Sunday, May 31, 2009

I Need A Vacation!

Airfare: $1500.00
Theme park tickets: $1200.00
Fed Ex shipping bill: $130.00
Meeting Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the Gang: Priceless!
WOW. 8 Days, 6 Theme parks and Huntington Beach. I need a vacation from our vacation! We got off to somewhat of a rough start. Trying to juggle 5 kids, 7 suitcases, 2 car seats and a portable crib through a security stricken airport can be tricky, to say the least. It wasn't until we were checking our luggage that I realized we were short one, suitcase that is. Surprisingly we did not lose any of our children on this trip which should consider this vacation a success in itself! Unfortunately, the luggage that was left at home contained all five kids clothing for the week. Yep! Shirts, shoes, socks, underwear....you name it, it was in there. Why couldn't it have been my suitcase? I would have gladly bought a few new outfits to get me through the week. But really....all five kids clothes! What luck. As I placed a handful of frantic calls to anyone willing to come to my aid, my friend Stacey would soon be on her way to the nearest Fed Ex with the forgotten articles of clothing and the remnants of my sanity. We received the package by noon the next day, as promised, and our vacation officially began.
We started the week off in San Diego visiting Sea World, San Diego's wild Animal Park and Legoland. Surprisingly, Legoland came in first as the kids favorite. For being Memorial Day, the lines were relatively short and all our kids, Gabrielle being the exception, met the height requirement for all the rides. The weather was perfect, the kids were happy and our vacation was finally at a redeeming point.
Next we were off to Disneyland. We had a 3 day park hopper pass to Disneyland so we decided to break it up a bit by visiting Universal studios in between. It was my first time there and it was really a fun place, for older kids and Adults. The rides were minimal and not meant for the younger age groups. Poor Isabella and Gabrielle spent most of the day confined to the stroller. On the other hand, I had a great time! Our two favorite rides were Jurassic Park and the Mummy. Jurassic park is comparable to an 80 ft. splash mountain while the Mummy is one of the best high speed roller coasters I have ever been on. I get a head ache just thinking about them!
So back we go to the Magical madness of Disneyland. We were lucky enough to meet up with our old, but not forgotten friends, Korie and Nathan Browning. It was so good to see them and the kids had a blast with each other. They were good sports to tag along while we covered the remainder of the park and went back for seconds on all the good rides. Thanks for meeting up with us guys!
It was a good trip, even with the occasional bumps in the road. There are three things I know for sure from our Vacation. One....count all your luggage before you leave home, Two....all zoo's are the same and Three....Disneyland is still the greatest place on earth.