I'm going to Disneyland

Austin was stunned when we arrived at Disneyland for my birthday. (It's free on your birthday this year.)

With the singing and the cute dolls, his favorite ride was "It's a Small World." He danced to the music and watched in a trance as we went through the ride.

For lunch, Aunt Laura treated me to the Blue Bayou Restaurant, which is inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We'd always wanted to go there as kids. Austin tried on the kids menu hat.

You can see the fireflies in the background. He was happy at the restaurant. But he was less than thrilled when we went on the ride. I made the bad parenting miscalculation of thinking it was OK to take him on a dark, scary ride with a big, loud, wet drop at the beginning. He cried on Pinocchio, too. Oops.

He crashed shortly after that. Classic tired Disneyland pose.

Of course, he loved the petting zoo when he woke up.

Daddy was nice enough to go with us to Disneyland. He had three simple goals for the day -- that he could eat a Monte Cristo sandwich, that Austin would have a good time and that there would be no major problems. We accomplished all three.

Austin kept pointing at the merry-go-round, but we weren't sure if he was too small. On it, we also weren't sure if he was having a good time. He looked a little bit scared. But then he cried when we got off. Guess he liked it!

We made a stop in Toon Town.

Our last stop was to watch the parade. We had to stake out a place and wait along the route. By that time, Austin was getting a little stir crazy. So, I had to walk him along the parade route. He entertained some of the people waiting.

He loved watching the parade. But by then, he was pretty tired. It was a fun end to a great day.