Back Home & 'Pooh'ped!

We returned home from CA on Wednesday. Our last day at Disneyland was on Monday. Tuesday we toured USC and went to LA's Chinatown for Dim Sum. We checked into the LAX Marriott in preparation for our early morning flight on Wednesday.

Our time in California was really fun. However, James & I decided it was too long of a visit at Disneyland. Maddie & Leah strongly disagree with that statement! I'm pretty sure they felt that no visit to Disneyland is too long. At last report, they had gone on the Tower of Terror ride 8 times, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 times and every roller coaster in both parks at least twice.

The fact that Josie is only 33 inches tall had a lot to do with our inability to get her on a majority of the rides we had hoped she could go on. There are only so many times a parent can go around, around, and around on a carousel before crying "Uncle!"

Josie enjoyed visiting Minnie Mouse's house and the petting zoo in the California Adventure park. Our biggest challenge was keeping Josie occupied in the mornings. She gets up between 5 and 6 AM. Leah & Maddie are typical teenagers, wanting to sleep in late. So, keeping all the kids happy was a challenge. I think we did a good job, because all of them were exhausted upon our return home.

Josie has returned to somewhat normal sleeping patterns, but she is still waking up around 12:30-1:30 AM crying for her Mom. We are hoping that a return to her normal routine brings back a full nights sleep this week.

Leah returned home to Michigan on Friday morning. That same morning I drove Maddie up to Aunt Claudine's house where she will stay until Sunday. Grandmom & PopPop were staying the weekend at Claudine's too, so Maddie will no doubt be spoiled rotten by the time we get her back!

Josie and I were subjected to a nightmare ride home from Claudine's on Friday. There was a truck fire on the 95 South (our route home) at 7 AM. The fire burned so hot, it melted the roadway. The road needed immediate repair, so the 95 was taken down to two lanes. The result was a 20 mile back-up. You read that right - A 20 MILE BACK-UP!!. All alternate routes were backed up as well, so we settled in for a long trip home. What normally takes 1.5 hours door to door was turned into a nighmarish 4.5 hour journey. Average speed was about 5 miles an hour! Josie was a trooper, given she didn't have any lunch. All I can say is Thank God for DVD players in cars and afternoon naps!!

Here are a few shots from our last days in California: