Home Again

We're home again. I'm glad to be home. Long Beach was tough but fun. I'm glad we went. The funeral was.....I don't know how to describe it. The whole first day and a half seemed so surreal. Here I was with people I am related to that I haven't ever met or see very rarely. We went to the viewing. It seems so unnatural to me to be standing in a room with a dead person.  I know it's what a lot of people need, closure and all that, but it just gives me the heebie jeebies. There was, of course, an air of sadness around everything. For me, the sadness was more that my grandmother is gone, and I don't know her story. Also, I have all this family I don't know. I hate it. I mean, not just far off family, but also my cousins that I really don't know and I just hate it. I hope to change that.

We worked hard to make the trip fun too. We went to a couple of scrapbook stores, bought Sees candy, shopped at Nordstrom (of course), ate at In & Out Burger (um hello? YUM!!!), checked out the Queen Mary (but didn't pay the $25 per person to actually get on it), saw where we used to live, and attended the Disneyland. Really, it was a lot of fun. Disney was AWESOME! I've been there a bunch of times before, but this time was super fun. Chris hadn't been since he was 5 and didn't really remember it. He'd never been on a true roller coaster, so we started out with the Matterhorn. Love the abominable snowman! Chris had to take a few deep breaths as we started out, but in the end he loved it.

We tried Space Mountain, but it had a 45 min. wait. That seemed like a lot to me. So, we got a fastpass. That is the best system ever! We got an appointment to come back between 1:10 and 2:10 and only had to wait 10 min. They'd just finished redoing it, and it's definitely better than ever. We HAD to do the Big Thunder Mountain. Always my fave ride, and really still is. Chris agreed. Pretty darn good ride. He was really happy none of them go upside down. For some reason, that really isn't necessary at the Disney!

We couldn't go to Disney without Pirates of the Carribean! Love it. They have changed it a bit. No stars on the ceiling and barely any fireflies around, but still loved it. We also went on the Jungle Cruise. Easily, hands down the cheesiest ride ever, but love it! We've always gone on it and loved it. Thankfully, the boat driver's cheesy jokes have improved immensly over the years. We also rode the teacups...twice. I don't know that I'd actually been on the teacups before. But, we went once and Bob took pics of us and then I decided it would be cool to take pice while we were on the teacups, so we went on it again. I got an awesome pic of Chris.

We spent just enough time in the California Adventure for me to coax Chris onto the Tower of Terror. Turns out he'd never been on a freefall ride before. Huh. Who knew. WOW! It was an awesome ride. It even had me screaming and closing my eyes. I'd go on it again in a heartbeat. Chris, on the other hand, not so much. As we were getting off, I asked him if he'd do it again. He very quickly answered NO! I don't know why, but the whole thing struck me as funny. Maybe it was just the way he said it, but I was giggling at him for a while! Guess I'll be going that one alone from here on out!

Mom HAD to have a couple of frozen bananas. It really isn't a trip to Disney without frozen bananas. We had churros. Oh my yum. I don't understand why, but you can't find churros here. We used to have them with school lunches in Cali, and they're nowhere here. Oh well, that made the ones we had all the better. 

As we were leaving, Chris mentioned that the Disney folks do a fabulous job at getting you to part with your money. We bought a TON of stuff. Bob had a caricature done of me and Chris that is super cool. On top of that, we bought Christmas ornaments, princess stuff for Chris' neice, a hat for me and a santa hat for Chris, those cute little things that go on your radio antennae, postcards, a coffee mug, a wine bottle stopper, a mickey head bottle opener, and of course, ears with our names on them.  And then there was the food. Oh my, the food was expensive. We spent $16 on hotdogs at the California Adventure. In Disneyland, we spent over $20 for 3 slices of pizza and some bread.  Churros were $2.75 each, and I bought a cookie (that was the best oatmeal cookie on earth) for almost $3. No wonder you can get financing for your Disney vacation. You think I'm kidding? Check out www.disneyland.com and you'll find it.

I can easily say, I can't wait to go again. Next time, I think we'll go to DisneyWorld. Chris has never been there (I've been 3 times). Maybe for the WDW marathon in Jan. 2007?

The very last thing we did was go to Ikea. I LOVE IKEA!!!! We made it through the Ikea in 40 mins. And, that was with eating breakfast. It was the cheapest meal we had the whole trip. Under $7 for all three of us. Good thing, considering all the $$ we spent on food at the Disneyland! Actually, our very last stop on the way to the airport was the In & Out Burger. Oh my, are they good.

By the time we got to Denver for our 3 hour layover, I just wanted to be at home with the puppies. But the puppies had to stay at the kennel one more day. We got home after they closed. Yesterday was the best ever. We went and picked them up at 7 am. We were definitely more excited than they were. And, we now know why they suggested we have them give the babbies a bath. But, at $23 a piece, we said thanks, but no thanks. If I was sitting still yesterday, Mimi was on top of me. They are so sweet.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, but they're all on Chris' laptop with him at the office. Grrrrrr.