it's just another day, right?

okay, let me backtrack a little and tell you about our sunday. it really wasn't THAT exciting, but you get to hear about it anyway!

the bean got a bath and then dressed up for church:

that whole outfit was a gift from one of our dearest friends on the day she was born, and i meant to put it on her for christmas, but i forgot all about it. oops. and now she's almost grown out of it. double oops.

after church, we headed out to pie 'n burger for breakfast - the kid was in the mood for one of their roast beef sandwiches, and i can never turn down a stack of their thin pancakes. so delicious! and while we waited for our table, we watched this crazy ass asian heffa go off on some poor unsuspecting dude on her way out. they happened to be leaving at the same time, and all of a sudden she turned on him. "don't harass me in the restaurant!" she said, and then threw her cash down onto the counter and snarled "thanks for the great service."

the dude just took off as if nothing had happened, and the lady behind the counter, having no idea what was going on, gave her a puzzled look and said "um, thanks for coming in?"

we and the other folks waiting for tables just kind of looked around at each other and chuckled in amusement. and then five minutes later, crazy asian heffa came back in, started growling at the same lady behind the counter, and this time she said "no. get out of here. we don't need your troubles in here." and CAH, with her cell phone to her ear, shouted "why? because i'm in a white ass community?", spun around, and stormed back out. we all looked at each other in slightly shocked silence before cracking up. there was a black couple standing behind her, along with other asian folks, plus us. "white ass community" indeed. i was also amused to hear the counter lady refer to CAH as "oriental". i haven't heard that word in a long time. heh.

we decided to head out to the grove for dinner. we like eating at the farm of beverly hills, and thought the kid would like to give it a try, too. although she was in one of those rebellious pre-teen-y moods and all she wanted was a salad. booooring. i went with the fried chicken with truffled mac & cheese (i'd wanted this the last time i went to the farm but chose something else), and i was sad to cut into the driest chicken i've had in a long time. but that mac & cheese - mmmm. it made up for the chicken. it was so delicious, and i even got the kid to try a little. of course, she loved it, but didn't want to admit it. hmph.

and as we finished dinner, it was time for "snow". it was the same soap-y kind of stuff that they use at disneyland, but it was fun anyway.

okay, so i know you're absolutely dying to know what we ended up doing for new year's eve. right? right?? i know you are. you haven't been able to sleep for thinking about it. well, we considered lots of things, including a party in downtown l.a. thrown by chris brown (the kid LOVES chris brown), but that was for 18+ only. she was so stinking bummed about it. i was sad for her, because by the time she hits 18, do you really think chris brown will still be the shit? i think not.

"so, wan-nabe family, what did you to do to ring in 2008?"

we went to disneyland!

yup. the last time the hub and i were at disneyland for new year's eve, it was ridiculously crowded. we managed to ride maybe one ride, and spent the whole night waiting to get into the blue bayou restaurant for dinner. so, i know, it's crazy and fucktarded, but that's where we ended up.

well, sort of. we figured it would be much less crowded at california adventure, and our favorite ride is "tower of terror" anyway. and it turned out that it was our only option, because as we pulled into the mickey & friends parking structure, the electronic marquees announced that disneyland was sold out.

SOLD OUT.

how many folks do you suppose it takes to sell out fucking disneyland?? i went to snap a picture of the sign, but i was too late. you'll just have to take my word for it. we looked around at all the cars in line to park with us and groaned at the idea of them all going to california adventure with us, along with those who were already inside. and we weren't able to buy our tickets online, so i was dreading the line just to get those.

well, surprise surprise - it took the hub all of two minutes to stand in line and scoop up our tickets. and getting in was painless as well. the kid and i found it weird that this kiosk was right next to the ticket booths, selling rose bowl souvenirs. is it weird? or are WE weird? i mean, it's not like disneyland and the rose bowl have anything in common...or do they?

there were definitely lots of visitors in the park, but it didn't feel like it, as evidenced by the mere 40-minute wait for "tower of terror". the kid and i got fastpasses for that ride (we don't wait in line if we don't have to), and were pleasantly surprised again - our time was only 45 minutes away.

the hub and the bean had gone off in the hopes of securing a reservation for dinner at the vineyard room, which is the best restaurant in the park. the kid even ate shrimp there - and that almost never happens! but as i'd been told on the phone, they were booked solid. boo. after trading a couple of text messages, we found them sitting at the bar in ariel's grotto. the hub was halfway through a coors light and the bean was happily snoozing in her stroller. the kid and i got some ice cream, sat down to relax, and life was good.

when it was time to get in line for "tower of terror", the kid and i found ourselves stuck behind a pair of honeymooners wearing wedding mickey ears that look like this:
only they didn't look as cute as this :X yes, that's a precious moments figurine. and i said the couple wasn't as cute as it. that should speak volumes. the family in front of them struck up a conversation with them and we overheard them say that they had just driven out from utah to disneyland for their honeymoon. now, i love disneyland, but it was awful hard to keep from laughing my ass off at the thought of honeymooning there. and it didn't help that they looked like they were about twelve years old. AND couldn't stop talking about how they couldn't wait for "their favorite part of the ride". and [gagging] they kept mackin' down every, oh, about five seconds. ew. now, i know they were newlyweds, but gross. keep that shit in your disneyland hotel room, yo. okay, enough about them. back to us.

we ended up seated in the middle section of the ride - right next to the honeymooners and behind the family who'd befriended them. and once the ride started, the kid started up - "oh mah gah, we's f'nna die!" "oh, snap. i want to LIVE!" "holy crap, i'm scared!" "mommy, hold me!"

i was giggling so hard, i could hardly concentrate on the ride. and i was so excited - i hadn't been able to ride anything fun like that in a year and a half! and when the ride was over, the mom of that family turned around and thanked the kid for making the ride even more fun than it already was. she loved that - she thought she might've pissed folks off, but that groom turned to her and said something similar. ha!

when we got to the end - you know, where they show you the picture they take of you on the ride? - the kid mumbled "mom, watch me get all ghetto right now", found our picture, and whipped her cell phone out to take a picture. bwahahahaha! it was hilarious. and here it is. do you see us?


as it got cooler, we put the bean into a warm, snuggly pooh outfit. i know it's cheesy as hell, with the little ears and all, but it was cute on her, and it kept her warm! and even though it wasn't the "real" disneyland, she got her first set of mickey ears.

it was snack time, so we found the nearest churro cart and picked up a couple of those crunchy, sweet cinnamony treats. and as we were joking around, pretending to feed one to the bean, some dude walked by and remarked in a thick drawl "aww, look, it's her first chii-rro."

chiirro?? the hub and i exchanged puzzled looks and the kid said "that is SO WEIRD. he's, like, the third person i've heard today say it like that." and then i caught sight of the sign on the cart. i guess that if you just glanced at it and weren't familiar, that "u" could look like two "i"s. i guess.

heh.

and i gotta say, i love how disneyland turns the kid into a little kid again. we were walking through the back end of the park, killing time before our next fastpass, when she spied a cart loaded down with glow-in-the-dark necklaces, handheld spinning marquees, and this:

oh mah gah, she kills me. comedy.

we had a 7:45 dinner reservation at ralph brennan's jazz kitchen in downtown disney, but once 7:00 rolled around we realized we were pretty damn hungry and decided to head over and see if they'd take us a little early. the hub went in to sweet-talk the obviously frazzled hostess while we sat outside and did a little peoplewatching.

this was the tree we were sitting under. it looked pretty cool, so i took a picture of it (and us), of course.

while the kid traded text messages with her BFF (who wasn't able to join us because her parents decided they were going to have family time), i pushed the bean back and forth in her stroller in a sad attempt to prolong her nap. i was hoping we'd be able to pull off an entire dinner without having to play "pass the baby" back and forth across the table.

and for the most part, i was pretty successful. the noise in the restaurant helped a lot, and then someone dropped something and woke her up. damn. but before that, we managed to enjoy appetizers and be entertained by the kid's perusal of the kiddie menu. here she is with her grilled ham and cheese, with a little mac & cheese on the side:

yup, those are "happy new ears". heh.

once we were done stuffing our faces, we headed back into the park (cutting through the fabulous grand californian hotel and wishing again that we'd have managed to finagle a room) and found santa. since he was all done delivering toys for the year, he was dressed for vacation.

the kid and i decided to ride "tower of terror" one more time, while the hub and the bean set off in search of a good spot to see fireworks once the clock struck 12. although it was so damn windy, we were pretty sure they'd have to cancel fireworks - not that any of the employees knew, though. we asked a few and nobody seemed to have any idea. we've been to disneyland in the past on nights much less windy and ended up not seeing any pyrotechnics for that very reason. but we were there, and it was new year's eve, so we were determined to ring in '08 somewhere in the park.

our timing kind of sucked, though, because we caught the tail end of the electrical parade and EVERYBODY was headed to "tower of terror". boo. but we got there, and found that it was quicker to wait for the fastpass time than to stand in line. so while we waited, we hung out at the power 106 dance party.

with less than an hour left, we joined the hub and the bean, who was sleeping soundly, on the bridge overlooking the lake and the "paradise pier" area. the kid and i decided to grab hot chocolates and ended up standing in that line for longer than anything else we'd waited for that day! sheesh. to kill time, i had her take a picture of the giant christmas tree. she was getting antsy and was ready to ditch the idea, but i wanted some damn cocoa.

the hub texted me to ask if we'd gone back to lake arrowhead for our hot chocolates. "it's going to be 2008 before you finally get back here with that shit." grrrr.

and when midnight finally came, it felt rather anticlimactic for me. it was fun, there were lots of people around, the bean woke up briefly to loudly protest the screams and horn-blowing, and i kissed the hub and the kid. it just felt weird - but i guess that really, it is just another day, right? we watched the sad little fireworks display that went off from the lake and then got the hell outta dodge.

we maneuvered our way through the crowds (once again avoiding the masses by cutting through the grand californian), managed to get on the very first tram that came our way, and walked right into a waiting elevator at the parking structure. we snapped the car seat into place, buckled up, and were on the freeway before i could even catch my breath! and half an hour later, we were pulling into the driveway.

it was a fun day, quite painless, and easier than i could've dreamed. happy new year, indeed.