Jenna's 3rd Birthday - May 13th

We (not so) affectionately call Jenna's birthday trip to Disneyland...The Year of Tears.

Decided to take advantage of the free b-day admission to celebrate her big day. Keep in mind, we've taken her 2 other times to Disney and she had a GREAT time. YaYa came out from Kansas and we were off. Up and at em early in the morning headed to the Magic Kingdom. Left Kyle at home so the day would be "all about" her birthday.

Got there and started the day in typical fashion. Lot of sights, sounds, smells and a delicious breakfast cookie. Good so far!

The obligatory entry-way photos. So far, so good...right?

First ride...Toy Story. Happy going in, bawling in the middle.

OK, so there was a misjudgement by Mommy that she'd like that ride because she likes the movie. Guess it was dark and I could see how that might be scary.

On to Nemo. Another favorite movie of hers. Stood in line FOREVER and finally boarded the submarine. Um yea...amidst her screaming, "Get me out of here," Mommy didn't snap any photos of that to post for illustration purposes. Good times for us AND everyone else on the sub.

On to Autopia. Jenna was going to get to drive a car. Wahoo. Not sure how we got separated but Ya and Jenna were on one side and Daddy and Mom on the other track. And wouldn't you know it, a car broke down on their track at the FURTHEST point out. They had to close the ride completely, then evacuate all the drivers and walk them back to the starting point. Ya had to endure 3 bouts of crying during that hike.

We could see them from afar from our track waiting to see what was wrong. But eventually we were forced to return to the starting point on our track...where we waited for 45 mins.

Can't you just feel the fun of the day we were having so far?

Could Its a Small World make her happy? Negative...this shot was just before the crying.

Jenna wanted to see Mickey. So off we headed to Toon Town.

She did great with Minnie because pics were outside. (But she cried inside Minnie's house because the cake baking in the pretend oven scared her.) Thumbs up with Pluto, too!

Jenna demanded to see Mickey...after all, that's why we were there.

So, into Mickey's house we went and midway through Jenna kept asking to leave. She then started to cry. We convinced her to stay so we could see Mickey. She was having none of it but we were pretty far in at that point. No real visible way to actually leave. We endured and got to see Mickey.

Oh, bad news. Photo op gone. Daddy endured. We let like 15 other families go ahead of us while we composed ourselves. Good thinking Dad.

Happy smiles with Ya and Mickey.

Jenna's not so happy but seriously, never has Mama looked more like Ya. Zoom in and look. Seriously, we look JUST ALIKE.

Crashed out and took a stroller nap in Toon Town. Note she was NOT crying while sleeping. Yea!

Some semi happy photos during non-crying rides, etc.

Mommy and Daddy self portrait...basking in our love (or a weird beam of light that glared into the photo.)

I am too a princess...see...I have a sign.

Daddy ...sportin the new hat. He's so cute.

Tucker family curse...the splotchy red crying face. Lord only knows what made her cry here but we've captured it for all eternity. :-)

Mommy concedes, perhaps we've selected poor rides. Its been a long day. Let's head over to the Winnie the Pooh ride. That HAS to be kid friendly and enjoyable.

Happy on the outside...terrified by Pooh inside. Guess I was wrong about that.

Last photo of the day. What a sass-monkey!

We headed out, passed right by the parade in progress on Main Street heading the million miles via tram to our car to drive on home. Can you see why we call it The Year of Tears?

Jenna was actually disappointed by her experience. (We were too.) We figured out why mid-day. At one point in the day she kept asking, "But where's my birthday?" We assured her it WAS her b-day and that we came to Disneyland to play with her the whole day. Finally she asked, "But where's my cake?" Ah ha. Now we get it. Her whole concept of birthdays is around a party and a cake. No wonder she was disappointed. But no worries.

Photos from her b-day party coming up next!