5 days of "Madd"-ness

Recently my kid sister Maddy spent 6 days, 5 nights consecutively with us. My mom just had surgery on her wrist so I thought I'd give her a break and take Maddy. Maddy got a taste of being a 'big sister' (she's the baby in our family), Gracie got a taste of being a 'sister' period, and I got taken to school! My class schedule: 'Patience 101', 'Just breath... 202', and 'This is fun 303'. My sister is a great kid and she alleviates a lot of pressure when it comes to taking care of Gracie. However, she is a kid - a 10 year old kid - so although she helped, at the same time she created different avenues for testing my patience. I'm not used to hearing things like, "I don't like that", "I don't want to", or "Why not?". Although, I had moments of sheer frustration (flashbacks of my mom and dad threatening to "pull this car over right now") the girls had a blast together!! We did many fun things and I'm glad Gracie got to spend so much QT with her favorite aunt (Sorry Bean, Cami, and Tia - you're definitely tough competition!) Here's the places we went and the things we saw...

Camano Island State Park

The girls are attacking Uncle Andrew and he's loving it!

Kiwanis Water Park

Backyard pool party

Washington Park

Mukilteo Beach

California... thank you.

Well, our long anticipated visit to Southern California is over. *Sigh* There is so much to share, and I intend on sharing it, but for those of you who don't want to read my mile long post I'll sum up our trip in 5 little words: Sun, Water, Rest, Fun, Disney.

Okay, now for the detailed version...

When we arrived in Palm Springs on July 1st it was 114 degrees! We had Vitamin D coming out of our wazoos and it felt good!!! We had dinner with my Grandparents and then walked around the local street fair. Grandma bought Gracie a little puppy figurine to add to her already out of control puppy collection. We took a dip in the salt water pool at around 9pm and it felt like heaven on earth - by then it was a cooler 95 degrees outside, there was a slight wisp of wind that flew in every couple of minutes and the pool was a comfortable 80 degrees . We swam like fishies for the next few days... every morning we'd wake up to an anxious little girl just itching to make a splash in the pool. We'd take a morning dip, workout, then take another dip in the pool. Then we'd shower and leave on a mini adventure - something new everyday.

( "Someday, when I grow big, I want to be a real swimmer!" )

Friday we stayed pool side all day. In the evening we left Gracie at Grandma and Grandpa's while Mark and I went on a little date to the movies.

Saturday Mark and I woke up early and took a jog together, just us two. It was a pleasant 70 degrees at 6am and Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed running down paths we'd never crossed before - such a nice moment in time. We met up with my grandparents later that morning and left for the "Living Desert" zoo. It was great seeing some animals that we don't have here in our local zoos. Also, the vegetation in Palm Springs is something spectacular - so many different types of Palm trees, cacti, and flowers. It was such an adventure and we really had a great time - even though it was 110 degrees outside! Sunscreen and ice water were a definite must have!

Later that night we went over to my grandparent's for a delicious homemade spaghetti dinner that my Grandma prepared for us. Gracie had such a blast getting spoiled by her great-grandparent's and I think they had a great time doing the spoiling!

Sunday was the 4th of July. We had the option of driving to Palm Desert to watch the big fireworks display but opted to stay at home and watch fireworks from my grandparent's patio. The idea of walking around large crowds of people in the HOT heat just didn't appeal to either one of us. So we made Sunday another lazy day and stayed pool side for most of it. My Grandma gave us 3-D glasses to wear during the fireworks and they certainly did put an interesting spin on them!

(Gracie with her Great-Grandma Marlene and her Great-Grandpa Tom).

On Monday we went up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (it's the largest tramway in the western hemisphere - reaching 8,500 feet above sea level). It is definitely a must do.

Also, my grandma gave Gracie "the world". She introduced her to one of the coolest sprinklers I have ever seen...Tuesday we had another lazy poolside day - nothing says vacation like the sun beating down on you while you lay on an air mattress in a private pool - doing absolutely nothing. Like I mentioned before, heaven on earth.

Later that night we went out to dinner with my grandparents. They treated us to a delicious meal at one of their favorite restaurants. Towards the end of the meal our waitress brought out a dessert, placed it in front of Mark and began singing 'Happy Birthday'. I was just getting ready to inform her that she had the wrong table when my grandma told me that she secretly lined it up - Mark's birthday is in two weeks and she wanted to celebrate him. What a lovely surprise! Our time in Palm Springs was PERFECT. Seriously, I mean it. Usually vacations leave you feeling like you need another vacation, but our stay in Palm Springs was quite the opposite - it left us feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. Now, as if that weren't enough, when we left Palm Springs our trip was not over - we had one more thing on our agenda... DISNEYLAND!

We left Wednesday morning and made the drive in record time - getting lost only once. We checked into our hotel room which was ready hours before it was scheduled to be - woo hoo! We packed up some essentials and then made the short one mile trek to the gates of Disneyland...

Here's some things we saw:

Here's some things we learned:

Some rides are scary...

Some rides are worth 'pickin'...

Some rides are sexy (*Wink, wink*) ...

Most rides are FUN!!!
And dreams do come true...
Gracie met her favorite princess, Ariel (from 'The Little Mermaid'). Also, she met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, and Snow White. By far, Gracie's favorite part of Disneyland was "eating lunch at Ariel's house".
California, you were good to us... thank you.

We'll leave you with a video of Gracie's 'Disney Dance'...