The Happiest Place on Earth

This past weekend I celebrated my (28th!) birthday in the happiest place on earth.  While I’ve got plenty of gripes regarding Disney, I must admit that it was a pretty happy place.  “It’s a small world after all” and Space Mountain, and Mickey, and the fireworks, and the parade, and the music….I totally loved it and felt like a little kid again.  AND I got in for FREE because it was my birthday.

So, it was a great birthday weekend, but my trip to southern California really had nothing to do with my birthday.  Last winter I was talking to Raina about places she’d like to visit, and she mentioned how much she loved the Disney channel and would love to see Disneyland.  A little voice in my head said, “You could make that happen….”  About two months later I finally talked to her mom about it, who agreed I could take her.  Before I mentioned it to Raina I decided I should also invite Raina’s best friend, Keise, since they are attached at the hip and she is WAY cooler than an elderly 28 year-old neighbor lady.  I am (now) fully aware of how disconnected I am from the world of a 13-year-old.

So, last week I boarded a plane with Raina and Keise and headed south to the land of plastic, palm trees, and traffic.  Thanks to the generosity of some amazing friends and family members (yes, you are amazing), I had $450 in donations to help offset the cost of the plane tickets, Disneyland ($72 per person!), the rental car and a hotel for two nights.  The other nights we stayed with Emily’s old roommate, Joni, who wins the host of the year award (full breakfast with french toast, treated us to yogurt land, and entertained the girls for two hours!).  Thanks to the generosity of so many people we were able to do a lot in our four days:  Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Disneyland (10am-11pm), Newport Beach, Santa Monica Pier, 3rd Street Promenade, and Joni’s awesome pool house. 

In Hollywood the girls got a picture with “Michael Jackson” and then posed next to the “wand prints” and hand prints from the cast of Harry Potter. Raina stuck her head out of the car in Beverly Hills to look for famous people and the girls sang “Beverly Hills….that’s where I wanna be!”   In Disneyland we ran from ride to ride to ride, until we collapsed for lunch to refuel.  Then we posed with Goofy, Mickey, and Aladdin & Jasmine.  Then…the Haunted house.  Then, Splash Mountain (three times).  By 9pm I was ready for a break, so the girls went on Splash Mountain a few more times while I watched the rest of the parade and the Haunted fireworks.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  It was really fun to see so much creativity around me.

On Sunday we ate a big breakfast (courtesy of Joni), swam in the pool for a few hours, then rented bikes and rode up and down Newport Beach.  The girls got to pet some boa constrictors that were around the neck of an interesting beach fellow, and then jumped in the ocean in their clothes and played for over an hour.  That night we ordered pizza and watched The Little Mermaid (which they’d never seen!).  I’ve still got the songs in my head.

Finally on Monday morning we did some sightseeing around L.A. and ended up on the Santa Monica pier.  We took pictures in a photo booth, walked around the arcade and rode the famous ferris wheel before leaving to catch our flight. 

Raina and Keise have such a deep and beautiful friendship.  It’s just fun to watch them and to be a part of their world.  I feel so privileged to know them and to be able to pray for the women they will become.  And even though they wore me out, they made me remember why I became a teacher in the first place.  I actually really like 13-year-olds a lot.

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Makeba.Greene/CaliforniaWithRainaAndKeise