Disneyland! Hooray for Disneyland!

We're back.  Did you miss us?  Did you even know we were gone?

We'll we were.

And....

Now we're back.

We went to Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth and had a great little vacation with my parental units, my brother, my sister and her family, and my aunt, uncle and cousin Parkie Warkie.

We left on Thursday and returned home on Tuesday.  My little family added a night in San Diego and a trip to Escondido to visit the San Diego Zoo Safari Park at the beginning of the trip.  Ross and I didn't fight once, though we had plenty of opportunity to do so.

To spare the travelog, here are some of the highlights....

*everywhere is crowded, all the time.
*standing in line with a lot of people is more fun than standing in line with a few people.
*my brother is a good uncle.
*whoever invented the fast pass was a genius.
*if the line is more than 20 minutes and you don't have a fast pass, the ride probably isn't worth it.
*though it is SO HARD to get a family of 5 up, dressed, fed, and standing at the shuttle stop at 7:40 in the morning, three mornings in a row (one morning up at out at 6:40), it is so worth it to ride the rides and feel like the park is empty and having disneyland all to yourself.

*the ocean is fantastic.
*humidity makes the heart grow fonder for the desert.
*my mom learned the definition of "prairie doggin'"
*sunscreen is imperative for 7 month old babies.  But, the sunburn that 7 month old babies get on their fat little faces because their mom forgot the sunscreen is really cute.

*disneyland is now the land of the jazzy scooter.  be they old, young, morbidly obese, casted, unhealthy, having MS, or any other cause, the jazzy rules the park.  Watch out, because your toes are not safe.

*tired feet

*captain eo is so totally awesome.

*entire families who all go through the exit to get on the ride with grandma in her jazzy really suck.  I promise that grandma doesn't want to ride space mountain.  Wait in line like the rest of us.  And you, girl who was carrying your crutches until you got in sight of a ride worker and then started fake hobbiling on them....shame on you!

*disney has the most beautiful flower beds.  I'm completely envious.
*my mom is a wonderful mother to treat us all to such a vacation.

*watching my 7 year old try and grab the 3D images in the muppet movie is pretty funny
*my children are brave and rode just about everything their dad drug them on: space mountain, indiana jones, splash mountain.  Wyatt insisted that he wanted to try California Screamin' - the roller coaster - but alas he was not tall enough.  Good thing.  I didn't want him to do it.

*The baby center in each park is the best kept secret in disneyland with the kindest employees in the parks.

*cars land is pretty cute.  Just like the movie.  The cars land rides?  Over-rated.
*churros.  churros.  churros.

* my boys were super well behaved with minimal meltdowns on the entire vacation.  I was so proud of them.  They had so much fun.

*sharing a queen sized bed with my husband is....well...cozy?

*no matter how tired, small children are re-energized when it gets dark at disneyland.  And when you feed them lots of churros.

*Ross brought his glasses so he could see at night.  His glasses broke the first night of our trip (Conspiracy?) so I had all night time baby duty, something that I don't normally do and regularly struggle with.  We survived.

*We ate everywhere Ross wanted to eat the entire trip and I didn't complain once.  That was my souvenir for him.

*the long beach airport RULES!

Honestly though, it was a great trip.  I had such a good time.  I got to talk to my mom and my dad and my sister and my brother at length, something that just never happens as much as I'd like it to anymore. I got to watch my children experience pure joy.  That is priceless.  I got to stand in line for rides with my husband and lean my head on his shoulder because lets face it, sometimes my head is too heavy.

There are people who mock disneyland as being a pansy amusement park, too expensive, not really a lot of fun.  I spit in their general direction.  The disney tradition is alive and well in my family.  It's about having fun and spending time together just as much (or even more so) as it is about riding rides.  It makes my heart happy.

I had such a great time.