Besides the start of a busy holiday season, we kicked off November with a great trip to Disneyland. Susan had a conference in Anaheim at the Disneyland Hotel, so what better way to make the most of being away from home then to let the Greg and the kids have fun at Disneyland. Of course, it wasn’t much fun for Susan as she went to classes all day and her family played at the most wonderful place on earth, but she was glad they were able to go, even without her. The BIG Surprise . . . Trying to keep our trip to Disneyland a secret for months proved quite challenging. For years mom and dad have carried on conversations using the old spelling technique. This year Preston was one up on us as he could figure out what we were spelling. So, keeping this trip a surprise took a lot of careful planning when the kids were not around. The night before we left, mom presented them both with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse doll. It only took two guesses before they figured out where we were going. They were more than willing to miss two days of school to go see Mickey!

Lighter traffic than we ever remember seeing helped make the 45 minute drive a short 25 minutes. As we approached the Disneyland Hotel, we realized just how much everything had changed. The new California Adventure Theme Park was almost complete and had transformed the roads, parking areas, and entrances that we were use to into a foreign place. Though we saw the beginning of the construction last year at Christmas, the full-sized theme park had sprawled through the parking lots, across streets and into the hotel.

One of the first things we notices was that our favorite Monorail Café had been a victim of the new expansion. Despite the construction, we settled comfortably into our room and then weave our way through the construction ramps to the monorail. Susan’s conference didn’t start until early Thursday morning, so she was excited to spend at least one day at Disneyland. Brooklyn finds her spot on the monorail by the door so she can be the first one out. The monorail was only running one way from the hotel to the park because of the construction, which resulted in a ten to fifteen minute wait for each train.

To continue this adventure to Disneyland, click here. The link will lead you to our three days at Disneyland. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of the introduction on our California 2000 adventure as Grandpa surprises the kids when he flies in for a couple of days and takes us on a helicopter ride to Catalina.

Continuing the BIG surprise theme for the trip, we managed to keep it a secret that Grandpa was joining us on Friday morning. Greg did a great job not raising any suspicions as he and the kids approached the airport. While Susan was in classes for the second day, he told the kids that she had forgotten her laptop and it was being flown in as luggage, which they had to pick up. Trusting dad and busy in their own world, they didn’t even notice as grandpa opened the back door and loaded his luggage. It wasn’t until he opened the front door and got in the van that they saw him. Very surprised and excited to see him, they were thrilled that he would be spending the next three days with them on vacation. As they left the airport, Greg notice a café with old, antique airplanes outside on display. Stopping for great photo opportunity, grandpa really enjoyed seeing the planes.

Click here to view when grandpa comes to see us.

While the kids believed grandpa was the big surprise for the day, they had no idea they would not be spending the day at Disneyland. Instead, grandpa had an even bigger surprise for them—a helicopter ride to Catalina Island. Arriving at the ocean, they new something was up, but it wasn’t until the helicopter landed right in front of them that they knew what was going on. And boy you should have seen the excitement in their faces. Though it was a little cold, they had a great time at Catalina Island and loved the helicopter ride to and from the island. Friday night we all enjoyed seeing the house in Corona Del Mar where grandpa’s parents use to live and then walking along the beach for a few cold minutes. Saturday was spent at Disneyland with Dad and Grandpa and even Susan found time to join them Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning it was back to Phoenix.

Click here to view when grandpa comes to see us.

As we flew into Phoenix Sunday morning, Greg was anxious to find out the outcome of Proposition 302, the new Cardinal stadium. Though we knew the presidential election had not been resolved, we had no idea the stadium issue was so close that they needed more time to count absentee ballots to decide the issue. Though it took a few extra days, Greg was excited that the new stadium passed.

From Phoenix, the kids were heading home with grandpa while Greg and Susan were off to Las Vegas for COMDEX. At the airport, our brave, tough Brooklyn broke into tears afraid to go without mom and dad. A few reassuring words later and lots of hugs and kisses and she bounced into a taxi with grandpa and Preston off to get grandpa’s car. On the trip home, they kept grandpa entertained looking for cool places to eat and reviewing their trip together.

In the mean time, Greg and Susan grabbed a quick bite to eat and flew out to Las Vegas where they met up with two people who work in Susan’s department. The group would be spending the next three days at the largest computer convention in the world with over 250,000 other people. Of course the highlight of the trip was to be the 210-foot bungee jump at Circus Circus. This being the third jump for Susan and Greg, Susan agrees to go first and lead the way.

Although this was a brief introduction to our trip, you may continue our adventure in detail.