The LaGreca Family

Have you ever heard, “Over Promise — Under Deliver” ?  Or, you might have heard the oppoisite, since this is what everyone strives for…”Under Promise — Over Deliver”?

Let me explain….in my last post, I said “Nicholas is going to meet Mickey..and we hoped to get a picture of it.”  That was a pretty BIG promise, right?  I really didn’t think it would be too much….I mean, gosh, we were going to Disneyland for the ENTIRE day…we had lots of hours to find, meet and photo Mickey, right?  Well, above, I did say “under deliver” - which means, I didn’t totally fail.  I sort of had a plan B, just in case the original promise didn’t work out.  And check this out, my Plan B was the 1st picture we took yesterday morning…before leaving San Diego.  As promised (sort of), here is the picture of Nicholas with Mickey Mouse:

I am sorry if the “Mickey Photos” disappoint you.  I was slightly bummed that we didn’t get to meet Mickey this trip..but it’s OK, we had a FANTASTIC time and Nicholas was a tropper!  The day started very bad.  Nicholas was not himself.  Not happy in the morning, crying in the car on the way out. He is fighting a cold and I have a feeling he just wanted me to hold him.

Once we got to Disneyland, he was totally fine.  He is a great little traveler. We are so lucky.

Ok - so here is a quick run down.  First of all, we LOVE Julie Yeh!  Our dear friend (from our SF days) that works at Disney - got us in for free.  Thank you! Thank you!  What a fantastic gift :)  A million thanks.

And - holy cow!  We couldn’t believe how fast the day went.  We had so many things we wanted to do with the boy, but we didn’t have time for everything.  We spent a little time in California Adventure.  The boy’s first ride was the new Toy Story Mania game - OH so fun!  You have to try it.

Then, we saw Chip (or Dale, we aren’t sure which).  We ran over to get a family picture.  You can guess how Nicholas reacted. He wasn’t as excited as we were:

He held onto Joe’s chain like he was about to fall…he was a bit scared.  It’s ok, we didn’t force it. A few pictures and we walked away.

After eating lunch at CA Adventure - we spotted Pluto. I was more excited about him because Nicholas has a Pluto in his room..I felt like this was working up towards Mickey Mouse (little did I know that there wouldn’t be a Mickey Mouse opportunity this time).

Isn’t Pluto so cute?  And, Nicholas “thought” about it this time….

And, I think we got a little TOO close…

That was it for CA Adventure….and actually, that was it for character pictures. We headed over to Disneyland and didn’t see ANY characters while we were there.   (But it’s ok, because we stayed really busy and had such a great time).

We did get a family picture at the castle.  And, you will notice that Nicholas has his first pair of Mickey ears. The same ears I had when I was a kid.  I was so excited about this.  What a treat to buy for my own child..

This isn’t considered “baby torture” right?  It’s pure love….I swear!

We did a few more things…here and there.  Nicholas took 2 naps in his stroller (thank goodness).  And, we ended our afternoon/evening with 2 favorites.  Pirates of the Carribean and the Jungle Cruise.  The lady at Pirates was trying to get Nicholas to make a hook…I think?

And that was it….it was over minutes after it starts (that’s what it felt like!)  On Friday night, I couldn’t even go to sleep…I honestly felt like it was Christmas Eve (as a kid)..you know how you are so excited for something to come, and you don’t feel like you are tired.  I have dreamed about taking my children to Disneyland for years!  What a joy to take Nicholas for the first time. I know he won’t remember anything, and that is TOTALLY fine with me….Joe and I will remember.  And we will look back at the pictures often and smile.

We didn’t leave the park without doing a little shopping…of course!

As you know, Disney has buttons for special people.  Joe and I have a “Wedding” button from 2003 (Walt Disney World) and we have the “Anniversary” button from 2006 (WDW again!)…so, we HAD to get Nicholas the “1st time” button (you don’t have to buy them….you just ask, and they give it to you…I love Disney.)

Julie bought Nicholas the T-shirt. Love it!  And, Nicholas has his own Ears…with his name, of course

Once again, Thank You Julie! Good thing you live close…because we still have 100 things left on our list of things to show Nicholas at Disneyland….hopefully it won’t be another 10 months before we make it up there.