"Happy Birthday, Daddy! Now take me to Disneyland!"

By SEDONA DING

Let me start by thanking the Lakers for winning the Western Conference finals in six games so that Daddy could take me to Disneyland on his birthday Saturday!

Disney has a promotion where people get in FREE on their birthdays ... and then Maven and I are not yet 3 years old so we are FREE. That makes the trip very cost-effective when we only had to pay $69 for Mommy (and she gets two trips for that; same as Daddy got).

While Daddy was on the plane coming home from Denver in the early morning, Mommy decorated me to wish Daddy a happy birthday!

Can you believe he is 38?! Daddy said that while he was on the plane home, he was reflecting on his 38 years, and he feels proud of his accomplishments, including us! Isn't that sweet?!

Here are his primary accomplishments!!! We just walked into the park and here they go and stop me to pose in front of the flowers. I did as I was told, but I wanted to know where to find "Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto." I see them all regularly on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon show and know all their names.

Oh, Tigger! I know him from reading some Winnie the Pooh books. But up close, I'm a bit afraid of these life-size creatures, which I'm told is quite common.

Daddy and Maven huddled while waiting for the carousel. It was one of my favorites! I loved going up and down, up and down!

Then Daddy and I went on the Dumbo ride of flying elephants, and even the waiting was exciting as Daddy asked me which Dumbo we would try to get. They all had different colored hats and blankets on them. I changed my mind many, many times but settled on pink.

We got the pink one! Good job, Daddy. And here we are flying!!!

Orange County resident Austin Lev came to the park to meet us, and given I'm the unofficial big sis, I thought I'd fix up his hair to be a little more stylish. Or maybe I was just rubbing his head for no good reason. Either way!

YAY! Finally after all those rides and quite some time waiting (when Maven pretty much drained Mommy's and Daddy's last ounces of energy  by trying to scurry every which way by wandering out of line), I got to meet Mickey Mouse! Daddy had talked to me in advance, and I'd told him I wouldn't be scared, but I was. So later that night, several times I said out of the blue to Daddy that I had met Mickey Mouse, but I was "a little scared." Daddy said it was OK and it would be better next time.

We finally end the day at Autotopia (based on recommendation from my friend T.L.), and I absolutely LOVED it!!!

What an exhausting day! Daddy was functioning on 1 1/2 hours and Mommy on four hours of sleep. But who cares about them? (I did let them stop in Garden Grove on the way home for crawfish anyway.) I had a great time!

Thanks and happy birthday, Daddy! Let's go to Disneyland for your birthday every year!