Good to be Home

Home again, and happy to be here!

That was one WILD adventure. Surprisingly, the drive out wasn't so bad. We left at 4:30am from my mother's house with the idea that the kids would sleep for the first four hours of the trip, and make the remainder of the day more bearable. Didn't happen. They were wide awake the moment we put them in the car, and didn't fall asleep for two hours. And even then they only slept about 45 minutes.

The boys watched movies and colored for most of the trip, the baby played with her own feet, even though we gave her plenty of toys.

Our first stop in Holbrook, Arizona was good. We met up with dear hubby's older brother and his family at the hotel to swim and have dinner (pizza and Taco Bell). I had a headache and needed to rest, but we all had a good time anyway.

We got on the road, but not soon enough, and spent the hottest part of the day driving through the desert in 115 degree heat. But the car did fine, and we arrived at our destination in Yorba Linda, CA with minimal trouble (a couple of wrong turns, but nothing major). We were excited to see the in-laws and all went to dinner, where I had my favorite dessert of all time, and even the baby loved it. She flirted endlessly with the boyfriend of one of the in-laws dear friends, and kept everyone cracking up.

The next couple of days were pretty relaxing for us; hanging by the pool, rehearsal dinner, a morning trip to the beach where I forgot it is possible to sunburn even on a cloudy day and my scalp was scalded where I part my hair.

And then it was time for the wedding. Getting three children and myself ready is no picnic, but we got the job done. My husband looked so handsome in his tux, and everyone there looked great. The Rose Garden was beautiful, the ceremony was perfect, and the Cinderella Coach whisked the bride and groom away to the reception (or just a few feet away so the family could take pictures while other guests enjoyed pre-reception food and drinks). Then on to the reception, where everyone danced into the wee hours of the night, or where my hubby and I nearly fell asleep at the table from exhaustion and begged to leave a little early after giving our love to the gorgeous bride and grudgingly-admitted handsome groom. (Just kidding! Love you, James!)

On to Disneyland the next morning. Oh, boy. Picked up the kids from my mom's hotel room VERY early in the morning, and we did the Disney thing ALL DAY! Rode lots of rides, found out the boys are roller coaster monsters (along with my brother), my sister-in-law wanted to do everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, my mom is a bit of a dare-devil herself, and rode things I never thought to see her on.

Dear Hubby and I just tried to keep up with everyone. We celebrated the boys birthday, short and sweet, and on to more rides we went. Had to carry two sleeping children and stroll the baby from the park that night, and started all over again the next morning at California Adventure park. Not nearly as crowded, and tons of fun. God bless my mother-in-law who took the baby for the day (Thank you, Carla!) because I don't think she would have made it.

We rode everything we could get to, loved the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride, my brother loved California Screamin, and my mom of all people loved the MaliBoomer. This is a ride that shoots you straight up in the air and drops you back down in a free fall before you catch again. She rode it three times. Unbelievable. S-I-L loved it all, of course, and after going back over to the Disneyland park for the light show, we still had to carry exhausted, sleeping children from the park.

And even though we planned to leave the next morning, we stayed an extra day to rest up (which we didn't even come close to getting enough rest) and then headed home.

All-in-all, a great trip. More later.