Fun Trip

Our family went on a little trip last week to southern Cal. My mom came along, which was wonderful for several reasons. Not only do we enjoy having her with us, but John and I kind of had a built in nanny...wink. I was almost getting my feelings hurt because the kids always wanted to be in her hotel room instead of ours. How could I complain? John and I were able to go out every night after we had gotten the kids ready for bed. I've never had so much mommy freedom. We spent the first few days in Anaheim, and we went to Disneyland for two days. The first day was beautiful, but the next day it was pouring down rain on and off. We were all pretty much damp the whole day, and the nerdy ponchos did not help. That didn't stop us though. When you pay that much for Disneyland, nothing stops you. We weren't the only crazy ones out there. John and I regretted the fact that we didn't buy 50 of those ponchos at the dollar store. We could have made a killing at Disneyland...supply and demand. I saw three or four families at the park that I knew from Vegas; it's a small world after all...ha ha ha, I'm so clever. Christian has become somewhat less of a weenie when it comes to the rides. He was a little more willing to try some of the new ones, and now, Thunder Mountain Railroad is his favorite ride. He hated it a couple years ago. Coy has moved into the top weenie position. He did not like any ride with a drop. That became the question of the day, "does this one have a drop?" Corinne wasn't quite tall enough to go on the faster rides, so we'll see how she deals next time. In my experience, girls are much more fearless when it comes to that sort of stuff. She was, however, terrified of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The screaming and crying got old, so she had John put his hands over her eyes the whole ride. She hated the part where you see Davy Jones in the mist, and it looks like you are going to run into him. I didn't think it would scare her that much. We all had so much fun, and the kids were sad to leave.

The kids had been bugging me so much a couple of years ago about Disneyland, and at the time, pink eye had made its rounds in our house. So, Mickey Mouse had come down with a bad case of pink eye, and that's why we had to stay away. I felt a little guilty every time Coy would randomly ask if Mickey still had pink eye. They were happy to hear that he had made a full recovery, and it was safe to enter Disneyland again. We took the kids to Newport to play at the beach, and they loved finding as many shells as they could.

My mom, then, drove the kids back to Vegas while John and I stayed in Newport for a a couple more days. We stayed at a nice non-kid-friendly hotel and had a good time acting like teenagers again. We went to Knott's Berry Farm one day, which was totally empty. I realized that I may be getting to old for some roller coasters; my head hurt after everyone I went on. We did a lot of beach walking around Hermosa and Redondo Beach, and we made a little visit back to the place where we got married in Redondo Beach. It was fun to spend all that time together alone.

John's grandpa is not doing very well. He's had dementia for a while, and now, he's in the hospital with pneumonia and a staff infection. He is on a feeding tube because anything he eats or drinks he chokes on, and some goes into his lungs. This is causing the pneumonia. John's grandparents live in Torrance, so we made a trip to the hospital to see grandpa. It was very sad seeing him like that, and he doesn't realize who we are, but he has lived a long, happy life. We were glad we got the opportunity to see him and say goodbye. After that we went to visit John's Grandma Irene and Aunt Linda at their house. It was wonderful seeing them. Then, it was time to head home. I was really starting to miss the kiddos, and even though I knew they were fine, I couldn't help but worry about them the whole time we were apart. Thanks, mom for having the courage to go it alone those couple of days. You all survived, and it allowed John and I some much needed couple time.