The girls just rushed the kitchen, both wearing embroidered, sparkly, Mickey-eared princess hats.

“Perfect! Let’s pack those!” I said to Ray, anticipating at least a $75 savings. We’ve never gone to Disneyland at such a busy time – spring break for many Arizona schools, hopefully not all the Southern California ones — but maybe the crowds won’t be so huge because people are staying home.

I figure we better go one more time, before the journalism industry crumbles completely. Plus, we’ve gone every year for the past five years. Sophie was way too young the first time — I have a rule about not taking kids to Disneyland before they’re 3. I broke that rule the second time; she was just over 2 and a half when we took her. Here’s a version of a piece I wrote about that. We’re in a hurry and I can’t find the original, so here’s the shortened (which is probably just as well) version that appeared on Austin Mama: http://www.austinmama.com/badmomfive.htm