Last week Waits turned SEVEN, which meant that it was once again time for our annual, full-family pilgrimage to the Mouse House, for an exciting, exhausting, fun-filled adventure at the Happiest Place On Earth™.

We came. We saw. We held onto our hats for the wildest ride in the wilderness!

This year, for the first time, we had another kiddo with us. Waits brought his best friend Weston (“the two double yoos”, they say), and wow it was so super awesome! They got along great and kept each other company and the whole day was so amazingly and unexpectedly smooth and easy and huzzah! A success!

Alas, our favorite ride (Pirates of the Caribbean) was closed for repairs, and The Matterhorn was closed as well. But otherwise we hit all the important stuff — Star Tours and Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise (cringe) and even that little roller coaster in Toon Town.

It also rained (briefly), and that was a first. Not that it put a damper on our fun. If anything, the weather kept the lines short!

And we’ve definitely got the “being-vegan-at-Disneyland” thing down, with the perfect mix of not-too-heavy staples that we bring in our back packs, and knowing all the delicious vegan eats around the park. We did most of our eating on park-bought food this year, and it was great! I think after next year’s 5th trip, I’ll finally be ready to write my *comprehensive* Vegan Guide To Disneyland post.

Disneyland is a place that’s made for escapism, but this trip always feels like the opposite of that, for our family. Our little, but not-so-little, family, which looks so very different from the other families there at the park. This trip is about connection, and celebration of us. And mostly, of that one little person who keeps us four adults bound to one another with unbreakable love-glue. It’s a celebration of Waits, and a recommitting of the pledge we made to him: To always be a family. To give him stability and support and a strong foundation, in spite of our strange circumstances.

So as always, as I write this post, I am feeling full to my top with gratitude. For my open-minded and open-hearted co-parents. For Damian and for Danielle and for Jeremy. Waits sure is a lucky kid, to have so many people who love him so very much.

So *cheers*, Disney. Until next year!

♥

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Tags: travel, vegan children

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