Balin's family was heading to Disneyland - all of the family including Uncle Chuck from Denver. We were invited to go. I hemmed and hawed and then decided - okay, we'll go for it. Balin was thinking that he'd be able to make it for a night and so I made reservations - for the wrong weekend. It turned out that everyone was going the weekend after I made reservations. So I called Costco Travel, changed the dates and found out that Balin wouldn't be able to make it. Bummer.
I decided not to tell the children where we were headed - which is no small feat for me - believe me! Ut turns out that Balin was heading to Seattle from San Diego that Friday so I suggested we meet in Phoenix and surprise the kids with an overnight with their dad! So we headed down Thursday to the Hyatt and the kids picked up pretty quick that we were headed to Phoenix. I told them though that we were meeting a very special friend there and they would enjoy seeing them. They didn't catch on until they saw Dad's truck in the driveway of the hotel as we were walking to the pool. They were so excited! We spent a wonderful evening together and the next morning we were able to enjoy just hanging out. By 11:00am we were all on our separate ways - the kids still oblivious to the upcoming treat.
We finally arrived in Annaheim after 7 hours and a couple of adventure additions. My droid quit working so I was having trouble making phone calls. Then a plastic piece under my car came off...I guess the car is a little low for the four-wheeling we did to get to a great swimming hole last May. Oops. It all turned out good and it made us all a little closer to God. :)
By the time we were driving on Disney Drive, I started asking the kids to look around and guess where they were. No clue. I had a bell on me and whenever they would get close I would ring it. It took a couple of minutes but finally Perrin got the tail on the Donkey! Disneyland! "Oh thank you mommy, I love Disneyland". Oh good. Sam on the other hand got really quiet and wasn't quite sure what to do with the whole experience. I understand Sam, I really do.
The other piece of the adventure was the meeting of Balin's family, which was still a secret from the kids. Once we got checked in we headed to a restaurant for dinner where the Strickler clan was eating and boy you should have seen the look of surprise when the kids saw all the family. It was like Christmas!
We headed out that night to catch some rides and then were back in the room by 10:00pm (early by Disney standards) as we had to get up and have a "Magical Morning". So by 6:30am the next day we were up and running to the park entrance so we could get on as many rides as possible before the lines formed. We made it through It's a Small World, Space Tours, the dark roller coaster that was REALLY scary, especially for 5 year old Perrin. We did the teacups and a plethera of other rides perfect for 4,5 & 7 year olds. By 10am we were hungry as we had skipped breakfast in favor of doing more rides. We stopped, regrouped, got some energy in the form of food and went to California Adventure to see what rides we could find. Surprisingly the rafting ride was wide open so we went on it 3 times with no rides - probably because it was overcast and 60 out - but it was okay cause we changed at our hotel room which was right across the way!
The day continued on and midway I had to take Perrin back to the hotel to rest a little bit - I was tired! The day kept going though and for the life of me it's just a big blur. Lots of rides - lots of fun is all I remember. By 8:00pm Bryn, Sam and Perrin were back in our hotel room playing and relaxing!
The next morning we met up with Michael and Susie as the other family members were already on their way home. We had a nice breakfast and then we got in the car and headed home. It was a fun weekend and I think everyone was indeed glad we went.
I do have to tell one story of the way home. We speeding through the Arizona desert heading towards Prescott when all of a sudden Perrin says, "I gotta poop - BAD!" So I screech off to the side of the road and find a bush she can go by - of course making sure there are no rattle snakes nearby. She does her duty, I find something to wipe her with (which goes into the car in a plastic baggy as I can't just litter...) and we all get back into the car. We're on the road and I smell something foul. "What is that? It smells like poop". Sam chimes in and says, "she got it on the window." The window? Seriously? "I actually got it on my shoe so I tried to get it off on the window." So now we have poop in a plastic baggy, on a shoe and on the window. Nice. I had to use Armorall cleaning sheets on Perrin's butt (I don't carry wipes anymore though I'm rethinking that), the shoe and the window. Great way to end the trip. Needless to say, we all went to bed at 6:30 that night.
I decided not to tell the children where we were headed - which is no small feat for me - believe me! Ut turns out that Balin was heading to Seattle from San Diego that Friday so I suggested we meet in Phoenix and surprise the kids with an overnight with their dad! So we headed down Thursday to the Hyatt and the kids picked up pretty quick that we were headed to Phoenix. I told them though that we were meeting a very special friend there and they would enjoy seeing them. They didn't catch on until they saw Dad's truck in the driveway of the hotel as we were walking to the pool. They were so excited! We spent a wonderful evening together and the next morning we were able to enjoy just hanging out. By 11:00am we were all on our separate ways - the kids still oblivious to the upcoming treat.
We finally arrived in Annaheim after 7 hours and a couple of adventure additions. My droid quit working so I was having trouble making phone calls. Then a plastic piece under my car came off...I guess the car is a little low for the four-wheeling we did to get to a great swimming hole last May. Oops. It all turned out good and it made us all a little closer to God. :)
By the time we were driving on Disney Drive, I started asking the kids to look around and guess where they were. No clue. I had a bell on me and whenever they would get close I would ring it. It took a couple of minutes but finally Perrin got the tail on the Donkey! Disneyland! "Oh thank you mommy, I love Disneyland". Oh good. Sam on the other hand got really quiet and wasn't quite sure what to do with the whole experience. I understand Sam, I really do.
The other piece of the adventure was the meeting of Balin's family, which was still a secret from the kids. Once we got checked in we headed to a restaurant for dinner where the Strickler clan was eating and boy you should have seen the look of surprise when the kids saw all the family. It was like Christmas!
We headed out that night to catch some rides and then were back in the room by 10:00pm (early by Disney standards) as we had to get up and have a "Magical Morning". So by 6:30am the next day we were up and running to the park entrance so we could get on as many rides as possible before the lines formed. We made it through It's a Small World, Space Tours, the dark roller coaster that was REALLY scary, especially for 5 year old Perrin. We did the teacups and a plethera of other rides perfect for 4,5 & 7 year olds. By 10am we were hungry as we had skipped breakfast in favor of doing more rides. We stopped, regrouped, got some energy in the form of food and went to California Adventure to see what rides we could find. Surprisingly the rafting ride was wide open so we went on it 3 times with no rides - probably because it was overcast and 60 out - but it was okay cause we changed at our hotel room which was right across the way!
The day continued on and midway I had to take Perrin back to the hotel to rest a little bit - I was tired! The day kept going though and for the life of me it's just a big blur. Lots of rides - lots of fun is all I remember. By 8:00pm Bryn, Sam and Perrin were back in our hotel room playing and relaxing!
The next morning we met up with Michael and Susie as the other family members were already on their way home. We had a nice breakfast and then we got in the car and headed home. It was a fun weekend and I think everyone was indeed glad we went.
I do have to tell one story of the way home. We speeding through the Arizona desert heading towards Prescott when all of a sudden Perrin says, "I gotta poop - BAD!" So I screech off to the side of the road and find a bush she can go by - of course making sure there are no rattle snakes nearby. She does her duty, I find something to wipe her with (which goes into the car in a plastic baggy as I can't just litter...) and we all get back into the car. We're on the road and I smell something foul. "What is that? It smells like poop". Sam chimes in and says, "she got it on the window." The window? Seriously? "I actually got it on my shoe so I tried to get it off on the window." So now we have poop in a plastic baggy, on a shoe and on the window. Nice. I had to use Armorall cleaning sheets on Perrin's butt (I don't carry wipes anymore though I'm rethinking that), the shoe and the window. Great way to end the trip. Needless to say, we all went to bed at 6:30 that night.
Charlie loves the teacups! :)
Comments