The Highs and Lows of California

Hello.

A few weekends ago, we went to a magical place called California. It was wonderful! It was our first getaway in a while and our first ever trip as a family of 4. Special!

This trip involved 2 of my very favoritest things: Disneyland and Sun Devil football. A full day at the happiest place on Earth followed by a football game that the Devils were sure to win? What could go wrong?

Well, as is the case with most vacations, a few things did go wrong. Let's talk about it real quick, shall we? I've always heard that talking about your problems makes...something...good....happen....

.....

Okay, here we go.

The Lows of Our November 2011 California Trip

1. Pirates of the Caribbean and Small World being CLOSED at Disneyland. I guess they are revamping Pirates, and Small World was getting its annual holiday makeover, so both were closed. I LOVE Pirates, and Maddy LOVES Small World, so, sad.

2. The rain. I think Disneyland is great on rainy days. They don't shut the rides down and it keeps the crowds away. But the rain we experienced was a little much. Enough, in fact, to have us wait in a gift shop for 20 minutes or so before we decided to buy some ridiculously overpriced ponchos to cover ourselves and the stroller. It only lasted for maybe an hour or so, though, and then it cleared up.

3. The music NOT WORKING on California Screamin'. Seriously?! I'm still pissed about this. The music makes that ride.

4. Getting stuck on Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain is probably my favorite ride, but it was pretty cold that day, so I was hesitant to go on it. We decided to just go for it as the last ride of the night. And the ride stopped before the big drop, just before the music gets all minory. It was kinda cool, because we got to get out of our logs and walk along the side of the ride and see some backstage stuff as we walked out, but still - no big drop. Heartbreaking.

5. The game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of. This is really the only one that counts. The low to top (bottom?) all lows. You know that feeling after you back into something with your car, or drop that glass whatever-you-were-carrying that shatters into a million pieces, or you knock over a cup of grape juice on your carpet? That feeling of "Man, if 'do over' chips existed in this life, I would cash them ALL IN just to go back to before that horrible thing happened?" Well, I had that feeling like, 12 times during the game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of. It hurt. Bad.

Okay, so was that depressing enough for you? Well, fear not, because there were plenty of highs during our trip, too!

The Highs of Our November 2011 California Trip

1. The girls at Disneyland. Not only were they freaking adorable (as usual), but they were also very well behaved. Hardly any crying! And can I just say that Disneyland becomes a whole new place when you see your kids loving it? It's so true. Maddy had a blast, and I loved watching her have a blast! And Charly was angel baby. Seriously.

2. Main Street corn dogs at Disneyland

3. The baby centers at Disneyland/California Adventure (I love these places.)

4. Someone giving Maddy a free balloon at Disneyland (the girl loves balloons)

5. My awesome family helping out with the girls at Disneyland

6. Using the stand-by line on Indiana Jones. I never had before; it took us right up to where the stand-by line meets the Fast Pass line; aka Disneyland was NOT crowded at all

7. The 4 of us sleeping in one double bed. Awesome.

8. Maddy playing with Charly while we were waiting for our table at IHOP.

9. Our IHOP breakfast

10. Driving through Pasadena. Oh my gorgeous houses.

11. Finding 2 tickets for $5 at the game (which shall still not be spoken of)

12. Dallin finding my lost nursing cover after the game (against all odds). Okay, story - I held Charly in the Moby Wrap the whole game, and I brought the nursing cover in case she needed to eat during it (she didn't, thank GOODNESS. It was SO cold.) I just tucked the nursing cover into the folds of the wrap so it kind of draped over the front. Well, after the long walk back to our car (seriously, almost a mile, along no set path, weaving in between rows of cars parked mostly randomly on a huge golf course), I realized that my nursing cover was missing. I had no idea where I had dropped it. I was only sure I had had it when we left the stadium. So Dallin got to play knight in shining armor and go on basically a wild goose chase for my precious nursing cover. It should have been impossible. But I prayed about it, so we were good. He found it when he'd almost gotten all the way back to the stadium. A.Maze.Ing.

13. The drive home. Sleeping girls meant me and Dallin got some nice talk time in there. Until he fell asleep mid-conversation and then I got to listen to the "The Phantom of the Opera" soundtrack so that was fun.

So, overall, the highs outweighed the lows. Especially if you forget about the game-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of.

Which, believe me, I'm really trying to do.

And now, some pictures.

{The girls in their stroller. Don't they look so cozy? We were all jealous}

So there you go. A nice, long post about our trip to California. Sorry it was so long. If I had posted it closer to when we went I probably would have broken it up. But oh well. You win some, you lose some. Just like the Devils.

*Sigh*