California day 1

I don't know if I'm truly caught up or not but since our California trip was over a month ago it's time to post about it.

Adam had won a travel voucher at work and used some of it for his ticket to Alaska but there was still a significant amount on it. One day, out of the blue, he told me to plan a trip to Disneyland. I was excited at the possibility of taking our family there and FLYING! Of course I wanted to go right away and started looking into flights for the the end of May. Keep in mind it was April when I started looking and nothing seemed to work out. We knew we didn't want to go in June, July, or August so I decided we would just wait and go over fall break. We booked and paid and THEN I realized that I had looked at last year's school calender and we were actually going the week BEFORE fall break. Oh well, we couldn't change it. We did, however, have to keep a secret for a really loooong time. We decided not to tell the kids until we arrived at the airport and that day seemed to drag forever. This is how it went down...

I had the kids packed and everything loaded into the back of the Tahoe. We told the kids that we had to take Adam to the airport (since he travels once a month this was very believable) and that we would go do something fun after we dropped him off. I was surprised that no one really questioned this and just came along but I was glad I didn't have to make up more stories. We arrived at the airport, pulled into long term parking and Adam told the kids goodbye. I asked them what they wanted to do next. They gave a few ideas and then I asked them if they wanted to go with Adam and fly on an airplane instead. I honestly expected this BIG, HUGE reaction from the kids. I expected screaming and happiness and jumping up and down. I don't know why, my kids don't really have that kind of personality. I just didn't expect the reaction we got. Matthais seemed unfazed. Owen, although initially happy, started to cry. Millie just looked at us in disbelief. And Ian, well, he had no clue what was going on. It wasn't until we actually walked to the ticket counter that the kids were excited and finally understood that yes, we were about to climb on a plane and fly to California.

Finally, they were all excited and we were on our way to California. Our flight left around 5:30pm and so we arrived in California and it was near dark. The flight went very well and Ian was so good! (another big worry). We flew into Long Beach and the airport was unlike anyone I had been too (not surprising since I never fly!). It was weird to un-board the plane onto the tarmac and then walk into the building but it was cool for the kids to see the plane up close. We grabbed our rental (a very nice Sienna) and head to our hotel in Anaheim. We stopped to eat and arrived at our hotel in time to unpack and settle in for bed. I wish I would have taken more pictures at the hotel but I don't have one! bummer. It was just your typical hotel but it's part of the memories right? That night everyone slept well and the next morning....(stayed tuned for California day 2)