Toy Story Animania

Jack, Tommy and Anna love this ride at California Adventure Park. The Disney people designed it like one of those shooting galleries they have at state and local fairs, but this one is nice, because the only "carny" is the movie's character Mr. Potato Head. As you wait in line, riders get a chance to hear his attempt to be annoying, but it's all in fun, but the best part is that he doesn't smell badly, have missing teeth, or scary eyes. He's just Mr. Potato Head.

This trip was a magical one that we took immediately before Thanksgiving. We picked Jack up at school one Wednesday, and took off. He knew nothing, other than I told him we were going to the Air Museum at Hill Air Force Base. Jack was excited about that.

But by the time we hit Blackfoot, Ann and I couldn't keep the secret, so we told him where we were going, but we took a while to give him the answer.

"If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" Ann turned around in her seat and looked at Jack after getting his attention away from the movie he watched on a screen hooked to our movie I-Pod.

"Minnesota," he answered. He wanted to go see Tommy and Anna. We told him we were going to Disneyland, and he was excited, but he would have been just as delighted to drive to Minnesota. He likes being there with his mom, his cousins, his grandma and Pop Pop and aunts and uncles. That's Jack's idea of a good time.

The ride has a small gun for each rider. You pull a string to unleash animated darts, hoops, and paint balls. It's a ride that everyone in our family loves, which explains why Jack's eyes sparkle like they do in the first picture.

The two trips we did at Disneyland in the fall, one in early September and one just before Thanksgiving were incredible.

The second one was especially fun, but for the first time I ever remember, I was glad to start home in November after spending shorter time there--three days at Disneyland and one day at Legoland.