Disneyland

This past Spring Break we took our family vacation on the west coast to Disneyland. We got the boys excited with a paper chain countdown and youtube videos so that they would get into it. The buildup is definitely part of the fun. Well, we drove the 19 hours through the night to Steve sisters house in Temecula. The boys were pretty good although they all woke up around 4 am and wouldn't go back to sleep. My brother and sister's ITouches came in handy though and we didn't mind as long as they were quiet. I don't know how families used to travel, but it really isn't so bad with all the technology that's available. A portable DVD player for them and one for us made the drive bearable although I was a little cramped in the back. We spent the weekend in Temecula swimming with cousins, driving around the beautiful vineyards, and enjoying the beautiful weather. We were also extremely spoiled by Steve's sister Kirsten and brother-in-law Ryan. Kirsten cooked us every meal and Ryan took my kids joy riding on four wheelers and scooters. They were really in heaven. My first bad mom moment came when I didn't put sunblock on Donny until lunchtime the first day we arrived. He was fried the rest of the trip. Poor kid.

We then spent the next three days at Disneyland. Bad mother moment number two came the first day at Disneyland when I lost Hewitt. We were with our cousins and split into two groups when walking from Tower of Tower to California Screaming which for those of you who know California Adventure is like a ten minute walk. Well, when my group met back up with Steve's we suddenly realized that no one had him. It was the worst possible moment. The park was crowded, it was middle of the afternoon, and I had no idea where he could be. After running very quickly back to Tower of Terror though, I was lucky enough to find that Hewitt had just sat down on a curb and continued to stare up at the ride. When I found him he just said, "you lost me right Mom." And then, "I love Tower of Terror." I praised him endlessly for not wandering. Thomas and Donny would have been long gone. Hewitt still talks about Tower of Terror.

So Disneyland really is magical. We got up early every morning to arrive just as the park opened. We would go on all of our favorite rides multiple times before lunch and then would take a nap in the afternoon at our hotel. We would go back for all the shows and other fast pass rides in the evening. There were a few disgruntled moments of miscommunication because it was hard to keep all of our cell phones charged, but we all had a wonderful time. It was nice to have my brother and sister there too who gave us extra sets of hands.

We are already planning our next California vacation!

Disneyland/California Adventure