Cali Day 3

DAY three

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Today is the day the Disney festivities officially began.

I woke up abnormally early from all of my anticipation and giddiness!

There's just something about the place...all the years spent visiting during my childhood, it's like I'm a little kid every time I go there.

It's particularly sentimental when I get to go with my family.

Again, it would've all been complete if only Kate, Dan, Lucy, and Isabel could've been there!

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Jack woke up with no idea what was in store for him!

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We were just down the street from the park, and we hopped on the shuttle and were there in a flash.

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We got to the park in plenty of time to get our strollers,

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stop and eat a chocolate croissant,

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laugh at Jack's attempt at throwing a fit,

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and march down main street.

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Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear.

We waited approximately 32 seconds in line.

It was glorious.

Jack was entirely entertained, his eyes were huge through the entire ride.

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Right next to Buzz Lightyear is the Astro Orbiter ride...or as I now like to call it...hell.

We don't typically take our time with this ride, but Hank and Max were lured in by it, so we figured we'd take Jack.

The line for this was about 15 minutes, and that was about 14 minutes too long for Jack. He wanted to play in all the landscaping along the ride, and was utterly beside himself when we stopped him. He hit his head on the ground, was crying and lunging all while we waited to get on.

Great start.

We finally got in our rocket, and Brett and I were smooshed real good. It started and went around and around and around, all while Jack cried and tried his best to leap from our high soaring rocket.

Trust me. It was hell.

I wish I had a picture of my face on this ride...pretty sure Annie got one as they were all trying not to laugh at me from below.

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Brett and Jack and I took a little break from the group for a minute after this to let Jack regroup. He was soon entertained by feeding the ducks Cheerios and we were back in business.

I'm happy to report, that after Astro Orbiter, there was no more crying on rides...from Jack or me.

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Then it was off to Pirates of the Caribbean. A fave for all of us.

Me, Brett, Jack, Annie, Hank, and my dad rode while Randy stayed out with my mom and Max (Max felt it was too freaky).

I was certain Jack would love it because last time I came, he was in my belly, and I rode it like 850 times.

We got in the back of our boat, and Jack immediately jumped from my arms to sit with his girlfriend Annie in the row in front of me.

I had Hank to hold my hand.

We were about 30 seconds into the ride, just sailing slowly past the old house at the beginning of the ride, when I suddenly heard Annie yell, "Oh no!" followed by a small splash in the water.

I was certain it was Annie's camera, but soon learned it was Jack's shoe! He had pulled off his hi-top and chucked it out of the boat.

I tried to throw myself to the back of the boat to save the most amazing shoe that's ever graced Jack's foot,

but it was too late.

We sailed away watching it bob up and down in the water like a little buoy.

After being absolutely stunned by what the little turd had just done, all we could do was laugh. If we hadn't taken his other shoe and socks off, they too would be floating in Pirates I'm sure.

I think he's feeling guilty here.

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I try to be an ultra prepared person, but an extra pair of SHOES was not something I had packed in our Disneyland bag.

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After getting off the ride, we told the workers what had happened to see if there was any way to retrieve it. They told us it probably had been carried off or sunken by then, and then took us to a little booth where they wrote us out a certificate for

one free pair of children's shoes anywhere in the park.

We assured them it was Jack's fault and not the rides, but they insisted that he couldn't possibly go throughout the day without shoes.

Amazing, right?

See why I love Disneyland?

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So, after that, we were on a mission to find Jack shoes for the day.

As you can see, he was pretty upset by the whole thing.

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I had really high expectations of some sweet light up Goofy shoes or something, but soon learned little itty bitty Jack feet take a shoe size not available anywhere in the park.

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We did our best and found some sweeeeet blue Crocs that were about 4 sizes too big.

We stuffed the toes, but he literally walked right out of them every step.

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So....

while I am happy to report that Jack's leash was not needed or used on the trip...

I was the parent with the kid running around in socks all day.

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So sue me.

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We didn't let it slow us down much. It was an action packed day.

in case you were wondering...I am, in fact, air punching

I think we were all a little jealous every time Jack snuck in a snooze.

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Jack particularly liked the Finding Nemo ride,

while I particularly like walking out from the Finding Nemo ride.

Right in front of our little eyes was none other than...

Christian Bale.

You know, Batman?

Newsies?

Golden Globe and SAG award winning Christian Bale!

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You should've seen my face!

There he was in a dirtball t-shirt and long hair, sitting with his daughter and a Disney escort waiting to go on the ride.

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I might have a new favorite celeb.

Since, we really connected and all.

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After we all stopped pooping our pants over Christian, Hank got the chance of a lifetime and was picked to be a student in the Star Wars Jedi-training program.

If only I had a picture of all of our faces watching. We were all proud as peacocks at our little Hank's mad light saber skills. Darth had nothing on him.

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We went on tons of rides...Jack wasn't scared of any of them...and we didn't wait in line longer than 5-10 minutes for anything.

The sun was shining.

It was dreamy.

We all felt pretty bad about missing the 7 degree weather at home.

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This is just a picture I got while Christian was riding Space Mountain behind us.

Ok...so maybe it was taken in June by the paps (papparazzi, you know).

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Jack jumped at any chance to be swung around.

Christian asked if I'd snap a photo of him and his family on Alice in Wonderland- I quite liked this shot.

This totally isn't a google image.

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At night, we went back to Pirates, and as we were riding, we saw on the opposite side of the river, near the fatal shoe incident, Jack's amazing little hi-top bobbing in the water. Way too far to be reached of course, we waved goodbye to it one more time.

What?

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We spent some time at Toontown that evening, where Jack got to meet Mickey, and he found some of his favorite entertainment of the day on a slide that he went down at least 1000 times.

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We ended the day with a late dinner in Tomorrowland.

Brett ended the day, having the hiccups for 3 hours straight (no lies).

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It was definitely an eventful day, full of lots of stories to tell. Jack's first day at Disneyland will definitely not be his last.

Let's get real here. I knew that there was a big chance that I'd be regretting my insistence that Jack would be just fine at Disneyland at the ripe age of 19 months.

Thankfully, I was right, and it was totally worth it.

He was a total blast.

I'll never forget the first day we got to spend the day at the Happiest Place on Earth with him.

And I'll never forget his amazing shoe, either.

R.I.P.