Magic Kingdom

Berry is still talking about Disneyland, as you can imagine... although she has kept a careful and reproachful list of "scariest parts" that we accidentally exposed her to. Who knew that rides billed for toddlers would have such dark and startling bits? Oh boy...

"Why did you take me on that Pinocchio ride!" she asked, clutching a tragic tissue and clinging to Nathan's neck. "Why did you think to yourself, 'I know! I know! Berry would like to be so scared and to be in the dark! That's a good idea!'"

We could think of nothing to say for ourselves.

A postcard she dictated to her Grandma and Granddad in Australia:

"Dear Grandma and Granddad. I love you. I like to play with you. I saw Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger and Eeyore and I love to see them but it's weird Daisy Duck is not here. I went on rides. My scariest part was the Pinocchio train and my favourite part was Minnie Mouse. I like to be at your house. My other scariest part was the Princesses Castle. A scary pig came out. My other scariest part was the Nemo submarine. I got a new CD and my other scariest part was the Winnie-the-Pooh train. xo"

Terrifying Berry was not the birthday gift we'd had in mind. Fortunately the tally of scariest parts reached (only?) five in three days, and there were many, many thrilling encounters with fairies and Minnie Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh to make up for that.

We waited in line way too long to see Tinkerbell, but the look on Berry's face told us it was completely worth it. She's still talking about seeing Tinkerbell flying up to light the castle during the fireworks on the final night.

And oh, Berry just about keeled over when two Disney princesses brought her a birthday cake – she was wide-eyed and mute, gripping her Minnie Mouse toy. Afterwards she said, "When I seed Cinderella, I almost shaked my ears! And I almost shaked my eyes!"

Man-show, on the other hand, was largely unmoved by the whole Disney spectacle.

He was most content hanging out in his stroller, sitting with Grandpa and Tine. His biggest excitement was going to the pool each afternoon.

He was also enthusiastic about chasing birds and trying to offer them bits of foliage from the Toon Town gardens.

The birds were most ungrateful.

We all agreed: the Mad Hatter's teacups were awesome.

A couple of days ago, I wondered if Berry's terror tally might have softened a bit with the passing of time – so I asked her, What do you think about the Pinocchio ride?

She shot her palm out in warning.

"No no no!" she said. "I don't want to talk about that. That's too scary."

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