Slap Happy

We have returned victorious from our vacation. It was perfect. The car did not break down, it did not pour rain,  we were not robbed blind or scammed maliciously, we did not lose anything, and we came home with the same number of children we left with.  Also, none of us were seriously injured, with the possible exception of Olivia, who may have a permanent phobia of elevators after we took her on the tower of terror ride.  That is one of the 514 pictures we took that will absolutely have to be shared.  I was simultaneously scared out of my mind, laughing uncontrollably, and feeling terrible that she was sitting beside me completely petrified.  Good times there.  Hey kids, let's go to Disneyland and scare the pants off  you! 
Seriously, coming home from a vacation, and realizing that everything went fine and you all had a great time is almost as good as actually being on vacation. The stress relief is incredible!

Now, on to those 514 pictures.


We made it to Kim and Terri's house Saturday evening, where we became the instant best friends of their dog Gus.  The kids consider him their new favorite cousin.





Sunday morning we hit the road bright and early for sacrament meeting.  Kim is the bishop of their ward, so we were kind of required to go:)

 After church, on the other side of the parking lot ,we found this awesome old fashioned play ground and fell in love with these HUGE slides, the like of which you don't find in big city parks no more, due, I am sure to some stupid lawsuit where a dumb kid fell off and cracked his noggin.   These are the slides of my childhood however, and no kid is completely developed until you have slid down one of these puppies a few times.

 Lunch was a picnic in Mesquite.  It was hot and I cut my finger on a knife.

 And our next stop was the traditional Mcdonalds in the train in Barstow, CA.  Olivia refused to sit by Ronald.  The other kids were not happy about it, but they were good sports.  Come on, its a TRADITION for crying out loud!

Somewhere after Barstow we got stuck in that lovely Sunday evening Vegas to L.A. traffic.  What we thought was going to be a 2 hour drive turned into more of a four hour drive.  So,  take six people, a small car, a traffic jam,too much sugar and a little Spongebob,  and this is what you get:







This song went on for the last hour of our trip.  It was a miracle we made it with our brains and theirs all in one piece, but by Sunday  night, we were tucked safe in our beds, just across the street from the happiest place on earth.