Disneyland Birthday

Rachel and I have birthdays three days apart.  This year she is a decade old!  Wow!  So we had to do something special.  I planned a surprise trip for just her and I to go to Disneyland for 3 days.  She got to fly for the first time (and get braggin' rights for being the first Lewis child to fly).  I thought she would be super excited but when we got the airport and told her, she almost threw up because she was so nervous.  She did great though and had fun, too.  This is us outside of LA waiting for our shuttle.

This is Rachel's favorite ride in all of Disneyland - mine too I think.  The first day was insane crazy lines, but we finally made it to the front!  Rachel got to wear a button saying "It's my Birthday" and everyone we passed said "happy birthday" to her for three days.  It was great!

R is for RIGHT ON! or RACHEL! or RIDE!  She wanted to sit inside the top but I am too whimpy to get her up there!  

Besides the California Screamin' roller coaster I love this one the best - the Mali-boomer. That gut in your throat feeling of being rubber-banded into the air then dropped again - ahh!  My feet are the ones on the left side group last one on the right.  I couldn't get Rachel to go on it.  I tried to tell her it was just like the Jelly Fish ride that she loved so much!  She didn't buy it.  Smart girl!

I don't remember what ride we are on in this picture, but you can see we are having a great time!

This turned out to be the ride Rachel loved the most in California Adventures.  Mulholland Madness roller coaster.  It was the only ride that was fast enough but not too scary and she could cut in line as a single rider.  She road it 10 times in about 2 hours while I rested my aching feet on the bench out front.  She had so much fun, I couldn't move on to something else.  

Finally we had to go though.  As we were walking through the park for at least the 10th time that day, (I tried to teach how to map the park and hit rides as we come to them, but she would have nothing of that we ride at her wimsy and too bad if we were just there an hour ago, we are going back!)  we ran into the Toy Story green army men and she got to play the tambourine with their cadence.  It was super cool. I got it on video too, but not sure how to put it on here, so you just get the still pic.

I am so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter.  And to share a birthday month with her too.  I had a great time getting to know her,  her quirks, her laugh, all of her.  She is so special to me.  I hope she cherishes our three days together as much as I am already.  Love you Rachel.  Happy Decade birthday!