They conquered those stinkin' pirates!

Ok, the biggest news by far on our last vacation day was that Ro and Ree finally faced their nemesis—the dark, loud, spooky Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Da da da dum!!! We took them on the Pirates ride back when they were two-years old, and I am quite certain that the poor souls who were unlucky enough to share our boat will never forget those screams. I know I won't. It was a spectacularly bad judgement call on our parts. Maybe one of the worst ones we've made, and man have there been plenty to choose from. Anyhow, moving on from the accidental torture of toddlers, for some reason Ro and Ree kept saying all week that they wanted to go on Pirates. We were dubious, but finally agreed after talking about the logistics/pretend/special effects ad nauseam, telling them exactly what would happen during the ride, asking over and over and over if they were absolutely sure, and, finally, packing ear plugs, which Ree refused to use at the last second. They practically dragged us in: And then, after the ride, gave it a hearty three thumbs up (two from Ro and one from Ree, who subtracted a bit because she didn't appreciate the splashing, which we had completely forgotten about and therefore left out of our extensive prep session). We were so proud of them that we immediately went into the adjacent pirate-themed gift shop and told the girls to pick anything they wanted. Sort of a conquering hero's trophy, I guess. Ree filled a velvet bag with faux jewels, and Ro picked a set of cool Disney pirate cups. By the way, even though they had faced their fears with Pirates, they got the buhjeezus scared out of them just walking through the (admittedly odd, loud, and strange) Roger Rabbit house to get to that tame little Toon Town ride. Ro freaked out halfway to the loading point and said "Out! Now!" and we fled. When we got safely back outside, the girls said "That one gets a thumbs down!" and Ro added "Thumbs down all the way to the ground!" and they crouched down and smashed their hands into the pavement. Bwah ha!! Ah well... A quick nose-grab with Pluto, and a sweet goodbye hug with dear friends S2 (purple) and H2 (blue) and things were better in their land: We hit a few more rides, hiked over to California Adventure and did Soarin' two more times, and then it was time to head to the car. I was seriously dragging by this point. Dog tired and shuffling along rather than walking. My feet and body might feel back to normal if I get to sit down for a week (like that's going to happen). But Ro and Ree were still perky and happy. Ree even skipped and hopped all the way to the car. Ro wanted to know why we didn't stay 10 days. I think I mumbled something like "Because ten days just might kill me, my dear." They napped a little in the car, woke up for a steak dinner, then played with their arts and crafts on the lapdesks the entire way home. When we finally pulled in the garage after eight+ hours in the car and at almost 11pm, Ree said "Mama, I'm too busy to get out of my seat!" Heh. And TubaDad said "Wow, I think that's an indication of a successful road trip." Yep. PS: Dear TubaDad, since you are a crazy ride nut, I counted up how many rides we went on this week and it was 39. Is that enough for ya? And in case anyone's curious, Ro and Ree's top 10 Disney rides were (in no particular order): Dumbo, Submarine Voyage, King Arthur Carousel, Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World, Gadget's Go Coaster, Pirates of the Caribbean, Soarin', Jumpin' Jellyfish, and Mickey's Fun Wheel. (They didn't rank the LegoLand rides because they fell asleep.)