Vacations Over - Back to Reality

Our mini-vacay is over - and it was AWESOME!

Did I mention how much I love, love, LOVE Disneyland? Well - this time was no different.

I remember loving it as a child. But...now, with the Cuties in tow - I get to see it through their eyes - relive that excitement and awe all over again.

I love it.

Now, I do love coasters, roller coasters that is, so I'm always down for an adult only trip to a theme park - but, with the kids...I feel like a kid and nothing makes me more excited than to see the Cuties so excited.

Friday mornin we left the valley around 9:30am and arrived at the hotel - through a blizzard of rain around 3:30pm. We checked in and met down in the rainforest themed lobby around 5pm for appetizers and the free happy hour. Now I didn't partake in the true happy hour (remember last weekend??) but I did help myself to plenty of pretzel mix, popcorn, and shirley temples. Yummmmmmmm......We called it a night early in preparation for our day of fun.

Disneyland was super fun. It was a bit cold - then warm (somewhat) - then freeeeezing. Luckily, it never rained and the sun was out majority of the day. We scooted around the park in Duggar family fashion - think GIGANTIC group traveling together with multiple strollers. That. Was. Us. Griswold style for sure. The parent exchange program made the line waiting smooth and everyone got to ride rather quickly. We skipped the Nemo ride again - for the 3rd time - due to CRAZY lines. Maybe next trip.

I did get to borrow the Babcock's park hopper pass to make a quick run (literally) over to California Adventure to ride the Screamer. That was awesome - I really have to make sure to hit that park on the next trip. Never been there and boy did it look fun.

The four of us - and my parents - called it a night around 8:30pm...Lily was already long asleep and Brady fell asleep the second he sat down in the shuttle. Dinner consisted of a run through Jack-in-the-Box...room service too $$$.

The next morning we slept in...7:30am (we're geeks) and made it downstairs for our free breakfast. We left around 10:30am and headed out towards Santa Monica Pier...with a quick trip to Big O' Tires after the Babcock's were struck by a mild fender bender.

Santa Monica pier provided some entertainment - shivers from cold - dream of beach living and swimming - and of course, the craving for some summer San Diego fun.

The ride home was smooth and we sleepily pulled into the garage at 11:30pm. Tucked the kids in bed and then crashed ourselves.

Ahhh....nothing like vacations. But, nothing like coming home to a clean home after vacations. Can't leave home without it - you know?

And...today - we both had off...so it was filled with laundry, relaxing, and good ole family bonding. Simply AWESOME!