Sorsha
<font color=royalblue>People, don't be like the ch
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 3,716
Well, I don't know about insane, but we are excited! So we will have to make the best of it. 
When: As soon as the kids get out of school, June 2014.
Day 1: We are flying out of our little airport on Alaska Airlines on Saturday, June 7th at 5:45 AM (gasp!), we connect in Seattle for just under an hour and a half layover, and arrive at LAX at 10 AM. We will pick up a rental car through Alamo at the airport, and drive to Disneyland. We are staying at the Anaheim Quality Inn Hotel and Suites. I know that it will be too early to check in when we get there, so we will grab lunch somewhere first, probably in Downtown Disney. After we check in and unpack, we may go for a swim (or take a nap) and we are going to medieval times in the evening for dinner.
Days 2-4: June 8, 9, and 10th we will be at Disneyland and California Adventure. We have been to Disneyland several times before, but our last visit was in 2005, so a LOT has changed since then, including the entire California Adventure re-build. June 10th is a grad night (EEK - never experienced one of those before). June 10th is also our Magic Morning Early Entry day. We have made an sit-down dining reservation for that evening at Big Thunder BBQ, thinking that we will be tired after getting up early for Early Entry, and if the Grad Nite kids are overwhelming, we can leave the parks after dinner and go back to the hotel. That is our only meal reservation, the rest of the time we will just do walk-up or cafeteria-style meals. We are very much looking forward to the Plaza Inn as well. Love that chicken!
Day 5: We check out of the hotel on June 11th, and head down to San Diego. We'll probably stop for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (a family favorite) before checking into our hotel, The La Quinta Inn "San Diego Sea World/Zoo Area". Then we will head over to visit my grandpa.
Papa was the driving factor to planning this trip in the first place. He is 90 years old, and in an assisted living in National City, CA. About a year ago, it became obvious that his health was slowly failing, and I really wanted to plan a trip down to see him. My mom was a single parent, and my Papa helped to raise my brother and I. He is a dear man, and "gave me away" at my wedding. He loves my kids, and they adore him. This will, in all reality, probably be the last time we see him face to face, so I want to make the most of it. However, he has been going downhill MUCH more quickly in the last few months, he has taken several nasty falls, is wheelchair-bound, and has had several TIAs (small strokes) leaving his memory and mental functions somewhat impaired.
It is a sad fact the he probably won't be able to handle company for more than a few hours at a time, and he won't be able to leave the assisted living facility. We will spend what time we can with him, and probably eat dinners with him (he says they have a "lovely" cafeteria, and he can have guests eat with him whenever he wants) and walk about the grounds in the sunshine with him. I think though that we will carry on and treat the kids to their vacation without making them spend the entire time in an assisted living center.
Day 6: June 12th. We have tickets to the San Diego Zoo. Again, we will probably return to Papa's to have dinner with him and spend some time in the evening with him.
Day 7: June 13th. We have tickets to Sea World. This is a family favorite, and we will spend all day here so we can see the night show. We also have purchased, ahead of time, their all-day dining package.
Day 8: June 14th. We plan to go back to Papa's for breakfast and to say our goodbyes after checking out of our hotel. Then we plan to drive leisurely up the coast back to Los Angeles, stop along the way to visit a beach, or whatever catches our eye. We have a hotel reservation at the Embassy Suites Hotel Los Angeles-International Airport South. Through a bit of complicated planning (the hotel assures me it is quite routine, however) we will return the rental car back to Alamo, the Alamo lot will shuttle us back to a terminal, we phone the hotel and tell them which terminal we are at, and they will send a shuttle to get us. The next morning, they will shuttle us back to LAX. This allows us to be at LAX bright and early the next day, getting through security, and NOT having to worry about any hang-ups re: the car return, traffic, etc.
Day 9: June 15th. We leave LAX at 9 AM, connect via Portland OR, and get home at 6:20 PM. We have a LONG 4.5 hour layover in Portland, but it couldn't be helped (Hopefully there's a nice restaurant where we can get lunch). Only a few flights come into our tiny airport per day, especially on a Sunday.
Next up: The cast of characters!
When: As soon as the kids get out of school, June 2014.
Day 1: We are flying out of our little airport on Alaska Airlines on Saturday, June 7th at 5:45 AM (gasp!), we connect in Seattle for just under an hour and a half layover, and arrive at LAX at 10 AM. We will pick up a rental car through Alamo at the airport, and drive to Disneyland. We are staying at the Anaheim Quality Inn Hotel and Suites. I know that it will be too early to check in when we get there, so we will grab lunch somewhere first, probably in Downtown Disney. After we check in and unpack, we may go for a swim (or take a nap) and we are going to medieval times in the evening for dinner.
Days 2-4: June 8, 9, and 10th we will be at Disneyland and California Adventure. We have been to Disneyland several times before, but our last visit was in 2005, so a LOT has changed since then, including the entire California Adventure re-build. June 10th is a grad night (EEK - never experienced one of those before). June 10th is also our Magic Morning Early Entry day. We have made an sit-down dining reservation for that evening at Big Thunder BBQ, thinking that we will be tired after getting up early for Early Entry, and if the Grad Nite kids are overwhelming, we can leave the parks after dinner and go back to the hotel. That is our only meal reservation, the rest of the time we will just do walk-up or cafeteria-style meals. We are very much looking forward to the Plaza Inn as well. Love that chicken!
Day 5: We check out of the hotel on June 11th, and head down to San Diego. We'll probably stop for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (a family favorite) before checking into our hotel, The La Quinta Inn "San Diego Sea World/Zoo Area". Then we will head over to visit my grandpa.
Papa was the driving factor to planning this trip in the first place. He is 90 years old, and in an assisted living in National City, CA. About a year ago, it became obvious that his health was slowly failing, and I really wanted to plan a trip down to see him. My mom was a single parent, and my Papa helped to raise my brother and I. He is a dear man, and "gave me away" at my wedding. He loves my kids, and they adore him. This will, in all reality, probably be the last time we see him face to face, so I want to make the most of it. However, he has been going downhill MUCH more quickly in the last few months, he has taken several nasty falls, is wheelchair-bound, and has had several TIAs (small strokes) leaving his memory and mental functions somewhat impaired.
It is a sad fact the he probably won't be able to handle company for more than a few hours at a time, and he won't be able to leave the assisted living facility. We will spend what time we can with him, and probably eat dinners with him (he says they have a "lovely" cafeteria, and he can have guests eat with him whenever he wants) and walk about the grounds in the sunshine with him. I think though that we will carry on and treat the kids to their vacation without making them spend the entire time in an assisted living center.Day 6: June 12th. We have tickets to the San Diego Zoo. Again, we will probably return to Papa's to have dinner with him and spend some time in the evening with him.
Day 7: June 13th. We have tickets to Sea World. This is a family favorite, and we will spend all day here so we can see the night show. We also have purchased, ahead of time, their all-day dining package.
Day 8: June 14th. We plan to go back to Papa's for breakfast and to say our goodbyes after checking out of our hotel. Then we plan to drive leisurely up the coast back to Los Angeles, stop along the way to visit a beach, or whatever catches our eye. We have a hotel reservation at the Embassy Suites Hotel Los Angeles-International Airport South. Through a bit of complicated planning (the hotel assures me it is quite routine, however) we will return the rental car back to Alamo, the Alamo lot will shuttle us back to a terminal, we phone the hotel and tell them which terminal we are at, and they will send a shuttle to get us. The next morning, they will shuttle us back to LAX. This allows us to be at LAX bright and early the next day, getting through security, and NOT having to worry about any hang-ups re: the car return, traffic, etc.
Day 9: June 15th. We leave LAX at 9 AM, connect via Portland OR, and get home at 6:20 PM. We have a LONG 4.5 hour layover in Portland, but it couldn't be helped (Hopefully there's a nice restaurant where we can get lunch). Only a few flights come into our tiny airport per day, especially on a Sunday.
Next up: The cast of characters!
Will say hi right back!
