One Plus One Equals Six: Disneyland

We were blessed to be invited down to Disneyland with Jon's family. As Jon used to live in So. Cal., he has been many times. I, on the other hand, had never been (by my own choice, my parents offered several times when my brother and I were children). Off we went on our two day journey south. Our first day was incredibly hot. When we made it to Sacramento at 8 pm, it was still 90 degrees outside, so Jon and the kids hopped in the pool while I sat poolside gabbing with Momma Wendy and Steve-O's Mom, Ellen. We talked late into the night, and finally hit the hay at 12:30. We got up early the next morning and started in on the long leg of our journey. When we hit the grapevine it was 106 degrees out. To help pass the time we counted overheated cars on the side of the freeway. Our GPS showed major traffic through LA, so we bypassed it through Pasadena. I had to sing with great pride, "I smell Roses" as we passed through (confused? watch this you tube video, I love my Ducks!). We finally made it to the hotel, checked in, briefly felt like passing out on the bed, but went back downstairs to meet and greet Jon's family and gab over a pizza. We got a few Disneyland maps to make our plan of attack. I looked at the map and thought, Oh, that doesn't look so big...and then they turned the map over and there was California Adventure. At that point it started to hit me what I was in for. :) Monday morning we arrived at Disneyland at 8am, just as the park opened. We were to meet part of the party at Space Mountain and headed that direction. En route Jon saw that Star Tours only had a five minute wait and so we took a quick detour. Now the five minute wait was only because it takes you five minutes to wind around all the roped off areas and actually get to the ride. As you walk through like cattle wondering at which turn you will be branded, it hits you that later on, it will be you slowly winding your way around the same turns with much more than a five minute wait. But I'm off the point. We grabbed our 3D glasses, buckled up, and were there- my very first Disneyland ride! It was simply out of this world (ha ha, bad pun). You felt like you were in the the movie, it was thrilling and exceedingly fun. Next up was Space Mountain. Jon and others had told me about the different rides and this is what I heard, "Roller Coaster, Not a Roller Coaster, Roller Coaster, Not a Roller Coaster..." So all I knew is that we just got off Not a Roller Coaster and were now headed to a Roller Coaster. Let's just say, the kids all thought they were going to die. It is completely black with tiny lights (stars) so it is like you are traveling down a mountain...in space. Very well named Roller Coaster. We felt so bad for the kids. Jon and I loved it (excepting my stomach, lol). Later that night we hit Star Tours first again and Hudson was picked as the Rebel Spy! Darth Vader seized our ship using the Force but thankfully we were able to break free. Phew! About half way through the ride I thought, "I am going to be sick." Luckily I wasn't, but for over an hour I could barely walk and wanted nothing more than to go home. Jon took the kids on some rides and I watched the fireworks. I started to feel better and had a good time watching Jon take the kids around. Our favorite parts of the trip were seeing Aladdin the play, watching the fireworks, Turtle Talk with Crush (Natalie and Jon got to talk to him), watching the two parades, eating Ghiradelli's ice cream, and really anytime we got to sit. :) Everything is a feast for your eyes. And at night, with fireworks exploding, music playing, kids laughing, husband by your side, it really did feel magical. It was fantastic spending time with Jon's grandparents, too. We don't get to see them much, and we really enjoyed our time together. Our last day in So. Cal. we loaded up the horribly crumby car, and went to the BEACH! Jon took us to Newport Beach where we had complete bliss for one hour. Ate lunch on the warm sand, splashed in the ocean, walked barefoot...yes, yes, bliss.