More Summer Fun

We have been having loads of summer fun with cousin "Shelbs" as Miss M likes to call her. Over the weekend, Cousin Shelbs and Uncle Kan went up north to do some relief work with our church. So, the kids and I ventured to Odaiba with some friends and had some play time at the beach. The K Man is sporting some super cool dude sunglasses. So stinking cute. Then, on Tuesday night, I hired the babysitter since hubby is out of town and Shelbs and I went to Disneyland without kids for four hours. We had a blast. I loved riding something other than Small World and Dumbo. We did not even eat dinner - just bought some honey popcorn and kept going. I definitely think the hubs and I will be doing this and going to Disney Sea on a date one night so I can ride the cool rides there too. We fulfilled our Disney week with a trip to Disney Sea today. Cousin Shelbs is still at the park, but I brought the tired kiddos on home. Now, Miss M is quite partial and told us on the way she did not like Disney Sea and would rather go to Disneyland. I know, my kids are spoiled even knowing what Disney is all about. If you lived 30 minutes from the park, your kids would know what it is too. However, when we left the park tonight, Miss M said, "Mama, thank you for taking me. I had fun and want to do both Disneyland and Disney Sea for my fourth birthday." Oh my! She then informed me she wants to stay at the Disneyland hotel for her fourth birthday and the Disney Sea hotel for her fifth birthday. At least she is a girl who knows what she wants. I admit...it was a bit difficult being at the park without the hubs. We have such a good system when we go as a family and I wanted Cousin Shelbs to get out and enjoy it as much as she could. We tend to stay in the kid friendly places, obviously. At times I was a bit frustrated in the dead of heat with two kids on my own. However, we had so much fun eating dinner on our own, taking fun pictures at the end of the day in front of every Mickey statue, and well, Miss M telling me thank you on the way home made it all worth it. I know I have said this over and over - that Disney is so much fun for me - an escape really. And it is. I enjoy living here. There are huge benefits - like I describe here in the blog. But people, there are hard days living in a foreign country. Cousin Shelbs has seen it. And I need a Disney retreat once a quarter to forget about where I am and just be - enjoy my kiddos and be. It was a good day...a very good day.