DisneyLAND!

On the train (you can't see the back of her sweaty head)

After our day at Dodger Stadium, we woke up early the next day and drove to Disneyland.  Paul had to work, so it was just Kaiya, Reina, Chris, Jeff, and myself.  I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived:  we got parking very quickly and walked right into the park (quite different than Orlando, where you take a rather long tram ride, only to wait in line again for a boat or monorail ride to the actual park (I guess this is just for the Magic Kingdom)). 

NOT afraid of Minnie!

Snow-white story-telling

Afraid of Mickey - notice the distance (that was purposeful)

Dumbo.

We were able to get Reina on the carosal twice, since there was no line, then she did Dumbo and a small train which she enjoyed.  It wasn't until the boat ride through the whale's mouth (a-la Pinocchio) where Reina decided to be scared.  Well, she was scared before we got on when she saw the sharp-toothed tunnel we would enter, but after we got through it she was ok.  Then we tried to go on the tea-cups, but she got upset when she didn't get to pick her color and we got off.  We ran into the princess land, which was a good thing. We happened upon the end of a princess display, so that Reina got to see Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).  She loved this.  We had a snack and then got to see an interactive story-telling by Snow White.   She was still being a bit shy, but perked up after the story got going.  What was so nice about this princess area is that it wasn't ridiculously crowded - probably because it appealed to only little girls.  All the same, I thought it was awesome.  After some good princess time and a snack, we walked to Toon-town and met Mickey and Minnie.  Both had their own "houses," but Reina was much more excited to meet Minnie.  I think this mainly had to do with the fact that Mickey's house got dark towards the end where there was a cartoon playing and she thought it was scary.  She didn't want him to touch her.  With Minnie, the line was outside, and Reina was actually shouting her name as we got closer.  I still thought she'd be too scared to take a picture by herself, but she proved me wrong.  She even let Minnie touch her! 

Grandpa did a lot of carrying (or pushing the stroller)

One of the scared Reina-looks - on the safari ride.

The after Disney affect...

After our Toon-town success we decided to head to Tomorrow-land on the train.  The train was a hit, finding a ride good for Reina that was less than a 30-minute wait, not possible.  After another quick snack and bathroom break, we did the Tiki house. I thought for sure that would be a hit - come on, singing birds, what could go wrong (it seems many Disney rides like to scare)?  Anyhow, low and behold, towards the end the lights suddenly went dark and it thundered.  So, that wasn't good after all, however I do think it was Kaiya's favorite.  Lots to look at.  She was cute, hanging out in the backpack, head tilted up, taking it all in.  After the Tiki-tiki bird failure, we headed to the Jungle cruise.  Here is where Chris got a picture of her being scared of something.  I'm not sure what, all of the animals were fake and it was in broad day-light.  I guess Reina is just a bit conservative.  We had all had enough by then and we headed back to the car where both girls crashed quickly (we timed Reina, it was about 2 minutes after buckling her in.  Kaiya took about ten, but she had had about two short naps in the carrier already).  We were all hungry for some food (the salty Mexican type), so after getting back into "town" (Hermosa Beach) we found a restaurant ate dinner and then headed home. I must have been so tired that I don't even remembered where we ate exactly (we were searching for Mexican), nor do I remember what happened after we got home. I'm sure it was baths and bed!  I do remember taking the picture with Reina in her crown and glass slippers.  I guess there was time for a little playing!  We were able to spend some more time with Janny and Paul the next two days, which I'll have to report on later.  We head home tomorrow!  Woohoo.  I'm always very excited to come to the states, visit with friends and family...and then very excited to get home!  There really is no place like home. Sometimes you just have to step away to realize it! Ok. No more explanation points.  ;) 

Just in case you might not know this: inserting pictures into the blogger format is trying at best.  I do my best to make the words and the pictures go together, but it is extremely difficult.