Lessons Learned From Labor Day

We enjoyed an eventful day yesterday that included a trip to Ralphs in the morning, some grilling at lunch time, and an afternoon and evening at Disneyland. Some take away points from the day:

• Never send me to pick out a watermelon unless you're ready for me to bring back the biggest watermelon I can find. Jared and I simply couldn't content ourselves with the 11 lb. watermelon we picked out when we saw that the 24 pounder we eventually brought home was up for sale.
• Root Beer floats don't require premium vanilla ice cream to taste good, but apparently this doesn't mean that the cheapest ice cream you can find will do either. My advice: try the next cheapest ice cream you can find -- and try not to mix diet rootbeer with lowfat ice cream, unless you've already decided you don't want your rootbeer float to have any taste. (And if you ever find anyone using Hagen Daz ice cream or something similar for a rootbeer float -- make sure you laugh them to scorn. What a terrible waste of premium ice cream!)
• No matter how much food you bring to Disneyland, or how full you are when you arrive, the smell of the churros and popcorn are hopelessly alluring. On hot days like yesterday, the frozen lemonade and ice cream sandwiches are equally appealing. Your only chance for survival is to make sure your wallet is empty when enter the park.
• Their parades are delightful, even if (and perhaps partly because of) the people writing and singing the theme song seem to be the same who are in charge of writing and singing all of the cheesy EFY songs I despise. (We caught three parades yesterday. The 3:15 p.m. parade at Disneyland. The 5:15 p.m. Block Party at California Adventure, and then the 7 p.m. parade back at Disneyland).
• While we felt for those wearing the Beast and Sully costumes yesterday in the heat, they sure knew how to dance!
• Michelle swears the person playing the Queen of Hearts was a man. "Either that or that woman has the manliest hands I've ever seen." Nice honey. Nice.
• Disney's "Star Tours" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!" are terribly outdated. I felt embarrassed for the park sitting through both attractions. How many even remember there was a "Honey, I Shrunk the ...!" line of movies in the early 90s?
• There's no way to come home from Disneyland and not be worn out. But even tasteless rootbeer floats make that easier to deal with.

*Oh, and Michelle swears she saw Michael Rosenbaum...twice. He's none other than Lex Luthor on Smallville.