Disneyland!!

I know that exactly 2 other people read my blog, but there was some comment made at another Blogger's site that totally bugged me. My sister (Betty Lou) and my mother don't think I ever go to work because I take time off. This is completely not true. Every month, I acquire 10 paid vacation hours and 8 paid sick hours. I can use them whenever and however I want as long as I ask first and fill out a vacation request form. Last week, my sister called my phone and I happened to be in Anaheim, CA at our hotel between going to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure theme parks. AP and I went to celebrate AP's 38th birthday (Yes, I know, I am the best present giver ever!). I had actually been planning the trip for several months and I guess I just didn't mention it to anyone in my family so when she called it took her by some surprise.

My mom asked if we drove, and yes, we did. I guess we could have flown, but we would have had to rent a car anyway, so we just drove the 8-hours to Anaheim through the LOOOONG stretch of highway that is California. Besides, AP hates to fly. It scares the crap out of her and she never does it, ever. She makes few exceptions, but we are planning on Colorado for Christmas (no one does a major holiday like my family!!). Anyway, we drove to Anaheim on Tuesday, checked into our hotel around 8pm and just had dinner and relaxed. Driving for hours is tiring. Then on Wednesday, we got up fairly early (it is hot in SoCal no matter what time it is), and headed to Disneyland. We decided to do the ParkHopper Pass so we could have unlimited trips to Disneyland and California Adventure that day so we could take breaks and naps and return for more fun. We did everything at Disney that sounded fun (yes, we went on It's A Small World), and AP took several rolls of film and used most of them. Around 4, we decided to go back to the hotel (it was on the same street as the parks) and shower (did I mention how freakin' hot it was?), and take a short nap before going to CA Adventure and doing the night festivities. Then we went back to the park and rode some rides (CA Screamin' was really fun) and saw the Electrical Parade (still really awesome, even years later, my readers know what I'm talking about), and then everyone begins the mass exodus 500 feet from CA Adventure back to Disneyland for the fireworks display. It was so amazing, both AP and I got tears in our eyes. The whole experience was truly magical. The we rode some more rides and did some repeats of the afternoon and went home (hotel) around closing time (Midnight). We went to sleep around 1 (we were excited). Then we got up at 7-ish and got on the road. We took the long way and decided to stop at several places along the Central Coast just to check it out (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo). AP is just a girl who can't say no because she also agreed to drive one of her nieces and one of her little children to San Jose while we were on our way back from Anaheim. So then we decided that it was getting pretty late and we still had about three hours to drive back to San Francisco (not including driving all the way to San Jose in between), so we stayed overnight and Jenny and Todd's house in Chowchilla (just outside Merced) and got up at 3:45 am and was at AP's mother's house to pick up her niece and great niece by 4:50 am. We were on the road by a little after 5 and were on our way. Because of traffic and such, we dropped them off in San Jose and I knew I was not going to able to return the rental car on time, so I asked to keep it another day and they said it was fine, so we finally got back to the house, unloaded, and I drove to work. I had called earlier and told them I was going to be an hour late, so it was fine. That was Friday morning. Friday evening, AP and I took advantage of having a car and I went to Target and went grocery shopping.

That pretty much was my grand adventure of last week. It feels like so long ago. And next week, it's guest and party time!! Our luau is next Saturday and I am really excited for everyone to come meet AP and celebrate with us and meet my family. I have 41 yes responses so far, so we will have a full house. I am so excited!