Disney Baby!

Editor's Note: The best picture in the entire world can be found at the end of this blog post. However, no peeking ahead!! You must admire this post in its entirety prior to skipping to the end. :-)

This past Thursday, Weston went to Disneyland for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! YAAAAAY!!! Admittedly, Tim and I were a little worried about how it would go, but we've reeeeeaaaaally been craving going back to Disneyland, so we decided to go for it and visit the park for a short, half-day experimental adventure with the Tadpole. And we're really glad we experimented! We left around 2:30 PM and returned around 11:00 PM, yet during that entire time we went on exactly six rides, and spent the rest of the time either driving or trying to figure out how to be there with a baby. Haha! But even so, it was SO FUN to be back.

We were stressed when we left for Anaheim in the afternoon, because Weston had recently decided that he LOATHES bottles with a passion, and only takes them after 30-45 minutes of screaming and crying. We really wanted to intersperse his regular feedings at the park with bottle feedings, but weren't at all sure how the bottle feedings would go.

And just to make things a little more interesting, during the drive to Disneyland our car decided to overheat on the freeway, requiring us to turn off the air-conditioner (in the 85-degree heat), open the windows, and even blast the heater out of the vents. Don't worry, our car ended up making it, but we were... heh heh... a little worried for awhile there! And Weston was just fine, if you're considering the question of child abuse. He slept the entire time, and fortunately the open windows helped to blow the heat right back outside.

We finally arrived at the park, and after a sweltering feeding in the car while inside the parking garage (the child was famished, so... yeah...), we headed to the tram and drove to the entrance. We first had to renew our annual passes, which took a little while... then we had to find him a "First Visit" button, which we couldn't find (until later)... then we had to get Fast Passes to Indiana Jones (my favorite ride)... and then we FINALLY rode something. So, Weston's VERY FIRST ride at Disneyland was... (drum roll please)... Jungle Cruise!!! I was a little paranoid the whole time that he would freak out, but he did just fine, and maybe even enjoyed the jungle scenery a little bit.

The rest of the day was spent navigating the crowds and monitoring the baby's hunger levels. Fortunately, both Disneyland and California Adventure have these fabulous Baby Care Centers, with nursing areas, changing tables, and even teeny tiny flush toilets for potty-training toddlers! (They were so wee and little, those toilets, I just wanted to hug them!) So, that was great. And because the Baby Care Centers were super nice and convenient, I just ended up feeding Weston myself throughout the afternoon and evening, and we never had to worry about bottle issues. And the Tadpole did SO well... he mostly dozed all day, I think because it was so nice and noisy at the park and on the rides. So, he gets an A+ for the day! And FYI, the rides we ended up going on were Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Indiana Jones (just Jean, heh heh), Mike & Sully to the Rescue, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion. Oh, and we visited the Mission Tortilla Factory, which we ALWAYS do in order to get our free, warm tortilla. Yum.

Here are some photos from our day at the park:

Look at us! We're part of the stroller people now! (We used to scoff and scorn the stroller people, and mock them for being slow and cumbersome. Well, now we scoff and scorn the non-stroller people, because they don't get out of our way fast enough. Move it, or we ram!!!)

I tried to look cuter than Tinkerbell in this photo. Shockingly, it did not work.
This is how Weston looked for the vast majority of the day. All except for dinnertime, when Tim and I were trying to enjoy our burritos... as usual, that was when he decided to cry and wail for attention. C'est typicale.
Oh, and sometimes he looked like this, too. Haha! I know, Child, Disneyland is a lot to take in that first time. :-)
FIRST RIDE OF HIS LIFE!!! Jungle Cruise, baby!
This is the part of the ride where the boat driver almost always jokes that the lions in the den are just protecting that "sleeping" zebra. Hahaha... good one...
Passing beneath the eighth wonder of the world, the backside of water!!! (Yes, this is another joke that is almost always made by the driver during the ride. Can ya tell that we go to Disneyland a lot?)
We busted out the baby carrier for part of the day, too. (Check out the wee sun hat! How precious is that.)
The darling family on Mike & Sully to the Rescue in California Adventure.
Even though a giant animatronic she-monster (aka Roz) would generally be considered slightly interesting, Weston instead is raptly admiring the ceiling.

Hooray, we finally found a "1st Visit" button! That's going in the ol' scrapbook.
Yay! We had a fun day! I love Disneyland! Yaaaaaay! Aaahhh happy ahhh!!
Family photo by a friendly park employee, just before leaving the park.
And finally, the BEST picture of the lot: the FIRST time that we've been able to capture Weston's smile on camera!!! AWWW!!!