California or Bust

Disney had been penciled in on our collective calendars for almost a year. We wrote it in ink about 6 months before and then put down the bucks about 4 months before. I started smocking in May and designing the outfits before that. Craziness, but typical crazy. This was the trip I dreamed about when my kids were little, but we couldn't afford. It was what I envisioned the ultimate grandparent trip would be.  We saved our pennies, traded work for plane tickets (thanks, Tanya, a.k.a. the greatest neighbor in the world) and cashed in frequent flier points. Everyone was able to get off work and, let me tell you, we were beyond excited. You know how we get. 

One post isn't enough to share the fun, but here is how is started.

We found the Mickey ears that we bought for Meg when she was 9 months old. Coincidentally, we were at Disneyland then because we were flying standby to Washington DC and got bumped off in Denver. With no chance to get a flight (they were canceling service in a couple of weeks so all flights were full from then on. Nice to find out midway thru the trip). Anyway, we decided to make the best of it and headed west instead of east. Our bags had a great time in DC. 

Back to the ears. They were in the attic, kinda moth eaten. I took the plastic ears off the beanie and made a new beanie with some felt. I sewed the ears on and glued on the emblem. 

Everyone took a turn with them. Kenny, Meg, Reid, and Clark left from Love Field first. We had to book an early one to make sure they "made" the flight.

Helena and I were next, out of DFW 2 hours later.

B and KC took Eddie back to Love Field that afternoon.

They didn't have their flight until the next day.

While we waited for them to get there, we got to enjoy the beach, Happy Hour at the hotel (free lemonade and nachos for the kids, which we called dinner) and the pool.  We decided the next morning that even if we went home then, it had been a great vacation.

More on the real fun later.