Penelope Goes to Disneyland

Penelope is the fourth grandchild to get her one-on-one with Grandma CoCo. She was asked early last year where she wanted to go. She waffled between Disneyland and LegoLand for a long time. She suddenly got set on Disney and so that's where we went.

She spent Saturday night with me and we woke up really early on Sunday and headed to the airport. We were at the hotel by 10:30, we were able to get her clothes changed, give the hotel our luggage and catch the last shuttle for five hours to the park. I kind of let her run the show that first day and we were all over the place. It was a very busy holiday weekend and there were lines. She was pretty upset about having to wait in lines - so it was hard to get her to decide on what to do. We did very little that first day. We did do one very important thing though, she met Belle. That was worth the ticket right there. She looked so sweet, dressed in her own Belle princess dress, and meeting the one princess she was most excited to meet. Before the day was over, she dragged me on Star Tours and I kept my eyes closed the entire time.

The second day we had a very long and busy day. We were trying to get there early, but that didn't work out too great. We ended up in an hour long wait for bag checks, then another 20 minutes for entering. The lines were crazy. And I swear, Fast Passes change every time I go to any Disney Park. So - it took a while to figure that out. I told Penny I was taking charge a bit, because the day before she had been all over the place. So - I made her go on Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and then I said we would head to Splash Mountain. She looked at Splash Mountain and decided she didn't want to go on it after all, it was a bit scary to her. So - we headed to Winnie the Pooh, then onto the Millennium Falcon ride. That was a crazy line, but we made it through. It was a really fun ride and I found out I couldn't close my eyes, cuz I had to be the danged pilot - Penny was a pilot, too. We each had different jobs. The thing she kept saying she wanted to ride on was the Monorail, so we finally did that. Then we had lunch and had a fast pass for Buzz Lightyear. By the time that was done, we were able to have lunch and I told her I wanted to go on Peter Pan. Well, the line was REALLLY long, but I assured her that when we were done, we could head over for her appointment at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.

Before we left, I made her an appointment at the kids boutique. It was so danged cute. Her little stylist is called a fairy godmother in training. They do the littles up all adorable.

We headed back to the hotel after that. She loved how she looked, but dang, that was not going to keep her from the pool. So - after spending a fortune, the first thing she wanted to do when we got back to the hotel was jump in the pool.

Not the greatest picture, but you can see that
bun jumping in the pool. :)
Her Dad says, you can tell her NO. I said,
nope - I can't.

On our last day we went to California Adventure. We took our time getting there, the lines were not nearly as bad. We got a fast pass for Soarin when we walked in, then headed to Cars Land and went on the Luigi ride. We went on the carousel, then back for Soarin. Soarin' will always be my favorite. Then we got our fast pass for Grizzly River Rapids, then headed to the playground where she ran around for quite a while. Then back to the rapids, where we got soaked, soaked, soaked. Then we went on the Ariel ride that I had never been on and it was the sweetest. Then to lunch and shopping and back to the hotel, because all she wanted to do was go to the pool. She spent almost three hours in the pool that last night. And still fought me when it was time to get out.

We headed to the airport the next day. I brought her home horribly sick, her mama had to take her to the ER. Said she has a virus, but I was still sad. And I'm horrible enough to hope that I don't get it.

It was a lot of fun. I love these bonding experiences. I've now cried for two days, because I was hit with a lot of grief once I got home. I'm ok, but it's been rough reality slap the last couple of days that my favorite traveling partner will never get on a plane with me again. But, this was all about Penelope. And we had the greatest time.

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