Monday, June 2, 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth

I recently went to the happiest place on earth--Disneyland.

And it really is a happy place...but the happiest? I don't know about that.

Here are the details:

How many people? Me, five brothers, two sisters, two parents, two uncles, two aunts, seven cousins, and two grandparents for a grand total of 23. Yes, Mr. Ride Operator, that's a group of twenty-three for you to fit in.

Were there family t-shirts? Of course! All different colors...we looked amazing.

My favorite ride ever: Definitely Soaring Over California...the smell of orange orchards, the rush of the wind, and the feeling of flying over some of the most beautiful places on earth...

Favorite ride in Disneyland: Space Mountain. What is cooler than traveling through space with cool theme music in the background?

Favorite little kid ride: Peter Pan...I always wanted to go to Neverland!

Favorite treat in Disneyland: The pineapple spears. There is nothing better than fresh pineapple on a hot day.

Least favorite ride: The orange ride in California Adventures. The sound of buzzing bees combined with the fact you are going around and around while you are looking up at the cords that are holding your seat only and wondering what the chances are that your particular cords would break...I don't know why, but it just didn't do it for me.

Scariest Ride: Tower of Terror. But really cool too.

Funniest moment: When the photographer told my family that we were doing pictures of single families (not multiple families) and my mom told her "this is one family." (Having eight kids in one family kind of throws people off...)

Favorite moment: Maybe sitting by my little sister on the edge of the New Orleans boat and watching mallard ducks...or maybe it was seeing all my extended family sit together for the Fantasmic show...or the magical look in my little brother's eyes when he got to talk with a real princess...or it could have been seeing my grandpa and grandma hold hands as they walked together through Disneyland...I really couldn't choose...

Okay, I admit it...Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth...if you have your family with you!

Serendipity

The Oxford English dictionary describes serendipity as "the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. Also, the fact or an instance of such a discovery."