The Disneyland 13

I hauled my Polaroid SLR 680 and three packs of film all the way to the happiest place on earth last week so I could take pictures of my nieces and nephews interacting with Disney characters, eating Disney churros, and slurping Disney sorbets, and what did I actually shoot? Walls in California Adventure and a single red leaf on Tom Sawyer's Island. How creative am I?

We flew into LAX last Tuesday night and after waiting at the curb for what seemed like an hour, our Disneyland shuttle bus finally pulled up. All 13 of us (including five kids under the age of 8) piled on and were magically whisked away to Anaheim and our hotel where our cozy beds awaited us. We (the Parke family minus my youngest niece who's not quite one) spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday walking all over Disneyland and Californa Adventure, and had a ridiculously fun time of it. My highlights included taking my two nieces on the teacups and spinning ourselves silly, the Dole pineapple whips from Adventureland, Soarin' Over California, lunch at Ariel's Grotto (Mmm, good pasta), making funny faces and hand gestures at the camera on Space Mountain, riding the Matterhorn four times in one day (three of which were in a row), the amazing fireworks show, and my Main Street ice cream cone. My husband's family is just wonderful and we all have so much fun together. Thank you all for making this the best Disneyland trip yet! 2010, here we come!