Ok, so I know this thing barely has a pulse and in most hospital settings they would have already "called" this one, but I'm going to update it anyway. Just for ****s and giggles.
FYI - I really had my last installment all ready, but lost it when my computer crashed and burned.... along with all my pictures that I never saved.
We have a friend working on it to see if anything can be salvaged off the hard drive. BUT, the good news is; we have a brand spanking new computer and an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!!
And away we go!
Now to be honest, this is more of an update within an update. Does that make sense?
Let me take a step back for a moment....
You see, I had planned a little Halloween/Birthday get-away for Maddie's 8th birthday (and to satisfy my need to check out the new Grand Californian DVC villas.
) in late October. I booked a studio at the GCV and bought tickets for Mickey's Halloween Treat. We were all set.
Our trip began on Thursday, October 29th; I usually help out in Maddie's class on Thursdays, so we planned to leave just before lunch, which is exactly the time Evan gets out from Kinder.
I had loaded up the car with our suitcase, costumes and snackage (this was a budget trip
) and we jumped on the 91 freeway straight on to our local Happy Place. Only we didn't stop at the Happy Place I was expecting. We stopped at the Happy PLAY Place, otherwise known as McDonalds. Bleh. We grabbed a quickie lunch and headed east, baby!
10 minutes later we pulled up to the gates at the GCH and were given our first "Welcome Home, Disneyland_Mama Family!"
The check-in line was a little outta control. There must have been a dozen or so people ahead of us. A CM checked out our paperwork, confirmed our "Celebration" and sent us to the first available check in CM.
The very nice CM checked us in and told us our room wasn't ready and that we could check our bags with bell services. Suddenly he told us to wait one second, as he had to "check on something" in the back and he disappeared through a door. GREAT, it looks like they found out we're friends with Lauralee.
The CM came back and said they had another room they could put us in - it wasn't a theme park view, but a pool view. Sweeeet, I'll take it!
We headed up to our room to drop off our crap. OMG, the new wing is absolutely beautiful! The whole place is gorgeous! I love craftsman style, so this was right up my alley! The wood tones were fabulous and the themeing was so magical and soothing. A perfect get-away spot!
Our first glimpse!
Vanity (small, but the hair dryer was AWESOME!)
Nice big closet w/ easy access and ROBES!
Kichenette.
Heavenly bed!!
Flat screen
Pull-out sofa bed.
Our room was on the 2nd floor, so we headed up the elevator and about 6 doors down the hall. And sho'nuff, we had a lovely view of the pool and the crazy mid-westerners swimming around in 65 degree weather!
Since we were heading to MHT that night, I booked Maddie an appointment at BBB in the OGMK (THat's ORGINAL Magic Kingdom) for 4pm. It was now around 1-ish and we thought it best to be heading into the parks to get our ride on!
A huge outdoor fireplace area.
We took advantage of the DCA park entrance and headed there first. DCA was near empty, so we jumped on Mullholland Madness and Soarin' with no waits and headed across the esplanade to OGMK.
OMG, I look like I'm doing the pee pee dance!
Our first mission was to get Maddie on Indiana Jones. She's had such bad luck with it being down, we thought we should really get that handled.
Andy and Maddie rode and Evan and I snacked and waited for them, well that was until Evan decided he wanted to ride Matterhorn, NOW!
So that's what we did. He and I headed toward the big mountain to find an extremely short line. I texted Andy and told him to meet us at the exit. Evan and I had a blast riding that one! He always "makes friends" with people in line and we ended up riding with an middle-aged couple who thought Evan was hilarious.
When we exited the ride, I didn't see Andy, so I texted him again to meet up at BBB. I thought we could try to get Mads in early and head back to get some rest before the nights festivities.
We arrived at BBB and got her in with minimal wait time and she was "pixiefied" in no time......
~Sorry the pictures are so small! I'll change the setting on the next installment!~
Ok, I have done laundry....
Caught up on my shows....
Surfed the net....
Helped M with his homework...
Read the paper...
Have you thought of instaling him with a GPS tracking system!!!
Seriously I have the next installment typed up, I just need to add pics. I really need to put this one to bed as my next trip is on the horizon!!! 
It sounds like a lovely afternoon!!!
