Disneyland!!!

On June 16th 2008, at 4:00 AM you would think that a family with 2 small children would be sound asleep in their beds. Not the Mowers! They were up and at it and sleep was the last thing on their minds.

Earlier this year, we decided that since I (Alicia) have never been to Disneyland, or on a plane, or to California, we should use our economy stimulus check to go to Disneyland! I made a huge mistake and told Tommy as soon as everything was final and for 3 months whenever we left the house he would ask "Are we going to Mickey Mouse's house?"

Well, the day finally came. On June 15th 2008 (Father's Day), we went and slept over at my parent's house (Debbie and Tracy Beard) with my sister and her daughter (Jen and Kate), so that we could all carpool to the airport together. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. It was just like the Disneyland commercials where the two little kids are sitting up in bed and the mom tells them to go to bed or something and they say "We are too excited to sleep!" then she goes back to bed and looks at her husband who is wide awake and he is like "I can't sleep I am too excited." That commercial could have been written for us!

So we got to the airport and I was super nervous. Then I get on the plane and it is even worse. Every movie of plane crashes that I have ever seen were playing over and over in my head, so I volunteered to hold Connor so that I could use him as a security blanket. The whole flight, Tommy did not take his eyes off of the cartoons he was watching, Matt watched TV and Connor thought it was fun to use the little table that folded out from the back of the seat in front of us as a drum. We were blessed with children who are WONDERFUL travelers.

Since there were 9 people in our group: Tracy and Debbie Beard, Brian Beard, Jen and Kate, and Matt, Me (Alicia) Tommy and Connor. Plus 2 strollers and all that luggage, we rented a 12 passenger van. It was a blast, and Brian's GPS system was a lifesaver! We stayed at Staybridge Inn and Suites. Jen, Kate, Matt, Me (Alicia), Tommy and Connor all shared a bedroom. Brian slept on the sofa bed and my mom and dad (Debbie and Tracy) got the Master Bedroom.

We spent 2 days in Disneyland, 1 day at California Adventure and 1 day at the beach. Tommy's favorite things at Disneyland and California Adventure were Pirates of the Caribbean and Bugs Land. Connor LOVED the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as well. Matt and Alicia's favorites were the Hollywood Tower of Terror (We rode that a couple times) and the California Screamin' Roller Coaster (We rode that 6 times in a row!)

At the beach, Tommy and Matt built sand castles. Connor loved the sand. He sat there on the beach digging a pretty big hole. Everything was fine until he started eating the sand, and then we discovered that sand happens to be Connor's new favorite "food". I loved the beach, the waves were a blast to go and stand in. I think I liked the beach more than Disneyland.

The time came to fly back to Utah, and while it was a fun trip, we were all ready. There really is no place like home.