Haunted Canyon.

Lilly trying to convince Dad she needs to "go potty."

Now empowered, she screamed at any scary creature that came near.

The scariest part of this picture? What is that person doing to that poor baby?

Last year, because of my impromptu decision to gather up my Mom and kidlets and spend a week at Disneyland, I lost out on the tickets I'd already purchased for the Heber Valley Railroad--Haunted Canyon. We had done it 4 years ago and Max loved it! Lilly is close to the age Max was when he first went so we thought she would love it. It didn't occur to me that she might be terrified. We got on the train and she immediately started crying and saying, loudly, that she need to go potty. I know that as her way of getting out of situations she finds herself in. Like at Disneyland, when she didn't want to go on a ride she would proclaim that she had to go potty and then one of us would get out of line and she would miss out on the ride. This time, there was no getting off the train. Alan was convinced she needed to go potty but I gambled that this was just her trying to get off the scary train. I pulled her onto my lap and kept talking to her until she calmed down and started believing me. Turns out she thought the train was going to go up the mountain and then free fall, like the "slides" at the "Pirates of the Carob the end" ride. Once I convinced her that this train was just going to go straight and slowly, she calmed down. She ended up loving the ride but during the ride was skeptical and a little worried. Just how you should be on a ride like this. When the scary "ghosts" came on the train we told her she could scream at them and they would leave us alone. Sure enough, when that high pitched scream of hers sounded, they would turn away. I wish I could paint an adequate picture of the way she utilized this scream. It was like a light switch, she would turn it on when they got close and turn it off when they went on their scary way. That scream of hers was high and right on pitch. I think Mariah Carey has some competition! Max, on the other hand, kept his cool and looked non-plussed through most of it. I caught him looking a bit worried a couple of times but never really scared. The "scary" was perfect for both of them. Then we headed to Pizzaria 712 for a late dinner of gnocchi, endive and beet salad, and a terrible tasting roasted cauliflower pizza. Don't get that one if you head there for eats. Not good. It was a fantastic night.