6 years ago, Tom and I were working outside in the front yard when we met an amazing man and woman who were walking around the neighborhood. Their names were Ann and Gene and they lived right down the road. We quickly became very good friends and that friendship blossomed into a familial relationship. A couple years later, I became pregnant and around that same time, Ann’s cancer that had been in remission for a few years, came back with a vengeance. 2 weeks before I gave birth, she lost her hard fought battle and left this earth. She tried so hard to meet our little boy, but unfortunately wasn’t able to. After that loss, we knew Grandpa would need something solid to hold on to…we thought our new family could be just that. =)
After we brought Henry home from the hospital, we told Grandpa to come over and have breakfast with us. We chatted for a while and then we told him that we were adopting him as our dad. We had become so close and we loved him so much and knew we wanted him in Henry’s life. That day he also told us that he made a vow to Ann that he would take Henry to Disneyland when he turned 6…and 6 years later he fulfilled his promise! Even while dying in a hospital bed as the staff tried to kill him 2 years ago on St. Patty’s Day, he told us “I still have to take Henry to Disneyland!” What a trooper! 😉
Over the past 5 days we realized the amount of love and effort that went into making this trip happen, and we will never be able express enough gratitude for it. We are the luckiest people on earth to have such an amazing Grandpa who loves us so much. We were put up in the nicest hotels, wined, dined and spoiled mercilessly. It was hard to leave and come back to reality, but we squeezed every last ounce of fun out of our adventure that we could. For a once in a lifetime trip, we savored all the moments we were able to…and we are so grateful for it. Grandpa…we love you so much and we can never thank you enough for such an amazing experience. Please don’t say this is your swansong – you’ve still got a lot more in you, Mister!!
So after 5 days of bliss, our magical Disneyland vacation sadly came to an end Thursday night as we stumbled through the door around 9pm. The Gods smiled on us those 5 days…as I said above, our trip was even more amazing than we could have imagined. There was no way it could have gone more smoothly. Everything fell into place and worked out perfectly. Grandpa was the star of the show however – At 81 years young, he completely tore it up and never needed to use our stroller. 🙂 Haha! The temperatures were great and the longest we waited for a ride was maybe 30 minutes. The crowd level was a 3 out of 10 all four days so the crowd size was pretty minimal…well for Disneyland, that is. 😉 We also got to take pictures with all our favorite characters and get on every ride we planned to. Even though Will was too short to get on a lot of the fun ones, he was still able to get on most of the classics. Henry got to ride on Space Mountain which was absolutely hysterical. I was crying with laughter getting out of the cart. He also got to get on his favorite ride which was Cars. But anyway…let me start at the beginning and go from there…=)
Our flight left on Sunday afternoon and landed in LAX where Grandpa picked us up. He had driven up the night before so that we would have a car to get around in. We stayed in the StayBridge Suites that night – we were in a suite that had two bedrooms and a kitchen and living room. It was beautiful. We didn’t get in the pool, but it was late and we were tired after stuffing our faces at Red Robin. Holy cow, they have the best burgers! Yummmmmm!
The next morning we ate a delicious breakfast and headed over to the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Grand California Hotel. This hotel was inspired by a lodge that Disney fell in love with while he was up in Yosemite, CA. It is HUGE and absolutely stunning. These pictures DO NOT do this place justice but I am NOT a professional photographer…so the next time we go, we’re taking Joe or Holly. 😉
We got into the room super early! Check-in wasn’t until 3pm, but we were able to get in at 9am! It was so nice to just dump our stuff off and head to the park instead of having to come back and unload the car in the afternoon. Grandpa rented adjoining rooms and they were awesome! We had a view over the back courtyard and the monorail drove right underneath us. It was so quiet too…if we hadn’t known it was going to be there, we would have never heard it!
After checking in, putting all our luggage in the room and parking the car about a half mile away, we finally made our way up the park. Our first day was in Disneyland. They opened around 10am and we arrived shortly thereafter, so it was fairly packed. After we got in, the first thing the boys wanted to get on was the carousel. And it was a taste of things to come for the next several hours…sigh. Since they’ve never been to a park like this, they aren’t used to having to wait. So while we stood in line, all we heard were moans, groans, whining and complaining. Uuuuggghhh. It was seriously a test of our will not to go throw them both in the water surrounding the Dumbo ride. I think that ride was the worst. We had to hear Henry cry for half an hour. Plus there wasn’t a lot of shade so we were hot, miserable and listening to fake sobs from that little turd . Anyway, after the first part of the day I think they finally began to understand. It was a good lesson for them…and for US! =)
This was the last picture of the day. We never took a rest or went back to the hotel the entire time! It was awesome. That night we went to eat at the Rainforest Café in downtown Disney and then hit the sack around 10pm. We were pooped. The next day was California Adventure. It was absolutely amazing because the hotel had an entrance straight into the park so we got to bypass the normal entrance. There was NO ONE around and we got right on our rides! Yeah baby!
So unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of us on the Ferris Wheel, but we did go on that and Grandpa was nervous since it was the swinging one. It was a lot of fun! Tommy and I also got on a super fast roller coaster that almost made me ralph, and the Grizzly Rapids which totally soaked my shorts and shoes. It was nice cuz it was fairly warm in the sun, but those water rides are more fun when you have a crew with you. =) We also got on Henry’s favorite…the Cars ride! It was so fun and I was so happy that he was tall enough to ride it. Like a jerk though, I didn’t take my camera for either of the times we did it. Duh. =/ At about 2pm we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our swimsuits and went to the pool. It was huge and we were there for a good 2 hours. I’m such a wimp when it comes to the water. I swear my blood is so thin, it’s pathetic. I was in the pool for maybe 20 minutes and the rest of the time I spent in the hot tub…which by the way was NOT hot at all. Ugh. After the pool, we got a bite to eat at the downstairs restaurant called StoryTellers. It was pretty good. Then we went back out to Downtown Disney, got some sweets and relaxed. We hit the hay around 10pm again and then woke up to have our critter breakfast at 8 the next morning!
Me, Tommy and Henry all got to ride Splash Mountain which was honestly no fun for me. Henry and I were in the back and I totally got beat up! It was so jerky and I kept getting thrown around. The drop was funny – Henry went into the fetal position again and laid his head on my lap as we shot down. What a hoot! We also got on Pirates of the Carribean for a second time, went through Tarzan’s tree house again and got on the Buzz Lightyear ride again where I demolished everybody. =) We left the park around 4 or so and went to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious dinner. We got back to the room and went to bed around 9. We were all pretty exhausted. The next morning was our last day, so we checked out, put all our luggage in the car and went back for a final hurrah at California Adventure. We got on Cars again with Henry, Will and Grandpa got on the Mater ride again and we rode the Ferris Wheel for a second time. Unfortunately the temperatures were really hot that day so were dying out there. We ate lunch at Flo’s and then decided to check out this wilderness adventure trail thing…which turned out to be providential!
So, again, I wish I would have taken more pictures, but these capture the essence of our trip. We had SO much fun…more fun than we ever could have imagined. Grandpa, you gave us such an amazing gift and we are so grateful that you are in our lives and spoil us so much. I don’t know how we can ever thank you. You are the best and we are SO lucky you’re OURS!!
We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!