nice little getaway

i thought i should post some photos of our trip to california. first, let me tell you that God was on. my. side. during this trip. how so? allow me to share:

*a not full flight = an entire row to ourselves
*elle couldn't not have been more perfect on both flights (and really, the entire trip)
*even though the flight back to dallas was full, someone didn't board which meant: the row all to ourselves! score!
*my "lost" blackberry wasn't lost...it just made the entire flight home wedged somewhere in our stroller in the guts of the plane.

so. back to the trip. we had a really nice time and i think michael checked his blackberry for work purposes maybe only once a day. progress, i say!

elle loved disneyland. side note: it looks the exact same as it did when i went in 1987; which was very comforting. we rode the carousel (on the bench, elle's orders), dumbo the flying elephant, the teapucks (not a typo) & the many adventures of winnie the pooh (which struck both michael & me as a bit...psychedelic. what was in pooh's honey that made it so addictive?). we spent a lot of time in toontown at goofy's house, mickey's house & chip 'n dale's treehouse. elle loved the whole bit. we did discover there is a love-hate relationship with the disney gang. perhaps if their heads weren't so out of proportion to their bodies, elle would have wanted her photo taken with them. she loved mickey, minnie, goofy & pluto from a distance but wasn't too jazzed about being up close.

i'm going to share this little story so it's cemented in the archives of elle. we get to minnie's house & elle is trying to cut the line to get to minnie. once she realizes that isn't an option, she rushes to the front gate where she stands at & yells, flapping her arms - for a solid 10 minutes - "minnie! minnie! minnie!! hi, minnie!!" over & over again. we get up to the line to have a photo taken with the adored minnie and elle freezes. then the corners of her mouth turn downward & we can't get her to budge. we finally get the photo, and on our way out elle turns and says "minnie! minnie! minnie!! bye minnie!". minnie was so sweet she blew elle a kiss & what did elle do? blew one right back at minnie. i'm telling you, this girl can work a room. look for her as early as the presidential election of 2048.

so, the photos:

and at the aquarium of the pacific...