T Minus 2 Days

Okay I have absolutely no excuse for my lack of posting the past month. When I'm on vacation I tend to completely ignore my computer while my e-mails build up to the 3 digit range. I had planned on adding a post while we were in Disneyland to spread our fantasy cheer. But after spending 12 plus hours walking around, standing in line and riding the Flight of Peter Pan like 6 times, the last thing on my mind as I collapsed on the hotel bed was typing on the computer. Heck, I couldn't even speak a coherent sentence much less type one. Sit tight folks, because I plan to cram 3 weeks worth of activities into one looooong post - and we've been pretty darn active.

First of all, I never thought I'd be more homesick than I am right now. After 3 weeks of living out of a suitcase, sharing a room with Adam and Hannah and traveling from one place to the next, all I want to do is collapse into my own bed and use my own bathroom. Our giddy enthusiasm of taking a vacation has dwindled down to, "okay I'm having fun, but I really want to go home."

Let's start from the beginning shall we. On Saturday, December, 12th, Adam and I were up before the sun, packed our two sleeping, unaware kids in the car and began the two day drive to southern California. At around... oh, I don't know, midnight, 7 very tired, borderline cranky people checked into the California Paradise Pier Hotel for 3 very full days of Disneyland magic. The first and third days there were spent maneuvering our large stroller around other large strollers so Hannah could ride every little kid ride and get her picture taken with every character we ran across. Hannah and I spent a considerable amount of time waiting in line to get a 30 second glimpse of Tinkerbell (which is fast rising up the ranks to bypass the likes of Belle and Ariel) and other Disney princesses. By the way, whatever happened to the characters just walking around whereupon they get hoarded and mobbed by people who just have to get their pictures taken with them? Nowadays you have to find their secret hiding spot and stand in line for 30 min. I guess, given the alternative it's a pretty efficient process. And it did put a smile on Hannah's face which, after all, was the whole purpose to this gleeful trip.

After two days I got my fill of Fantasyland, the Christmas Parade (which I saw twice) and hamburgers that cost like $15. All in all I'd have to say that Disneyland is by far one of my favorite places on earth to spend, probably because I turn into a little kid and still believe that Sleeping Beauty really lives in the castle that has a zillion white lights on it. I will admit that I do get a little bit giddy when I see Mickey Mouse or Pluto strolling through their hometown.

The second day, we spent at the California Adventure park, which I'd never been to before. Those of you who've never been there, it is pretty cool (although in my opinion it doesn't hold a candle to the magic kingdom). Although there are a lot more characters walking around than at disneyland. We spent a majority of time at the park that pays special tribute to A Bugs Life. Hannah and grandma rode every little kiddy ride till I had my fill of kiddy rides and needed to do something daring to feel adult again. That's when I was talked into riding the Hollywood Tower of Terror. I don't know why I did this ride. I spent the whole thing with my eyes closed and my head burried behind adam's shoulder. Ten years ago I would have done this ride over and over until my knees felt like jelly. Somewhere along the line, I lost my nerve for free-falling at sixty miles an hour and walking out feeling like my small intestine is lodged up in my throat. Since the ride didn't malfunction and plummet me to my fiery death, I suppose no harm was done.

So after 3 long, tiring days and bags full of suveniers, we headed to the bay area to spend Christmas with Adam's family. We were there for 5 whole days before getting back in the car and heading to my brother-in-law's to spend christmas with his family.

Well, Christmas is over now and life is pretty quiet at the in-laws' house. However we are about 500 pounds heavier with all the presents the kids got. Still haven't figured out how we're going to cram all that stuff in the car, in addition to my nephew's things since he's going to be moving in with us (this has been in the works for quite a while and I won't go into an extremely long post describing the circumstances surrounding that one). But Adam and I are very happy to have him and hope this move is what he needs to get his butt in gear.

So, that brings us up to date with all the activity this past month. Oh, and another little event we had is Brady turned 1 on the 27th. Even though he had no idea what was going on, he did thouroughly enjoy the cake grandma made him - the evidence of it was all over his face.

Here are some pictures of our disneyland trip and a video of Brady eating his cake. Also, at the end is a bonus video of Adam and the boys playing tribute to Willie Nelson on Rockband (which, by the way is the funnest game I have ever played and I'm pretty good at the guitar, thank you very much).