We had a couple of weeks doing school after the holidays, with me trying to get my head back into real life. And then we took off for another vacation, haha! We went to California for a week. Daniel proposed to me a while ago that we take our kids to Disneyland, which honestly shocked me, because he has never shown interest in taking our kids to Disneyland. He always says he'd rather spend the money going somewhere cooler. And I take his point. It's an expensive vacation. I was happy to skip Disneyland in favor of going to more exotic places. So, when he said we should go, I was like, "Umm... okay. Sure!"
We coupled Disneyland with a stay at a Marriot resort on the beach in Newport Beach. We had to go to a time share presentation to get a good deal for it. They were very persuasive, made it sound like such a good deal, but we said no in the end. For those 3 days in the resort, we had a nice relaxing vacation. We went to the beach every day to play in the sand and waves. We went to the pool and hot tub. We went to church at a local ward and visited the Newport Beach Temple grounds. We did some craft and activities that were offered at the resort, and cooked in our hotel room. It was such a nice few days. Normally, when Daniel and I take vacations, we are go-go-go, going quickly from activity to activity or place to place. We don't stop to sit and relax much because we want to SEE wherever we are visiting. But for this resort in California, I felt like we could actually just relax and rest. I think I needed that after a busy holiday season. It was lovely.
In between the resort and Disneyland, we went to the LA Zoo with Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob. It was so sweet of them to meet us there so that we could see them and also do something the kids wanted to do. We walked around the zoo all afternoon with them, visiting and seeing the animals together, and it was a really nice day. They are so wonderful, and I'm glad that they are my relatives. I sent them a thank you note the next week, just expressing how fun it was to see them and how wonderful they are and how we love them. I aspire to be more like them someday.
We drove to our airbnb near Disneyland that night, after stopping for some mediocre fried chicken and fries for dinner. The place we were staying was fine, nothing special, nothing too comfortable, either. But we really weren't spending that much time there, so it didn't matter much.
The next 3 days at Disneyland and California Adventure were absolutely magical. I'm such a weirdo, because I got all teary as we were first walking into Disneyland that first day... or maybe every morning walking in, I cried (and tried to hide it, because that's embarrassing, haha). The employees at Disneyland all stand out in Main Street and smile and say, "Have a fun day!" and they're just sweet and kind, and there's the magical Disney instrumental music playing, and it's so fun and exciting to be there. Disney really does theme parks well, and I realized this trip how much I love Disneyland! I didn't think I was necessarily a "Disneyland person." I mean, I enjoyed going, back in the days when we went more. But I also thought I was fine leaving and not going. However, this trip ... made me realize that I am not chill about Disneyland. I LOVE IT. The atmosphere, the music, the efficiency, the rides. It's the best.
We went straight to Space Mountain the first morning we were there. The line was so short, we went a couple of times. Sawyer wasn't thrilled with that one, but the other kids loved it and wanted to keep riding it. That day turned out to be such a good day for Disneyland. The lines were not too long, the weather was cool and overcast, and we were able to see almost all of the park just on that first day. It was perfect. We went on all the good rides at least once. We ate some of the food (churros, tigger tail, etc), and walked a ton. We tried to work the day efficiently, taking one section of the park at a time, based on the ride line times. The kids loved it! Most kids loved most rides, although Sawyer was the most sensitive to how fast and crazy a ride was.
The next day we did California Adventure, which honestly, isn't as good as Disneyland, in my opinion. It doesn't have as many Disney themed things. It's more Pixar or Marvel themed things, which is fine, but it wasn't as interesting to my kids, because they haven't seen as many of those movies. It also doesn't have as many things to do; it's smaller. We hit Cars Land ride first, which everyone loved and wanted to do again; but the line for the rest of the day was crazy long. So we only did it once. This day wasn't as good overall as our first day. It started raining sometime in the afternoon, and rained off and on for a good portion of the day, and because of this, there were certain rides that were closed down. And more and more closed down, the longer the day went. Also, a bunch of the cool, big rides were closed anyway, like the roller coaster. But we did the Guardians of the Galaxy ride multiple times, which turned out to be Jack's overall favorite ride. He loved it! At one point, he and Daniel went back to ride it again while the rest of us went to some shows instead (a 3D cartoon show, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live show). One fun thing we did that day was we went to a drawing class, where we were taught step by step how to draw a picture of Sully, from Monsters Inc. The kids loved that. We got a little food there, but mostly just ate food that we brought in. We did buy a sourdough loaf and ate almost the whole thing that evening for dinner. Because so much was closed down, we left earlier this day, around 7, and went back to the airbnb for a little more sleep.
One of my very favorite parts of today was when we were in line for the ferris wheel. We were in line next to this cute little Jewish family, and there was a girl that was maybe 9 or 10. She and her mom were playing with a little ball that they'd gotten as a souvenir, and before I knew it, they were including my girls in their play. They tossed the ball back and forth to each other while we waited in this line, for probably half an hour at least. They were such a sweet family, so kind, and it was so nice of them to include us in their play.
Our last day at Disneyland wasn't as smooth as the first. It was a Friday, which meant it was more busy than on Wednesday. Also, the weather was better (meaning more sunny and warm), which brought more people in as well. And also, there were a few things that happened, glitches with the app being one of them, which meant that the day was not as well-ordered. We were kind of running all over the park that day, catching our favorite rides and the ones we didn't get to on Wednesday. It was still fun, but there were some frustrating moments. We spent some time that evening helping Camille find a souvenir, right before leaving the park. She didn't find quite what she wanted, so she settled on a Winnie the Pooh necklace. Brooke's souvenir was a Ratatouille themed sweatshirt that she now wears almost every day. Jack got some Cars things, like a Piston Cup ornament and a driver's license from Autopia. And Sawyer decided he wanted a Mickey Mouse bubble wand, which Daniel and I were very skeptical about, but which he ended up LOVING and still plays with it most days, even now that we're home.
When we left Disneyland that night, I was quite sad. I knew we wouldn't be back for a long time, and I loved the time we got to spend together there. We had so much fun and bonded as a family while we were on vacation. And Disneyland was relaxing in a way, too. I mean, we were all over the place, walking a ton, standing in line, going on rides, etc. But I didn't have to worry about practical things so much, I could ignore real life, and we didn't have to be anywhere at any certain time. It was such a nice break.
I decided that we need more vacations with just our family. The last many vacations that we've had have been with other people, which we LOVE; we did Yellowstone with Daniel's parents, St George with friends and family, National Parks with Mom and Dad or Brian's and David's families, Alaska with Cody's family, Hawaii partially with Mom and Dad. We do a lot of our vacationing with other people. And I'm glad of it! We really do love doing that. But there was something special about having a vacation with just us. I didn't have to share my kids with anyone, haha, which I sometimes struggle to do. (Side story: we made plans with Daniel's dad to watch the 6 episode version of Pride and Prejudice the day after Christmas. The girls and I were invited, and the boys would've had to tag along, too. But I was starting to feel sick the day after Christmas, so Daniel's dad offered to just come get the girls and take them back to watch it at his house. They watched the whole thing without me! And that's something I wanted to share with them. I'm still obviously smarting from that. I know I have to share my kids with people. But sometimes it sucks and is painful. I want to do all the things with them first. It's 2 sides of me warring against each other all the time: the side that's selfish and wants my kids all to myself, and the side that wants them to have a good relationship with their family members. It's been difficult to balance the 2 sides.)
We drove home all day the next day, listening to Harry Potter, watching a movie, stopping for snacks and potty breaks. It was a pretty good drive. I was sad that our nice vacation was over.
