Rollercoaster of a Vacation

We just returned from Disneyland. As we were flying home last night, I reflected on the trip and truly think the best word to describe it is, "rollercoaster" (pun intended!)

The highs were so high I'd get those little "happy tears" and the lows were so low I'd get, well you know, those same tears. I'll start with the highs . . . Legoland in San Diego. The rides aren't as spectacular as Disneyland's and it's not as big, but on the day we went, there was no one there! We almost had the whole theme park to ourselves. No one in our family was cranky, everyone just rode lots of rides and had lots of fun. Another high, Southwest Airlines (seriously!) First, everything was pretty much on time. Second, they let us preboard and since there's no assigned seating, that means we got to sit up front each time . . . right by the bathrooms, the beverages, and the nice flight attendants who spoiled our kids. Overall the flying part went pretty smoothly. Another high, the San Diego Temple. The kids don't get to see the larger temples very often and this one really amazed them. I marveled at how the kids acted so differently while on the temple grounds than they did at other places on our vacation. They were quieter, less active, more reverent. The temple brought the "happy tears."

Now for the lows . . . first, the unbelievable amount of people at Disneyland. We thought we were so smart going there before Winter Break because we thought there wouldn't be as many people. Boy were we wrong! It was the most packed I've ever seen it (but I've only been 3 times so I don't have a lot to compare). Each ride had about a 30 minute wait (oh the joy of waiting in line with a 2 year old!) Another low, our rental van's electrical system went out. We were at the beach and came back to the car with 4 cold, hungry children and the car wouldn't start. Because this happened right during rush hour, it took over 2 hours for a tow truck to arrive. The longest 2 hours of my life!

With the highs and lows, the whole vacation was like a rollercoaster. By the end of the trip I was truly ready to get off. Funny though, Adam woke up this morning and asked me if he could go to Disneyland today . . . maybe he didn't mind those long lines after all.