Many of you know that Phil had been planning on leaving Sunday for the E3 Video Gaming Conference in Los Angeles. I was stressed out about this, because it meant four days alone with the kids. As the conference approached, Phil seemed to be getting more and more nervous about the trip. He was wary of driving the truck because it is 6 years old and a stick- not good for traffic jams. He was nervous about staying with the friend of a friend because he didn't know him well. He was nervous about navigating the LA freeway system because he couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. He was nervous about leaving the kids for four days because he would miss them terribly.
So on Sunday afternoon, he began to waffle. He started saying that maybe he wouldn't go. Fearing that this could only turn in to a repeat of the Vegas '09 disaster (he couldn't go because Emma was four weeks old and STILL complains about it) I told him to GO ALREADY. On a whim, I offered to bring myself and the kids along. I said we'd play at Disneyland while he did his conference- and then on the last day, we'd all go to Disneyland together. Ha ha ha. How spontaneous THAT would be!
I never thought he'd take me seriously.
See, Phil and I don't do these types of things. We are the opposite of spontaneous and adventurous. Our idea of fun is checking our savings account balance to see how much interest we've accrued. So to decide to take a four day vacation, and to spend hundreds of dollars, on essentially twelve hours notice was... well... odd. Yet, in less than four hours, we had booked a hotel, bought a 3-day pass to Disneyland for myself, mapquested every place we'd go, and packed up the car. We left at 7am the next morning.
Overall, things went really well. I spent two days at the Magic Kingdom with the kids. There was plenty to look at, the weather was great, and Luke and Emma could ride everything but the big roller coasters. Luke rode in the stroller or wore his monkey leash, and Emma chilled in the Moby Wrap. The MVP of the trip was DEFINITELY the Moby. If she was awake, she could face outward a la Bjorn. If she was asleep she could face inward, or lay cradled and hidden away.
That is not to say we didn't have some *issues* the first day. First of all, I'd forgotten how LOUD these rides are. Or maybe I never noticed because I had never tried to keep a baby asleep as I rode one before. On our very first ride- "its a small world", (don't judge, we were waiting for Toontown to open and there was no line) Emma woke up halfway through and SHRIEKED until we got off the little boat. I got some really dirty looks from the Chinese family sitting in front of me. Seriously? The worlds most annoying song is being blared as scary puppets dance around, and you think my baby is ruining the experience?! Oh well. Whatcha gonna do?
Later that afternoon, Luke wanted to ride Heimlich's Chew Chew Train at California Adventure. Its a little train in the shape of a caterpillar that drives through large pieces of food. Luke loved it. lOVED it. So much so that I had to drag him kicking and screaming off of it while I also kept Emma in the Moby wrap. He put so much energy into this tantrum that he kicked both of his shoes off and the conductor person had to chase me down to give them to me. We were quite the sight. Then, when I put him into the stroller to put the shoes back onto him, he kept tantruming and kicking and kicked Emma (in the moby wrap) in the face. She started screaming, people started staring, and I left the area as quickly as possible while avoiding eye contact with every adult. (Emma was not hurt- just annoyed. Wouldn't YOU be?!)
We had a nice long chat while waiting for the Pixar Parade and, after Luke realized that you had to take turns and get OFF a ride when it was over, we were golden.
On day two, we hit Disneyland early, and rode the Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion (which BROKE DOWN for thirty minutes while we were on it!!!), Dumbo, the Merry Go Round, Pinnochio, Snow White, and the Casey Jr. Circus Train. It was on that train that I learned that I could discreetly nurse Emma WHILE riding the train. See, the broken Haunted Mansion sucked up most of Emma's nap- so of course she woke up just as we were about to board the train. She was already lying sideways in the wrap, completely hidden. To avoid a repeat performance of "its a small world" I started nursing her as soon as we were sitting in the train car. No one could see, she was happy, and I began to feel invincible! I now knew how to handle any Em-meltdown at Disneyland! BOOBIES!!! Yeah!!!
Luke did GREAT the rest of the day! He patiently waited his turn for every ride, got off the rides as soon as they were done, and didn't try to run away. It was also really cloudy and rained a little- keeping the crowds down.
It was this day that I learned that apparently, Emma is a gorgeous baby, and apparently, no one has ever seen a Moby wrap before. I mean, of course *I* thought she is perfect, but I'm her mom. Every mom thinks her kid is perfect. However, this weekeng I lost track of how often I was stopped on the streets of Disneyland to be told how cute/precious/beautiful she was. Maybe they just felt bad for me because I was one woman with a toddler and baby, and wanted to lift my spirits? But she deserved every complement. Other than the two meltdowns I have described, she was a perfect, happy, cooing, blob of baby. thank goodness.
The third day, Phil came with us. We took the double stroller this time, and we had the best time ever! We rode Autopia, Nemo's Submarine Ride, Pirates of the Carribean, Teacups, Alice in Wonderland, the Storybook boats, Dumbo, and Buzz Lightyears Astro BLasters. Luke loved it all. And the third day was much less stressful with help from Phil!
Overall, I'm proud of us for stepping out of our comfort zone and taking such an impromptu vacation. We created priceless memories and now know that we can take the kids anywhere- if we want to!
