Unexpected Reunion

I've been itching to go to Disneyland for at least 6 months now.... It's my most favorite vacation destination (so far....) and I drag Eric to Anaheim about every other year. So, when my hope for an October trip fizzled out (due to a YM's trip to the Grand Canyon), I came up with the plan to go after New Year's. The kids don't go back to school until the 8th, so there should be plenty of time to squeeze in a Disneyland visit, right? So, plans started and Eric and I decided not to say anything to the kids about it - suprise vacations are always the best! He mentioned we were going to his brother and they realized their kids are out of school that same week, so they decided to join us. We've been trying to coordinate a Disney visit together for years, and this was our best shot! So, we extended an open invitation to the rest of the family and got a couple more takers - Eric's sister Elise (and her family) and their parents. The total headcount would be 18. Eight adults and 10 kids (ranging in age from 13 to 1). I will admit, once the plan was set in motion, I did have some reservations about how this would all work out - 4 families, 4 or more agendas, so many kids.... etc.... but it ended up working out okay. So, we told the kids a couple days in advance we were going to Disneyland, but didn't tell them more than that. They didn't know their cousins were coming too.....

Fast forward to January 1st - we were on the road by 9:15 and heading to Anaheim. Everything went smoothly until we hit a backup in Palm Springs. The freeway was at a dead stop and it took us well over an hour to go 5 miles. There must have been some big ATV convention in the area, because every other vehicle on the road was pulling toys - atvs, dirt bikes, etc. We even saw an old 80's model suburban that had been "modified" for atv-ing. I didn't have the camera with me, but got a picture of it with my phone - if only I knew how to transfer phone pictures to my computer......

Even with our traffic nightmare, we were the first to arrive at the Homewood Suites in Garden Grove. I highly recommend this hotel for anyone traveling with large families! We have stayed there 3 times and LOVE it! We checked in, got the kids set up watching TV in the room, and headed back down to watch for the family. Taylor was the only one who suspected something was up because he had been watching a movie on Eric's phone in the car when our brother in law, Alan, sent Eric a text about their "arrival time". They were thrilled when the cousins walked through the door.....

Later we went out to eat at Red Robin (in our hotel parking lot) and let the cousin's open their "partner presents" from Christmas... it was mass chaos in my hotel room, but we ended up moving rooms before bed, since our A/C was broken. So after we partied with the family, we got to move to a brand new clean room! It was no easy feat trying to get our kids to bed that night after a long day in the car and a suprise reunion with the cousins, not to mention the anticipation of Disneyland the following morning.... Benedryl was our best friend that night!

Stay Tuned for Day 1 at Disneyland... the Happiest Place on Earth????