disney: the arrival

Luke is slightly obsessed with all things Disney, so Keith and I thought that for our family vacation and for his birthday this year, we could take him and Reagan to Disneyland. Really, I wanted to go and this was a marvelous excuse to get Keith to finally agree.

With fears of horrific traffic in our future, we set our early so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. As it turns out there was hardly any to deal with anyways, so we were lucky. The kidlets did remarkably well and we had only a few minor distractions along the way.

Before we even made it out of the Phoenix Metro area, we had heard, “DAD! Mack Truck right there!” 23 times. Seriously. We counted. With Luke fresh off of potty training, we were really worried that our ride would be accident after accident and a complete disaster. Luke was a champ; when he needed to go, he let us know. Of course when he did tell us, he needed to go in the middle of nowhere so Keith had to take him in the bushes to do his business.

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Luke has a special bond with his baseball potty and has a difficult time doing his business without it. Going poo in a random plastic crate that Keith found on the side of the road just wasn’t working for him, but it was dang cute to watch. We headed down the road a while further until we reached Love’s, the truck stop mecca. I watched as Luke and Keith headed off to the bathroom, baseball potty in hand. Reagan and I had a few moments for an impromptu photo shoot and Luke was finally able to go and we headed right on our way.

We’re now sitting in our hotel as Luke and Reagan are taking naps. Or Luke is taking a nap and Reagan is sliding all over the pack and play wasting time and refusing to nap. At least she’s quiet for the most part.  Keith and I are praying this last, because this is what we currently look like:

Speaking of hotel, I feel like there are a few points that need to be said about it:

1.       It is absolutely gorgeous. I’d really expect nothing less from a Hyatt Regency, but this is by far the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at. Ever.

2.       This is the only hotel I’ve ever stayed at that has a valet and a doorman and a bell hop. Amazing.

3.       I’m fairly certain we are a solid 20 years younger than any other parent in this building.

4.       This is the kind of hotel that has a pseudo-blanket placed at the end of the bed; I refer to it lovingly as the bed scarf. There is no real purpose to it other than to look pretty. I never knew that hotel had anything other than weirdly uncomfortable polyester bedspreads.

5.       I feel really out of place. I kept apologizing to the door man for the state of our luggage and the quantity. And yes, it is the same luggage that I bought with one of my first paychecks at my first job when I was 17. (Side note: Who buys luggage when they’re 17? Me apparently.)

I am so incredibly excited to take Disneyland tomorrow and I can’t wait to see his face when he sees everything for the first time. Fingers crossed he doesn’t freak out when the characters come near him.

Fast forward three hours later…

Reagan has upped her game tonight. For the first time and certainly not the last, I had “that kid.” You know, the screaming, thrashing, snarling toddler that everyone cringes at and thinks to themselves, “Why don’t her parents do anything about that?” or “What is wrong with her?” In typical Reagan fashion, she refused to sleep this afternoon which was our main culprit for the hideous outburst. Do you know what finally calmed her down? Food...or empty coffee cups. Oh that girl…

We spent some time walking around Downtown Disney tonight and if Luke’s reaction is any indication to what tomorrow will be like, we should be in for an awesome time tomorrow.