OUT of town!

My sweet Mother-In-Law took a week of vacation to visit us--and babysit the kids while Robert and I went to Disneyland WITHOUT them!

It was our 10th wedding anniversary, and we decided we'd like to visit Disneyland by ourselves--so we could ride the "good rides" multiple times and go at our own pace. We'd never visited Disneyland without the kids, so this seemed like a fun way to celebrate our 10th.

It WAS fun! We had a GREAT time! We rode all of the "good rides" at least twice. We went at a slower, less frantic pace, and we didn't worry if we didn't get to EVERYTHING there. We slept in until late morning (a REAL treat, when one considers that Toph is a real morning bird and we are both night owls). We ate at restaurants and didn't have to order chicken nuggets or "cheese noodles" once.

I forced Robert to spend some time at California Adventures, because I'd really only seen part of that park. We rode "Soarin' Over California" again, and I have to admit I'm not a big fan. I don't really like heights much, and this is high enough to be out of my comfort zone. I DO love the pictures and smells, but I like my feet on the ground. Then we waited to go on "California Screamin'." I don't think there's enough money in the world to bribe our oldest chicken dog (AKA: Toph) to go on this ride. It was a TOTAL blast! Now all of my favorite rides at Disneyland seem like Kiddie rides in comparison. I really liked it. We walked the whole park and even stopped for the tours (and free samples) at the bread and tortilla factories. Robert thanked me for making him explore it.

We did see another ride--I didn't remember the name. You sit in a seat with a harness over your shoulders and it shoots you WAY up REAL FAST and then bounces you back down (a MUCH tamer version is at Legoland). It had a "barf shield" by where your face would be, so I decided I NEVER needed to ride that one! If there's a shield there, it must be occasionally necessary, and we don't need to see if that would apply to ME.

All in all, we returned home tired--but in a good way. I felt renewed and ready to resume my role as MOM.

MANY, MANY thanks to Doreene, Grandma Extraordinaire, who filled in at home to allow us to go. This was the PERFECT get-away--something we haven't done since before we moved more than 18 months ago.

We surprised the whole group by getting home earlier than planned and whisking them away to a kid favorite for dinner--Cheeburger, Cheeburger. Grandma enjoyed her first trip too. We'd missed everyone, and it was a nice way to relax together.

Now for the next 10!