Definitely A Pretty Happy Place!

After Kari's visit, she called to let us know that her sister and her husband had a few extra tickets to Disneyland and they were wondering if we wanted them. It was such good timing and I think we all needed a little break so Cody and I decided we wouldn't tell the kids but we definitely wanted to go. We told the kids the night before that we had a few things to take care of on Saturday and they needed to bring some things to do to keep busy and some extra movies because they might have to stay in the car while me and Cody did what we needed to do. Pretty mean, right? They were all disappointed and Brittany even offered to stay home with the kids but we said it was too far away to leave them and they'd have to come. We got up in the morning and started to drive. No one said much on the way down there until we go to Disneyland Dr. Mandy and Brandon had left a parking pass for us with an attendant at AM/PM on the corner of Disneyland Dr. so we pulled into the gas station and we could hear they were starting to talk and look around and asked what we were doing and we told them we had to get some gas or directions or something and you could see the disappointment on their faces. Well, we pulled out of the parking lot and headed down Disneyland Dr. and they were breaking their necks looking around and when we pulled into the parking garage, they were all screaming. It was sooo fun! To go from a boring ride in the car to Disneyland was pretty exciting so we were all ready for a good time.

We had so much fun hanging out with Mandy and Brandon and their two twin boys for the afternoon. It was fun to be with them and they taught us a few tricks that we'll be using from now on with the rides. Who knew they had stroller passes and single rider lines? Probably all of you Disneyland veterans are laughing, but that's good information. Mandy and Brandon only live 30 minutes from Disneyland and have season passes so they go for a few hours several times a year. We had a blast and the kids were so good. Carson could go on a lot more rides than the last time we went and he loves Space Mountain and Splash Mountain and the Tea Cups although he had to be in the purple cup instead of the blue one. He's such a boy! It was pretty crowded but we did as much as we could and we all came home exhausted but with smiles on our faces. As soon as Brittany knew the circumstances of how we got there, she sat down right in the car and wrote Mandy and Brandon a thank you note for the passes and it was so cute because she wrote, "thank you so much...our family really needed this." It's been a really stressful time for all of us and I think they probably feel it more than we think they do so it was so cute of her to say that because, yes, we all definitely needed it! Thanks guys!