again friends for following along. Let me apologize in advance for the lack of photos in the last update. Because this trip is very last minute for a planner like moi, our plans are still fluid. I have a general idea though of what it'll look like.
Tuesday Dec 17: kids school, Michael at the FD, me work, hopefully no soccer that night for Joshua, Gabby will have to work. After work for me and finishing any laundry, I'll pack up the car in anticipation of seeing the Mouse:
Wednesday Dec 18: Michael is off shift at 8 am and won't be home until about 8:30. I will drop off these beauties at either my in-laws or the kennel (Michael doesn't know yet that he needs to ask his folks to watch them):
My plan is to be out the door, in the car at 9 am.
Of course I'll have plenty of yummy snacks for the drive:
Depending on traffic and weather, the drive to So Cal should take between 10.5 and 11.5 hours. I'm more of a lead foot so with Michael driving I'm planning on 11 or so hours. I have made the drive from Utah to So Cal too many times to count. It's a rather uneventful drive and pretty easy. I'm not a stop-and-smell-the-roses type driver. If you need to pee, tell me and I'll stop. If you want to sight see, I'm not your girl. Michael is even worse.
There has to be a consensus to stop and pee. I literally won't drink anything more than a few sips of water until after Provo, about 90 minutes from our house. The drive seems to drag on until about Cedar City which is 4 hours from us. It's a cute little town:
Don't hate me 'cause you ain't me.
After Cedar comes St. George and here's where it's starts to get exciting because we will be almost out of Utah!!!
There's a little bit of jogging into a beautiful canyon in Arizona before arriving in Nevada. Vegas is about 2 hours from St. George and the last cool milestone before arriving in the OC. Viva Las Vegas. No stop for us this time, we've got a Mouse to see.
After Vegas, the drive is fairly depressing. Barstow, Baker, blah! The now defunct Bun Boy in Baker, California.
From here the kids will ask about 1,546 times, *how much longer?*.
My kids are pretty much past that but for some reason, they get antsy after Bun Boy. It's about 3 hours from there to my home, the beautiful Orange County:
We'll stop at a local Von's Pavilions before going to my bestie's house in Garden Grove. She lives in a very nice neighborhood on the Garden Grove/Seal Beach border. She's a doll for always hosting us. I'm very blessed to have such an amazing friend.
We'll say hi, have a glass of wine, catch up, and then I'll pack bags for the next 1-2 nights, depending on if our other night at the GCV comes through. I should know in the next 2 days. I may pack a separate two bags with all our stuff for the
Disneyland part of this trip.
Thursday Dec 19: DCA! I'm so uber excited to have a full day in each park. I think not hopping is the best decision for this trip.
We'll check into the GCV as soon as we arrive, drop our bags, and head over to DCA. I am so eager to check out Carsland all dressed up in its holiday finest. Same goes for the entire park. I haven't worked out a plan of action yet but I'm starting too.
Friday Dec 20: Disneyland!
Main St. Jingle Cruise. IASW Holiday. NBC HMH Holiday. The sights, sounds, and smells, are all incredible. We'll hook up with A&F is it fits into their day. They've got dinner that night so we'll see how the day goes. Love meets.
Saturday Dec 21: Chloe's Birthday! Today will be fairly dependent on if we scored the night before at the GCV or sucked it up and spent the points at the DLH. I'd love for Chloe to wake up on Disney property on her birthday. she'll turn the big 1 5 today. If we spent the night then I'll most likely run to either WWS at the GCV or Earl of Sandwich in DTD, grab breakfast, and bring it back. I have a reservation at Storyteller's in the GCH at 2 pm to celebrate her birthday. She has also mentioned going to Build a Bear and seeing Frozen (if we can hold out that long) while we're in DTD. If we aren't on property (but lets be honest I'll change hotels if I have to to be on property another night) then we'll most likely head to DTD after breakfast, do some shopping, and then enjoy Storyteller's. Michael has to be to the Long Beach airport to fly out by about 4:45 pm that day. We also want to take a peek at A&F's new casa so hopefully that'll work out. Too bad my new roommate Olga won't be there.
Our evening plans are also up in the air. That evening is the boat parade in Belmont Shore. It's amazing floating around Nalpes and looking at all of the beautiful homes and seeing the boats and houses all decked out. I've looked into Duffy boat rentals and they aren't cheap.
My friend is currently seeing if any of her family is interested in joining us. The more, the merrier. And it's less $$. I'm not a cheapskate by any means but the boats are $100 an hour. That night has a minimum 4 hour rental due to the boat parade. This is very up in the air. If we don't do the parade, I haven't a clue what we'll do but there's never a shortage of fun to be had.
Sunday Dec 22: If we didn't do the boat parade on Saturday night, there's a chance we'll rent the Duffy boat this evening. Still the same venue minus the actual boat show but the homes are all still lit up and beautiful plus the rental is for 2 hours not 4. If we did the boat parade, the day and night are up for grabs. And we may skip the whole boat thing all together.
Monday Dec 23: Up for grabs! On either Sunday or Monday we will visit my father. It always leaves me quite emotionally raw and I generally need a day to recoup so I'm thinking we'll visit Sunday morning. I need to check with his SW to see when mass is. He's a very observant Catholic. I will need to pack tonight as we'll drive home the next day.
Tuesday Dec 24: Drive home. I'm already sad just thinking about it.
I know it will have been an incredible, fun filled trip. I generally like to leave before the crack of dawn because the kids usually have school the following day
and instead of being a responsible parent and giving them a day to adjust to reality before throwing them back in, we leave every vacation at the last possible second. The following day will be Christmas Day and while I will have stockings to stuff, cough cough, I should be wrapped and ready before we even leave. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. We may stay for breakfast with before heading out, it'll depend on how organized I am and on the weather. Michael works Christmas Eve so we're in no hurry because he won't be home. We generally spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws but they'll come over Christmas Day for dinner and to exchange gifts.
So there's the plan for now and subject to change....but not by much.
Up next: where will we stay the second night? The GCV, DLH, or PPH?
While it'd be amazing its a little too rich for my blood. I know folks have to cancel at 30 days but I don't know if the day of the reservation counts as the 30th day or is it the day before?
Right now, from my calculations, it seems like folks still have another two days to cancel for me to get the 20th and for them to be within their 30 days. Does that sounds right?
It's in the Universe's hands now. 
You could probably come see the house that afternoon if Michael wanted to see it. Otherwise the rest of you can see it later.
. This was our second full year with this many points and I was afraid that we might not be able to use them up. I seem to be doing OK.
