Disneyland!

From Disneyland

So even though everyone told us Lawson is too young to really enjoy Disneyland, we decided to take him anyway. We had already planned a long weekend getaway to LA to see the Yankees play the Angels and we figured since we were going to be that close to Disneyland and Lawson is really too young for 3 straight days of live baseball that we would give Disney a try. How bad could it be, right? Needless to say he was very excited from the moment we told him we were going to see Mickey Mouse at Disneyland several days before the trip. All that excitement came crashing down the moment we actually got in the park and he was confronted with the overwhelming stimulation and crowd.

We definitely underestimated the effect of the crowd, not realizing it was more people than he's ever seen before. For the first hour he refused to get out of his stroller and all he wanted was to see Mickey. Interestingly enough Mickey Mouse is a very difficult character to find even after paying $175 to get into the Magic Kingdom. We schlepped all the way to the far end of the park to "Toon Town" where Mickey's house is and then dragged Lawson by the arm through the maze of a house filled with downright freaky cartoonish furnishings and a washing machine that was genuinely terrifying. We did manage to wait it out and get our photo op with Mickey, but by that time Lawson was pretty much over it.

Basically, we had two options: 1) cut our losses and leave or 2) force Lawson to enjoy the rides. We opted for #2 and after a brief panic Lawson LOVED the teacups. See the video for proof. After that he was instantly converted and wanted to ride everything. We did the Storyland Boat Ride, Dumbo, Teacups again, Finding Nemo and Autopia before he completely crashed. Nemo was pretty scary for a 2 year old, but driving the cars on Autopia was by far his favorite. I think all in all Disneyland for a toddler isn't ideal, but it's still worthwhile.

We stayed the weekend with one of Debbie's long time friends, Katy, and Lawson had a great time playing with her dog Bolo. Saturday we went to the Yankees-Angels game and Lawson had a great time chanting "Let's go Yan-kees!" with all the other Yankees fans in the crowd.

From Disneyland

He lasted through most of the game with a brief respite walking around the stadium to see the waterfall in center field and the crowd. Angel Stadium is a great place to see a game. Luckily we chose the game the Yankees won so we were all very happy.

Sunday we took Lawson to visit Gigi which he always enjoys. He rode in "Gigi's stroller" aka wheelchair up and down the boardwalk in Santa Monica. He played at his favorite beach playground for a while and we spotted Billy Bob Thorton on our walk back. What a weekend! Enjoy the photos at the right.