The oldest daughter was calling to inform me that they were once again returning home from a possible hospital stay. Shad's platelets had gone up a lot, to way over 100. Great! But now his Neutrophils had dropped and they were too low to start chemo. I could hear Shad, in the background, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was frustrated. His mom was frustrated. Living life in limbo is hard on everyone. They have returned to the hospital every 2 to 3 days since Halloween thinking that they will most likely be staying for a week.Then after a lot of poking, prodding and testing, they have been told to go home.
I did my best to offer support and then hung up.
A little while later I received this text:
"I think you should forget all your responsibilities and drive to California tonight so we can go to Disneyland tomorrow."
Tempting. Very, very tempting. However, I had a Relief Society activity I had committed to help with that night and Shad was scheduled to go back for another try on Thursday, so that left a pretty short window of opportunity. I didn't really see how it would work, but I really wanted it to. I gave it some thought, made some phone calls, and at 4:30 AM this morning the youngest son, his friend, and I were in the van driving to Anaheim.
We dropped the friend off to have a visit with his family in Lakewood and arrived at Disneyland just after it opened at 10:00 AM. The oldest daughter didn't tell Shad that we were meeting them there, just in case something happened and we didn't make it. He was pretty excited to see us!
The youngest son asked if Shad was going to be in charge this trip, since he definitely was the last time we visited the Magic Kingdom on his birthday, and I told him "probably". Shad is definitely the one with the take charge attitude in this group and the rest of us really are usually happy to follow his lead.
Our first stop was Soarin' Over California, one of Shad's favorites. However when we saw there was a 25 minute wait we opted to get a fast pass and then headed over to the Monster's Inc. ride, another of Shad's favorites (and Grandma's too). Really, what isn't there to love about a toddler singing in the bathroom?
Roz is my favorite part of the ride. She always has some entertaining, snide remark to make and this time of the year she even says it with the holiday spirit.
While we were at that end of California Adventure we swung by the Disney Rewards card character "Meet and Greet" and hung out with Stitch for a few minutes. He and Shad had a fun time playing tag, hide and go seek, and acting like monsters.
The rest of us even got in on the action too
and then Shad told Stitch goodbye.
After that most of us decided we were hungry and headed to the Wharf for lunch via Cars Land. They had a lot of cute Christmas decorations, but I opted for a picture with the autumn leaves where you can't even tell we're at Disneyland. Perhaps not the best choice, but I do like this photo.
When I decided I could make this trip to Disneyland work I checked the online forecast to see what kind of clothes I should wear. When we came in October it was rainy and cold. The forecast for today was 95 on one site and 88 on another. I texted the oldest daughter and told her to tell Shad that it was going to be hot and Grandma wanted to go on Splash Mountain (definitely not one of his favorite rides since he got a face full of water the first time he rode it). He countered with Grizzly River Rapids, also not a favorite of his, but apparently better than Splash Mountain. I was happy to accept that as an alternative.
After we ate it wasn't quite time to use our Soarin' fast passes so Shad checked the map and informed us that Grizzly River Rapids would be a good choice to ride next since it was on the way to Soarin' Over California. That kid loves his maps and has pretty good map reading skills too!
There was a bit of a line at the Rapids ride, which gave Shad plenty of time to remember about the bear in the cave that he is afraid of. We finally determined that the bear was asleep and what we could hear when we went in the cave was him snoring. Shad decided that would be OK, until he was buckled in and ready to go.
The 2 couples who were riding with us couldn't decide if we were torturing the child or not. One second he was crying and the next he was laughing.
As we walked off the ride, all still fairly dry, Shad informed us that he liked this ride now. We probably should have ridden it again immediately, because I am pretty sure he will forget he likes it before we come back.
We headed to "the plane ride" next and we all enjoyed ourselves without any crying.
Shad and I were hanging out after Soarin' waiting for the others to go to the restroom, when a nice older couple approached me and asked if they could give Shad this stuffed whale they had won at the arcade. He was pretty excited and even remembered to say "thank you".
Before we left California Adventure and headed to Disneyland we stopped to check out the Christmas tree.
Shad's favorite toy under the tree was the airplane, of course.
I was kind of partial to the Mickey Mouse myself.
We swung by Elias and Co to see how long the line for Santa was and found him just waiting for us to come and visit. Shad was pretty unsure what he wanted for Christmas, but he enjoyed chatting with the big guy
This is Grandma's Star Tours isn't my favorite ride face.
Then we helped Buzz defeat Emperor Zurg
and enjoyed some holiday Small World.
Next we joined in the Jolly Holiday Revelry at Big Thunder Ranch
with some of our Disney friends
Shad has become a big Jack Skellington fan so the Haunted Mansion ride was a must do
and then he decided we could go on Splash Mountain if he got to wear the poncho.
Unfortunately, the poncho only stopped about half of the water that gushed over the front half of the log following the big splash.
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Luckily for Shad, he had extra clothes. Grandma and mommy weren't quite so lucky.
The youngest son didn't even get wet.
Our last stop in Disneyland was at Pirates of the Caribbean.
and then headed back to California Adventure to use our Radiator Springs Racers fast passes.
The ride broke down for a few minutes when we were almost to the front of the line, so we spent some time playing hand slap games to keep Shad entertained.
We ended our day at the Cozy Cone snack area enjoying some pretzel and churro bites
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and then headed for San Diego. I rode with the oldest daughter and Shad, and the youngest son went and retrieved his friend and then joined us there.
It was a long day in a short trip (we're headed back to Arizona tomorrow morning), but it was definitely worth it. I'm glad we came!
Today I am grateful for
a son who came to California with me so I wouldn't have to travel alone and who was willing to carry Shad when he got tired.
an annual pass to Disneyland.
daylight savings time that gave me an extra hour of travel time so I could arrive at Disneyland close to when it opened.
getting to spend time with people I love!
