frozen in time

thanks to parent-teacher conference time, the bean had a whole day off from school. after spending some quality time with her teacher and hearing all about what a great student she is, we threw in some comfy clothes and headed down to the house of the mouse for some magical fun.

although she opted not to wear her elsa costume, we sucked it up and got in this line.

we killed time by playing word games and chatting about all sorts of things. she was excited to meet the princesses from frozen and didn't balk at the long line. 

happily, it went a lot faster than anticipated, and 85 minutes into our wait, we found ourselves at the front of the line at last.

when we got inside, the room was decorated like the castle from the movie, with pretend sweets all laid out for the coronation gala.

when it was her turn to approach anna and elsa, the bean was uncharacteristically shy. she smiled bashfully at the girls and then turned to pose for the camera. 

making our way back to toontown, we followed the bean as she wove her way through the various houses. seeing that the wait to meet mickey was just 10 minutes long, we indulged her request to go and say hello to her favorite mouse.

i'm not sure why or how it started, but taking this picture on our way out has become a must-do.

"it's a small world" is currently closed, perhaps partially to finish the removal of the holiday overlay and also to prepare for filming. a movie called "tomorrowland" is scheduled for production at the park this week, and there was quite a flurry of activity back there. in the cast? george clooney. SWOON. 

i love this phone case. 

at the bean's request, we headed to new orleans square for a mint julep and some beignets. 

a little later, as we strolled through california adventure, we spied a familiar face:

nanette and her family were heading out after a lovely staycation at the resort, and i was happy to have caught a glimpse of them even for a second.

all in all, a lovely way to spend a bonus day off from school.