Day 1 DisneyLand or Bust

We had kept the trip a secret from the kids. They knew we were going somewhere, just didn't have any idea where.

They got home from school on Tuesday an I had boxes for them to open. Inside the boxes were balloons that came flying out when they opened the lids. I also had DisneyLand coloring books, crayons, and autograph books. With a card that read...."You are going to DisneyLand"

Heidi's could have read "You are going to Wal-Mart" and she wouldn't have reacted any differently. She was thrilled to get a coloring book, crayons, and a balloon.

RJ picked up on it pretty much immediately, and after letting Heidi in on the surprise, they were both so excited!!!!

After getting a few hours of sleep, we headed to the airport in St Louis......

The security check-in went fine, and we were off to our gate.......Our flight was uneventful. We had a few people on the flight wearing masks to ward off the swine flu. They looked ridiculous. I had a terrible cough, and chuckled to myself every time I had a coughing fit, knowing they were cowering in their seats, holding tightly on to their masks.

We landed at LAX sometime around 11:00am. Pacific time.

The whole purpose of the California trip was for Rick to work. Hewlett Packard flew him out to look at some machinery. The kids and I were just taking a small vacation while he worked. So, he had a car picking him up to take him to meet with H.P.

The kids and I said goodbye and headed to the rental car counter. I was NERVOUS! Rick and I started dating when I was 13, so for the past 15 years, we have done everything together. Sure, we've travled alot, but I've always had him there.

We got on the Thrifty shuttle and got dropped off at the car lot. Got checked in, and told to pick any car from the #6 parking lot. (Here's where it goes downhill......)

We went to #6 and the kids picked a pretty cool orange car. It took us 10 minutes to buckle the car seats in, plug in the GPS, seat belts, air conditioning, etc.

We pull up to the gate, and a man who barely spoke English says, "oh no, #7 car, not #6." SCREW YOU BUDDY! I am not BLIND. I had to pull the car over, (and I totally left it right in the way) and he sent me to stand in a line. A line that I stood in for 20 minutes to be told it was the wrong line. SCREW ALL OF YOU AT THRIFTY RENTAL CAR. I was so frustrated! We went back to the cool orange car, got all of our things, headed back to the #6 lot, chose a different car and left. All while all of my spanish speaking thrifty rental car friends tried to figure out who in the world would have parked the orange car right in the middle of the lane like that. :)

40 minutes later, we were finally on the way. The kids and I had a deal that while mommy tried to drive in LA traffic that the only person that could talk was my sweet Latina GPS lady friend.

She did a seamless job of directing me right to the Mickey and Friends Parking structure. (It took about 45 minutes) We parked on the Donald Level and headed for the tram to take us to the park.

We headed to Disney's California Adventure first. (We had a date to eat with Ariel at her Grotto at 3:30) It was 2:00p.m.

I wasn't worried about riding rides today as much as just enjoying ourselves and spending time together. We rode a couple rides and then headed for dinner.

Our Ariel dinner was amazing. Anglea at Ollie Girl had made all of Heidi's outfits for this trip and she did a FANTASTIC job on them all. I was super excited about this Ariel dress. She had never made one before and it was perfect. We got checked in for dinner and ushered down the steps to meet Miss Ariel. Everyone thought Heidi looked just beautiful. Dinner was fabulous. They brought a tower of salad and vegetables for our appetizer, and then Heidi had shells and cheese, RJ had spagehetti, and meatball lollipops, and I had herb crusted chicken. Then they brought this gigantic platter of desserts incluing a white chocolate konch shell. After dinner, we explored a little bit more.

After riding Toy Story Midway Mania, we decided to head home and get a good nights sleep.

Both kids fell asleep and it was just me and the GPS. I affectionately reffered to her as Rosita the entire trip.

LA traffic is unique. They don't even post speed limit signs. You are just supposed to drive as fast as hell and don't get into an accident. I am sure if I had time to look, I would have seen a sign that said that.

I was nervous about driving, but honestly, it really wasn't that bad. I didn't even curse out loud in front of the kids. I was very proud of myself. I did however annouce a few times to Rosita or whoever was listening, that some people shouldn't be allowed on the road.

We made it back to the hotel about 6 p.m. Now.... we are a Marriott family. Not the cheapest hotels, but by far not the most expensive either. We like their pillows.

Hewlett Packard had reserved Rick a room at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray. Nice and Classy. I pull up after looking for the self-park lot and was told it was Valet only. $31 per day charged directly to the room. Rick would have DIED if I would have let them valet park, so we headed over to the city lot ($3/day) and walked to the hotel from there.

Rick met us as he got let out of his meetings just before we arrived. He showed us around and I was in awe. The bathroom was all marble, and even the toilet flusher thing was a nicer flusher thing than I had ever seen in my life! We had bathrobes, and sewing kits, and some french shampoo. I'm sure most of the details were lost on me. (We did get to see the Houston Rockets basketball team too, as they were staying there as well)

We unpacked our things, and then I did it.....I laid on the bed.

DAMN YOU RITZ CARLTON! Damn you for now making me realize that the Mariott pillows that I LOVED SO MUCH are total Crap!

We all fell right to sleep and slept without waking up once. Which I'm sure was due to the pillows that were filled with a mixture of down feathers and magic.

:)
-a