Our full day at The Happiest Place on Earth

Today was the day we dedicated to spending entirely in the parks.  It was great.  We started off the morning by wandering down toward the monorail, only to be sidetracked by the fabulous LEGO store that was right across from the monorail entrance.  They have giant LEGOs out front of various Disney things, like Prince Phillip fighting the dragon Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), the Hulk (inside), and Beauty and the Beast.  The girls thought it was really awesome, and I have to agree!

LEGO Beauty and the Beast, with E, L, and me

Then, off on the monorail back into the park.  First stop?  Tinkerbell.  We met Tinkerbell and her friend Iridessa, and then we had to go meet princesses.  We met Belle (Beauty and the Beast) as well as Tiana (Princess and the Frog) again (we met them in September as well). 

L and E with Tinkerbell.

L and E with Belle (Beauty and the Beast).  Notice L chewing on her hand?  Excitement/nerves.

L and E with Tiana (Princess and the Frog).  More hand chewing.

 After that, we did a bit of shopping, more restroom visiting, Pinocchio's ride (scary!), tried to pull the sword from the stone (we failed), visited the princess boutique just to look around, toured Sleeping Beauty's castle, walked through the castle on the drawbridge, and made our way toward California Adventure.  The husband also got to meet The Genie (Aladdin) at the entrance to Disneyland, which made him pretty happy. 

California Adventure is definitely geared toward the older crowd (10+ years old), but there were still plenty of things we could do.  We had lunch in the park (we brought it in), rode the Monsters Inc. ride, went back to the hotel for a nap, returned to see the Play Parade (cute but just not as relate-able for the girls compared to the Disneyland parade), visited Carsland (it's JUST like it came straight out of the movie!), rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (essentially tractors pulling you around and whipping your cart from side to side - it was awesome!), Luigi's Flying Tires (bumper cars on air), met Lightening McQueen, had dinner at Flo's Diner, watched Radiator Springs light up with neon once night came along, visited more restrooms (Doc Hudson's shop in Cars is actually a restaurant with a huge set of restrooms in the back), and then walked through Downtown Disney carrying two tired little girls back to the hotel.  We actually were back late enough that the girls got to see the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room window before they went to bed.  They LOVED it. 

Wow, we met Lightening McQueen at the Cozy Cone Motel!  Kachow!

Tired, but it's been fun.  I'm also pleased I've been able to get some running in on treadmills here at the hotel - 3 miles Friday, 4 miles Saturday, and 4 miles tonight (along with a load of laundry!).  Here's hoping tomorrow goes just as well.  :)