to the CUW conference at the Disneyland Hotel. It's the perfect excuse to have a "girl's weekend" every year, and we always have a good time. I am SO grateful to have three amazing sisters and a wonderful mom to call my best friends.