I am long overdue but here is the quick recap of the voyage to the Disneyland place...
We loaded up the van (Nan, Jake, Julie, Ashlyn, Alia, and Me) and hit the road by 9:15 in the AM. I was a bit surprised that we were able to get off at such a decent time. The kids were not told where we were going. Alia knew we were going to Los Angeles but that was about it.
We made it to St George in just over 3 hours. After that, we got serious about driving and went St George to Barstow in 4 hours - no stopping. Yikes. That was painful. The sitting and Barstow. At this point, the kids were told the final destination. They were too tired to really care and just asked for another show to watch. So much for the big surprise. Harrumph.
The next three straight days were all spent in the park. We were there pretty much from the opening bell until closing time. I thought for sure the kids would get so tired it would be meltdown city. Fortunately, the kids were all really good about all the walking, standing in lines, and late nights.
The first day, Nan and I took Jake and Alia on the Matterhorn. Jake was a little intimidated and closed his eyes on the entire ride. Alia was scared out of her mind and said she never wanted to do it again. However, Ashlyn felt extremely left out and kept asking to ride the Matterhorn. Finally, on day 2, I decided to relent and take her just to stop her constant asking. I actually thought she would change her mind once we got close. Well, she never changed her mind so off we went. Apparently she quite enjoyed it as she asked to go on it again. So, on day 3, the two of us sat (stood) in an hour long line waiting for the Matterhorn, again. Several people in line got a kick out of this tiny little girl hanging out for the ride. It was quite funny to watch her little body climb into the very front seat for the ride.
She was my rollercoaster buddy. We went on Splash Mountain twice and Thunder Mountain once. She got a little upset when I told her she couldn't do California Screamin or Space Mountain because she was too short. I still think that part of her motivation to ride the big rides was because she knew Alia was scared of them. Funny how siblings are.
The trek back home was an extremely lethargic one. We had a nice stop in St George for the night. The following morning we spent some time in Snow Canyon and then up to the middle of nowhere Enoch er Cedar to visit Ruth and Eric. It was fun to see them again.
It was a great trip for all involved. The kids got to meet lots of characters and many pictures were taken (over 500 by Nan and myself combined!). A few of the pictures can be found here:
Phew. That was "wordier" than I had intended. I'm also too tired to proof this writing. My apologies!