Disneyland October 2010

We spent Monday and Tuesday at Disneyland. I thought I was being sneaky by taking the kids to Disneyland while school was in session. I guess my expectations of finding it a ghost town were a little foolish. Monday was too crowded for my taste...I couldn't figure out what all those people were doing there on a school day? If I have to wait in line more than about 15 minutes, I get pretty annoyed. I guess a lot of folks visiting last week decided to stay one more day.

At the last minute, my sister, Jennifer, decided to join us and we were so excited to have her come to Disneyland. She flew in on Monday morning and found us just before noon. At the end of the first day, we were so exhausted. When I got back to the hotel, my feet hurt so bad, I didn't know how I would walk around the next day.

Tuesday was a very wet day. It really never stopped raining. We had to wear our ponchos the whole day. Newsflash: brightly colored plastic ponchos are not flattering, period. We didn't care, we still had fun even though our hair was wet and frizzy and the rest of us slightly soggy. The rain did help in keeping the lines a little shorter. We got to ride a lot more rides on Tuesday. By late afternoon, we were pretty tired, cold and hungry. We had one of the best meals I have ever eaten at the happiest place on earth, soup and salad in sourdough bread bowls. It was delicious, and it wasn't just because it was the only meal I ate that day.

One of my favorite moments was taking my mom on the "Tower of Terror" ride, it is a little bit on the scary side. It's great, an elevator free falls out of control for several floors. As we got towards the front of the line, she started getting very anxious. She said she didn't think going on the ride was a very good idea. I tried to prepare her the best I could, telling her when we were going to drop etc. I always laugh so hard on that ride. I love it. My mom wasn't sure how she felt about the ride when it was over, so it was so cute Tuesday afternoon when she said, "We need to go on that elevator ride one more time."

Unfortunately, after a full day of Disneyland bliss, we still had the drive back to Vegas. I don't know what I was thinking but driving all the way back home from California, late in the evening, sounded like a good plan when I first formulated it. It wasn't feeling like a good idea by the time we got everything packed and loaded (why do we always bring so much crap with us everywhere we go?)

It was raining when we left and continued pretty heavy for several hours. Megan and Aaron passed out in the back seat. Ariel was determined to stay awake to make sure that I stayed awake and that we were safe. In the middle of the night, about an hour and a half from Vegas, I couldn't drive anymore. We pulled over at a rest stop and I slept about a half hour. Ariel stayed awake keeping watch, she was sure if she slept, we would be attacked by a traveling serial killer. The drive home that night was the most difficult one I have done, but by some miracle, we made it home safely around one. We slept for a few hours then Ariel and I were up and driving again. I had to have her back to Cedar in time for a 10 a.m. class. I dropped her off and turned around and drove back home.

We had a great trip. It was even better to share our vacation with some Freebairn's, they are a lot of fun to be around. We were sad that Todd wasn't with us. We wish he would give Disneyland one more chance...but he says, "No thank you." I learned a very important lesson from this whirlwind trip...I am getting old.