terrific thursday

with the bean in a regular school schedule instead of the easy breezy MWF deal we had going in preschool, i miss our random tuesday morning trips to disneyland.  we loved having the run of the place without having to dodge a bazillion strollers and giant crowds of folks blundering through the walkways with blinders on.

so when the schedule gave us a half day followed by a day off (thanks to parent-teacher conference time), i decided it was the perfect time to head down to anaheim for an afternoon of fun without having to worry about hurrying back in time for the evening routine.  after the teen got home from school, we packed up and hopped in the car.

while it was still fairly busy for a non-holiday thursday, we still managed to pack all sorts of fun in.  lines for characters were blessedly short:

and we had a rare photo op in front of a nearly-empty castle.

i love when the teen is in silly mode.

something else we don't usually get to hang around to see - both parks at night.

i indulged in this gut bomb for dinner: a mac & cheese hot dog covered with bacon bits.

ah, disneyland.  will we ever get tired of your magical ways?  i sure hope not.