That Disneyland tag line was very appropriate today. After another late night and not enough sleep, we went back to Disneyland at 8am as our ticket included one early (or “Magic”) morning. The boys did several rides, while the girls were made up as princesses at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – the Crown Package which included a fairy tale princess hairstyle complete with tiara, makeup and nails done. Belle. Was. In. Heaven!! (I will post photos as soon as I work out how…) Our only problem now is Belle wants to keep her hair like that “forever”, or else go home now so she can show her friends at preschool!
Then it was Zac and Sam’s turn. We went to the Jedi Training Academy show (which they knew all about from watching it on YouTube at home), and both boys were picked from the audience to be trained as Paduans. Wearing Jedi robes, Zac got to have a light saber battle with Darth Maul, and Sam battled Darth Vader!! Both have certificates they want to take to school for news.
A couple more rides and then it was time for Grandpop’s dreams to come true. He had been talking since we arrived about this great show called ‘Benny Hill and the Hillbillies’ he saw when last here with Ross’ brother’s family (yes they actually set the stage for taking grandparents to Disneyland…), so we had a late morning tea at The Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland and watched the country/comedy/musical act. We then did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride again, and headed to Maccas for a late lunch – and free wi-fi. Yay for Internet access finally! I have now been through 166 emails, checked Facebook and know who won the Biggest Loser finale 🙂
Back to the hotel for a forced siesta, we set the alarm for late afternoon and went to California Adventure. We just missed the parade so have added it to our list for tomorrow, but enjoyed several rides without queues including Muppets 3D, a Bugs Life dodgems, and a Monsters Inc ride. I absolutely loved Radiator Springs (the movie IS in my top ten all time favourites…), but the Cars ride had broken down so that too is added to our list for tomorrow. Ross’ parents met us with Subway for dinner, which we enjoyed while watching a colour/light/water show. We had to queue for 50 minutes for the Toy Story ride, but were straight on to the Little Mermaid ride and finished off the night getting soaked on a River Rapids ride that was a highlight of the day (the ride, not the soaking!). Belle only made the height quota by the bun on top of her head from the princess hairstyle, and I wished I had videoed her fist pumping in the air and excitement at being tall enough!
Revelation to self: three days is necessary at Disneyland! And four days in Anaheim is not enough. I have had to forgo the Hollywood tour and outlet shopping I had planned to include, but the experiences we have had make that worth it!

Given Anaheim is a good hour without traffic away from Hollywood, and we had tickets but no transfers, we did a deal with a maxi taxi to take us to Universal and pick us up there in the late afternoon. The alternative was the public bus which would take a minimum of three and a half hours one way!
We had a lovely day at Universal, where the weather was quite warm and we are slightly sunburnt. We did the Shrek 4D show, Waterworld show (much more impressive than the movie it originated from), and others, and Grandpop, Ross, Tim and Abi rode the Jurassic Park ride several times (I wimped out after reading it involved an 84 foot almost vertical drop). But the highlight of the day was definitely the hour long studio backlot tour, which included getting up close to the Psycho house, Jaws and Wisteria Lane, but also included a 4D visit to a dinosaur/King Kong battle which was amazing.
We didn’t get home until 7.30, then walked down to where the grandparents are staying at the Sheraton. They were given a $150 restaurant voucher with their accommodation, so the 10 of us enjoyed a substantial dinner (costing $128) there. The meals are SO big here, I don’t even feel stingy making all the kids share.
Now for things I am struggling with:
1. The long days at theme parks make it difficult for an obsessive compulsive mother to make sure everyone is getting enough sleep (they are just not);
2. The lack of Internet access and lack of knowledge how to use our new phones means we haven’t been able to let anyone at home know how we are, or send any blog posts. I haven’t had time to sit down and work out how to connect (….and for reason why, see point 1); and
3. The side of the road Americans use. They not only drive on the right but walk on the right. After years of teaching the kids to walk left and stay over to the left, I am now calling out the opposite, so will have to train them here and then retrain when we get home!!

Did I mention our accommodation is literally at the door of Disneyland? Awesome! We easily filled the hours of 9.30am to 10.30pm there, following our five minute walk from the hotel to the front gates.
It was fun visiting old favourites like the Peter Pan ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones rides. And while it wasn’t the first stop of the day, it was also great to introduce the kids to “It’s a Small World”. I made Ross and Luke hurry straight to that ride on our last visit here 18 years ago, much to their horror, so Ross rode it under duress this time but did agree afterwards it was better looking at it through the children’s eyes.
We had bought bread and butter from the corner store, so packed Vegemite sandwiches for everyone to eat while waiting in line. The bread here is too sweet. Our sandwiches were gross, which made us even more thankful for the continental breakfast at our hotel.
We sat in a fantastic position in the gutter ready for the parade and ate delicious turkey sandwiches and quiches from one of the cafes nearby while we waited. There are fries served with EVERYthing.
Interesting unrelated fact: the name Wendy did not exist as a girl’s name until Peter Pan was published.
We are planning a big trip up to Hollywood to Universal Studios tomorrow, purely so we can organise our days around being in Disneyland on the 31st May…coz it’s all about me!! 😉

Our preparation to get to the airport was amazingly flawless. Everything was organised and timed to perfection, leaving us time after check in to have a look around the airport and have a relaxing morning tea with Mark and Robyn (who came in to take our car home for us, and say goodbyes!) over Mrs Fields cookies.
Once on board the airplane we did find two of our seats had been bumped to the same row over the other side. The hostesses tried to convince us it was good for us all to sit in one row, but it made it harder to check on Jarrod and Tim over the other side – and my attempts to look like a cool mum by using the “chat” feature on the screen in front of me failed because they complained the messages I sent them interrupted the movies they were watching!
I did enjoy Homeland Security’s request that passengers not congregate in large groups, and especially not near the toilets. Not so easy to comply with for a large family, at least we don’t look like terrorists.
I forgot how hard it is to sleep on a plane. I did however get to watch ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’ and ‘Life of Pi’. And we made it to 6 hours along before Belle asked how much longer before arrival…
Customs took a while but then I guess anything will for a family of eight! Ross’ parents surprised the kids by appearing on the plane and coming to LA with us!! They are staying further down the main road. Our accommodation is the Park Vue Inn, interconnecting rooms of 4 double beds, continental breakfast, and the best part? Literally across the road from Disneyland!
I’ve never had jet lag before. (I also haven’t been overseas in 15 years…). After walking several blocks to get some lunch (sadly, our first meal on US soil was burgers and fries from Star Burgers, but how could we say no when burgers cost $2.29?) and do our grocery shopping at Target, we took the kids for a swim at the hotel pool. We both fell asleep on the deckchairs while “supervising” the kids in the water, so I went back to our room to unpack…and promptly fell asleep unpacking. I then bathed the kids while Ross organised cereal for dinner (yes, Rice Bubbles and the like), and then fell asleep while eating my dinner. We were all in bed by 8pm and didn’t stir until the alarm went at 7.30am (except for Belle who wanted to discuss our plans at 3.30 in the morning and was promptly sent back to bed, with the bribe of going to Disneyland today!)

Unable to sleep, I have just been reading about the couple who died while swimming off the WA coast while their children were on the shore. An avid blogger, the mum was planning to write about her family’s road trip around Australia this year. She wrote “each member of the family will use this year away to achieve some interesting goals — it is really a family sabbatical in that sense — one definition of sabbatical “A period of leave [used] for rest, study or travel. … usually taken for reasons of personal development”. We will all be using the year for some personal development as well as family time.”

I cannot fathom what those children and their extended family are going through right now 😦 it makes me want to hug my family a little tighter and certainly appreciate each day I am given. I haven’t thought too much about the purpose of our trip until now, except to enjoy the “trip of a lifetime”. I like the definition above of a family sabbatical. A friend of a friend, Luke Z, described it best for me when he talked about the quality family time we would have to invest in each other and invest in life experiences along the way. Family time and personal development have moved ahead of visiting Disneyland on my to-do list…

Thirteen and a half hours to go!! It is now midnight, all bags are packed and waiting at the front door, and we have finally stopped for the day. It seemed like a really good idea of mine to get our timber floors polished while we were away, while no children are underfoot and the polish can set. I did underestimate though the extra work that made for Ross in the days preceding our departure of having to empty the library, kitchen, dining room and lounge area!

Only two heart-stopping moments: as we packed the passports in our carry on luggage I came across the green immigration cards the travel agent suggested we fill out before we got to the airport…so fill them out we did at 11.45pm. Then feeling accomplished I asked Ross had he packed the Disneyland passes. Another excellent idea I had was to preorder them (as they were cheaper to buy online here) AND get them delivered so we could get excited about the tangible entry pass in our hands. Of course, that excitement diminishes when you can’t find where you have stored them for safekeeping!! A house devoid of most furniture and clothes packed does make for a much quicker search though – the passes are found and we can sleep easy!

I am finally allowing myself to get excited…;)

So the seed of an idea was planted, discussions began and my research was off and running.  One word: OVERWHELMED. This wonderful world wide web provides an OVERload of information which I need to decipher and summarise and get my head around. Easier said than done!

I decided to poll the family to see what their priorities are for the trip, apart from the absolutely necessary theme parks.  The boys wanted to see a gridiron match and a WWE event, Miss 8 wants to see Pink (in person or in concert), and Miss 2 wants to go to Sleeping Beauty’s castle.  Why am I stressing? We don’t need to leave California! No, I want to fit in as many experiences in as many states as time and budget allows.

Rather than start at 1 and count up, I wondered about starting at 50 and removing states until we achieve a “do-able” number.  Alaska immediately was removed from the list (sorry Alaska, you are on my bucket list to do with Canada sometime by cruise), Hawaii immediately added as a stopover on the way home. 2 states considered, decision made, 48 to go!!  And that’s where the feeling of being overawed began.  Every state seems to have a descriptive website, excellent suggestions, a guide book available to order by post or download as a PDF, and many reasons why one cannot bypass that state!  So my research now really begins in earnest…

I watch the nightly news. And a show called “The Following”. Therefore I have seen in the last few weeks a plane take off and immediately nose dive and crash in Afghanistan, the effects of the Boston marathon bombings, and the motives of the “Boston bombers”. I have also learned there were 25,000 murders by guns in the US last year and there are 390 serial killers on the loose throughout the country. 390!
While we are attempting to see as much of the 50 states in 50 days as we can fit in, there are some things I am determined not to experience!!