California Dreamin'

Last week our little family enjoyed a vacation to California. It was 5 days of….well… everything from wonderful to horrifying. But, when you travel with children, "vacation" often doesn’t actually mean retreat or escape, it’s more like you just change work locations for a few days!

Anyhow, so many things happened on our trip that I’ve had a hard time deciding how to approach this blog. I’m a huge proponent of focusing on the funny, so I should probably leave out the fact that all the children – and possibly the Grammy – contracted a communicable disease while in the happiest place on earth. Maybe I shouldn’t mention the plane delays, J-Bear’s brief experimental stint of anorexia, the raging fevers that we shared with all the princesses at Ariel’s Grotto, the temper tantrum at It’s a Small World, Cadie Lu’s “touch of pneumonia”, J-Bear’s extreme aversion to sand at the beach, finding a safe bathroom in “Who Knows Where” California, calling my personal pharmacist for a lengthy drug discussion at late hours, or Grampy missing the whales.

Nope, let’s focus on the positive here. Because, there were MANY wonderful things about our trip. So, in no particular order, I offer you the following list:

• Palm Trees, 70 degree sunshine, sunscreen, buying shorts at Target, pink noses
• Huntington Beach, surfers, splashing in the frigid waves, sand castles, seashells
• Soarin’, Screamin’, Toy Story Mania, Ariel’s Grotto, Ferris Wheel
• Autopia (Ms. Els can drive!), Parades, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Peter Pan, “I wasn’t scared!”
• Ice-cream eaten in a side alley, making my family jealous with repeated picture-texts
• Steve’s first time on Indiana Jones and The Matterhorn, wearing flip-flops, being a kid
• Catching up with Cindee, L.A., Hollywood, Mel’s Diner, “a.b.c.” gum in J-Bear’s new toy
• $7 cheeseburgers, $3 bottled waters, $3 ice-cream cones, CHURROS!!
• J-Bear deciding to eat again, pbj picnics on Paradise Pier, 3D glasses, Grammy’s scooter
• Videos on the iPod, snack service on the flights, reading by the night light, snuggles
• Swimming pool, vending machines, games of who-has-the-park-ticket, stamped hands
• Sea lion show, touching the corral, giant crabs, shark eggs, killer whales, Queen Mary
• Time together. With no interruptions!

Overall, this trip was an adventure. It was a wonderful time for our family to spend together. I still remember the trips I went on as a child, and even as an adult, with my grandparents and I’m so happy that my children are making those same kinds of memories with theirs!

So, thanks Lowell and Susie – and Aunt Cindee too. We appreciate your patience, your laughs, your willingness to walk as slow as a snail, early to bed and early to rise, illegal rides on the scooter, making pbj’s in the dark, and all the other things you did that made this trip great for our family.

But most of all we appreciate the days you took out of your lives to spend with us. We love you!

PS - Next time we go to Disneyland, we’re taking masks and latex gloves!