California Dreaming

I wish there'd been more dreaming on our California adventure, but despite the general lack of sleep, it was a sensational trip.

I brazenly told a few people before we left, "I don't think there's any way I could NOT have fun. I mean, I'm going to see my family, I'm going to Disneyland. How could I not have fun?"

Daughter #1 & Baby waiting to get on the airplane

I began to see the error of my overly-confident words the night before we left while I lay in bed WIDE AWAKE, worrying I was going to forget something. The main reason for our trip was my brother's wedding, so we had special outfits, special shoes and so on. I was terrified I would leave something that would be expensive to replace.

As it turned out, we didn't forget anything, but that sleepless night did a number on me and by the evening of our arrival day, I was sicker than a dog. Daughter #1 was sick along with me. And Baby wasn't feeling too hot, either.

That didn't stop me from eating, though. Cafe Rio steak salad seriously rocks. (Thankfully I ate this before I started feeling really bad.)

My brother, his bride-to-be, my dad, Daughter #3 ... with the remains of our Cafe Rio dinner.

Sunday was fun, because we were with family, but horrible because some of us were sick. We moved out of the hotel, moved into the rental house ... and got ready for Day #1 of Disneyland the next day.

The morning of, I loaded up on pain meds and throat lozenges and....

We had a great time, as you can see:

Space Mountain! (Best. Picture. Ever.) My mom & father-in-law are in the back row.

My beautiful sis with daughters #1 & #2.

Daughters #2 & #3 waited in a loooong line to meet princesses.

Meeting Cinderella

Snow White

Our three-year-old was starting to get a little weary at this point....

Son & I got the most soaked of anyone on Splash Mountain

Now before I leave you for the day, since the title of this post is about sleeping, I have to explain our situation in the house.

First, everyone graciously allowed us to stay in the master suite, which was AMAZING. Big jetted tub (the kids loved that!), sofas and a king-sized bed. We brought two sleeping bags, so we had three big kids on the floor and one on the sofa.

The big bed was useful because the fold out crib at the house was a little crooked. Baby slept maybe for a max of half an hour in it before waking up. So, we had her with us in the king-sized bed.

Which was great.

Except for the sheets. They were silk and inevitably slipped off. Every morning my husband and I awoke to find ourselves asleep on either side of the huge bed on the bare mattress with our baby cocooned in the middle in a wad of sheets.

So, no, there wasn't a lot of deep sleeping or dreaming going on in California, but we still had a blast. I'll plan to pick up on Part 2 on Wednesday.

Have you ever been to Disneyland? If not, do you have any desire to go?  
 

In closing, here's a little video of my sweet mom singing on Main Street. My darling mother-in-law is dancing along. Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!