We're Back!

Happy St. Patty's Day! We're back from the land of Disney where every single other spring breaking family on the planet must have been. Crazy herds of people everywhere. Really, how many people can they let in that place? But we worked it like nobodies business and seriously did so much in our three days there. Really, truly - as much as I have completely loved both our family trips to Disneyland, I am never ever going to go there without someone in a wheelchair, unless we take all the kids out of school in the complete off-season (if there is such a thing as an off-season). Or at least never ever at Spring Break without some one's broken limb. It would so not be worth it to wait in all those crazy long lines.

Thanks again to Afty Cakes for taking one for the team. It was way busier than the last time we went in 2007 for Fall Break, so by 2:00 or so in the afternoon, even the wheelchair accessible lines were getting long. Clearly, not as long as the normal lines, but we were still always waiting. Thankfully, we tackled so much in the mornings when we could just ride and ride and ride over and over with little to no wait.

My very favorite thing about the whole trip was seeing Easton's pure joy on the rides. I'm not sure there is anything better than watching your 5-year old's face light up in raw excitement as he swirls and dips and flies on the coasters, coupled with his contagious laughter and giant big blue eyes. I was grinning ear to ear just watching him. He is a little thrill-seeker like the rest of the Brown family (thankfully, we have no riding wimps in our crew), so the faster the better for him. He wasn't afraid of anything, nor was Rowan. And there was only ride he couldn't do at Disneyland (Indiana Jones) and one ride at California Adventure (Screamin'). Just a few inches shy of the mark. Seriously, it was such a great time. I have a bunch of pics to post after I get them downloaded from my iPhone.

We drove home yesterday after spending about six hours in the park for our final day. We wanted to get home by midnight, so we left the park around 3:00 or so to head back to the hotel, clean up a bit, and pick up the car. After some brutal LA rush hour traffic, a stop at In-and-Out and a couple potty breaks, our home greeted us warmly around 11:30 last night - still standing and smelling a bit like new drywall and tile cement. We joked with the kids as we tucked them in for prayers that we could still be Disneyland (it stayed open until midnight). Even though the kiddos all expressed their gratitude many times on the trip for us taking them there, it was really extra nice to hear each of them independently express their gratitude late last night in their personal prayers. They were so dang sweet.

While we were exploring Disney, the skillful worker bees were busy transforming our master bath into what we hope will be a spectacular new room. A huge thanks to J.R. for being our GC on this job - we are really happy with how it's all coming together. We're closing in on the third week of bathroom construction, but I still think it will be a couple more before it's 100%. But it's looking good - really good. The granite guy is cutting our sink and faucet holes today. Maybe installing tomorrow? Albert, the drywall guy, was back this morning before I left for work finishing the final sanding. Should be a nice, white film over everything by the end of the day :) And then Jose, the tile guy, should be back to finish the last piece in the shower and start the bathroom floor. We're doing a Versailles pattern on the floor - can't wait to see it! He laid the floor liner last night. Tomorrow, the glass guy will be over to measure for the shower glass and I still need to finalize my paint colors...

Getting closer.

Now it's back to work and softball and all the usual with the fam. The kids have a couple more days of spring break, but they're spending today and tomorrow at my mom's since I'm working. Hopefully they'll get in some good play time with friends and maybe a little relaxation after walking a marathon the past few days!

Can't wait to share our pics from the trip. I hope to get them downloaded soon.