We planned for months in advance.  We somehow settled on a date that worked for 18 people.  We convinced the non-believers to just come anyway and try to have fun.  But I didn’t realize our cousin day at Disneyland was doomed from the start – until it was actually over.

I can’t help but think about all the things I could have done differently, like…

• realized that it was the day before a holiday and would be very crowded.
• double checked my blocked annual passport dates before we got there.
• gone to the ticket line on the right instead of the left, because that line on the left?  Damn, that one took forever.
• just gone home and come back another day, instead of forcing it to work.
• skipped California Adventure all together.
• left my child home and enjoyed the park with the people who actually wanted to be there.
• kept my expectations down where they belong.
• had more treats.  And a drink or two. (…or five.)
• gotten a hotel room to take an afternoon break.
• just kept Stevie’s mouth full of food the entire day to keep him quiet.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.  I think the only thing I did right was wear sensible shoes.  My feet felt great the whole day!

Oh, and Paul took this one picture that I love love love.  So I’m happy about that!

Of course there are a bunch of other cute photos of the family and cousins just being all… Disney.  It was nice spending the day with everyone. I’ll share those later. But for now…let’s just focus on this one.  Let’s pretend for a moment that the whole day was like this.  Because it was taken during the half hour where Stevie was content.  Out of the whole day, we got a solid half hour.  Sure, there were bits in between where he was happy for a few seconds, but overall it was kind of a disaster.

Like I lost sleep over how crummy it was. And I don’t even know what else to say.

Disney mom, out.