
The Boy say's....."Yeah - a snowman turns into a pumpkin man?!?!?! THAT's a little bit weird for me......." lololol
The Boy, of course, was talking about The Haunted Mansion at DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!
I'm still pinching myself .... I can't believe we got here. Truly. It's mindblowing - the amount of fun and joy and laughter that has come from my children today - totally, mind.blowing.
We arrived her Monday morning - we flew in on THE COOLEST planes on the planet: Virgin. The Girl was tickled that the lighting inside is purple and blue - not white. They loved the FREE tv's in the seats in front of them.... AND - I loved that we all flew for $75 EACH WAY!!!!! Almost the same price as driving. We flew in at 6 am yesterday and then hung around until our room was ready.
The Girl went as Alice in Wonderland, and The Boy went as Spiderman!!!! (BTW - Walmart has GREAT costumes, we got The Boys for $12 NEW at Wally-World! :)
When the ART bus pulled up, The Boy nearly lost his mind.... screaming - "OMG MOM!!!!! MICKEY IS A PUMPKIN HEAD!!!!!!!"
The couple next to me were both startled and the husband look at me and said, "Wow - he's *that* excited in the parking lot - imagine how excited he'll be when he gets inside!"
The Boy is a bit of an innocent.... he's not cool. Not. At. All. lolol. He hasn't grown into that phase where he doesn't just lose his nut, freak out and scream like a girl - at least not yet anyway. I happen to adore this side of him - this carefree, joyful side - he doesn't care who's watching - he'll jump for joy if he wants, too.
Which - by most seven year old boy standards is *not* cool.
They saw all the Villans and went trick or treating - but..... overall, he just wanted to walk around and look at all the Halloween stuff in the park - giant "floating" Mickey ghosts, pumkins and spooky-touches galore. The Boy was in hog heaven.
Cleary though.... he was not as impressed with The Haunted Mansion as I thougth he would be - he was cracking up the people in the hot tub tonight with his sarcastic observations and humor (he get's that from his Dad - El Capitan is the kind of guy who easily holds the attention in a room with his humor and candor).
I was a pretty proud Mama in the hot tub tonight. Incidently - we are staying at a hotel less than one mile from Disneyland and on Harbor - but it's only $58 per night and I got it on BookIt.com - which is the second time I've used that service and it's waaaaaay cheaper than any other travel site and the hotels have been GREAT thus far! Free parking, free breakfast and heated pool open until 11pm! :)
OH... and coolest thing EVER - the kids and I got meet Brenchel. Which - unless you're a Big Brother/Amazing Race fan - you might not know who they are. El Capitan and I NEVER missed a season of Big Brother - and I was a HUGE Rachael fan from that start - so I was super excited to meet them!
They weren't at all stuck up or "super star" like. They took a few pics with the kids and shook our hands..... Rachael is GORGEOUS. I thought she might be a bit "doen up" - too much make-up and stuff - but she WASN'T!!!!! She was so pretty.
I was prepared for a long day.... fighting - tired, sore feet, etc.... but insetad - we had a great time and not too many things seemed to bother us.
But really - what *could* bother us? We're in THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH - and I can *assure* you - that we are three of the happiest people I know right now.... and for certain, we are the happiest we've been in a very long time.
For me.... this has been a HUGE event. At least, I thought it was going to be. The first time I fly without El Capitan. Fir "big" trip - as single Mom - there's no one here to hold this kid while do something else with the other one. There's no one to help push the stroller or hold the table while I go get our food.
So, I thought that all of those things would make it harder for me to take on a trip like this on my own - but.... frankly, I've hardly noticed.
In fact, it was late, late in the afternoon today when I realised that TODAY was the *first* day in a very, very, very long time when even though I'm surrounded by TONS of families.... oh - TONS AND TONS of families mostly with doting husbands wearing matching shirts with the rest of their families.... and yet - I didn't sit around noticing them and thinking about how I used to be a family of four......
Nope. I didn't really notice.... seeing a happy Dad spinning his daughter on the Mad Hatters Tea Cups didn't bring tears to my eyes.... because I think for a change - I was busy looking at my own kids - lauhing with them, having the time of our lives.... I didn't even have the chance to look around and think about what we don't have anymore.
Which has been AM.AZING. Truly. We really needed this trip.... that's clear to me now.
As The Boy say's.... going on this trip - single Mom, two kids, luggages and planes and sleepness nights and Disneyland.... "it's a bit weird for me...." - and yet, if also feels like a perfect fit.
More to come on our adventure tomorrow!!!!!!*****
****PS - El Capitan and I discussed this before I left town with the kids: he agrees that I can put up pictures and movies of our time in Disneyland. Before this happened, we put up pictures of our kids on facebook and whatever - like most everyone does..... we both don't feel like haivng the kids images on the blog will be a 'big deal' - so in the coming days, you will see both the kids faces - from the front. lol. I know some people won't agree with this decision - but, I want to be clear that we are BOTH in agreement that it's ok.