sorry for party rockin

We are back from LA! And exhausted! We hit the ground boots running and never stopped until we were on our own couch last night – where we passed out right after dinner.

So let’s start with Tuesday, when I picked up Kevin and the last of his stuff to pack and brought him over to our house for the night. I walked in to him playing video games and said “you ready to go?” and he said “to where” and I said “DISNEYLAND!” — because this trip wasn’t a surprise, we’ve been talking about it nonstop, I even called him earlier in the day to tell him what time to be ready for me to pick him up! And he said “right now??” LOL. I said well we are picking you up for it right now, because we have to leave for our flight at 2am.

Had dinner, finished packing, and went to bed early. I was up before my alarm though – because guess what, my head hurt. Yes I’ve found a medication that keeps me from getting migraines – but only if I REMEMBER TO TAKE IT. I forgot to take it Sunday night after we got home from Back to the Future late, and I’d been fighting off a migraine ever since. This would continue on over our whole vacation :\

Alarm went off at 2, I got up to get ready, got Kevin up and dressed, Chase got dressed, we did our leaving checklist, loaded the car and hit the road.

Got our bags checked in, got through security where I got yelled at for walking up to the TSA agent with Kevin “TWO AT A TIME!” before I could explain he needs assistance and then yelled at again because I apparently went the wrong way after she looked at our IDs. Don’t you love TSA? The folks at the scanner were nicer and let Chase guide Kevin through the scanner, thankfully.

Had breakfast and then boarded the plane – which wasn’t full!

Chase got to move over and have a row to himself.

I slept a little bit but Kevin was wide awake – I kept telling him to sleep but he’d say “I’m full of energy!” So we did a little photoshoot in the blue light of the plane instead.

Sunrise in the sky was super cool

Landed in Houston, got to our next gate and got on the second flight to LA. Much longer flight this time – MEM to Houston was only about an hour, Houston to LA nearly 3. This time Kevin played Temple Run on his phone for a long time. I did finally sleep for a good stretch, then read for a while.

Got to LA, got our luggage and our rental car all pretty easily.

We were starving so had lunch at In-n-Out. Memphis is getting its own In-n-Out sometime soon, and we’ve had it before, but wanted to try it again.

Next we stopped by USC to run in the bookstore. Chase used to work there when he lived in LA, so he was having fun being nostalgic and seeing what has changed. What a pretty campus! Chase bought a hoodie and then ran into an old coworker! How funny.

Kevin found a Sprite that matched his shirt.

Then it was my turn – fabric district!! Oh my god. I’ve never seen anything like it, so much fabric in one place??

I did buy a few things. Enough that we stopped and bought a new suitcase to get it home in (needed one anyway. Our luggage set my grandparents gave us as a wedding present are slowly kicking the bucket and we’re trying to replace them as we can). I’ll post about the fabric later because I haven’t taken pics of the haul.

After that we finally made the drive down to Anaheim and got checked into our hotel. We were on the top floor, but facing away from disney. Had a quick nap – well, the boys did while I unpacked stuff and steamed my dress.

Fit check for the night

Ubered over to downtown disney for dinner

Ate at Black Tap which was actually pretty good.

Found a swimsuit with Magnum PI on it??

And then Kevin got beat up by the Hulk

Thursday was Disneyland day!

Our space western Luke and Leia disneybounds. He didn’t keep the porg on long, though.

Pic from our little handheld mini camera.

Little baby castle!

So I did all this research into Disneyland’s DAS for Kevin and everything I was reading said you could still do it in person there, and I swear I still saw this on their site as of Monday last week “in person or online”. So that’s what I planned for because I feel like they get a better sense of Kevin in person. Got into City Hall and… they don’t do it in person anymore. I had to scan a QR code and then sit and wait on an agent to chat with for 20 minutes, and then an awkward video call we could barely hear. They did get him set up but just a frustrating development. Apparently I fell into a Mandela effect over this because now I’m looking at the site and it doesn’t say in person and they stopped doing in person way back in 2024? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills LOL

Anyway, stopped at Jolly Holiday for drinks and then Maurice’s for cheesy garlic bread and the cookie croissant thing. I did not like the cookie croissant but both the regular cheesey garlic bread and breakfast version were really good. We sat where we could watch the Fairy Godmother greeting people.

Kevin liked these glasses

First stop of the day was Star Tours, then tried to find the Disney Visa card members character spot but couldn’t. Bought a shirt and then walked back up front to the lockers to store it and shopped a bit more up there.

Met Minnie!

Kevin and I then rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds – Chase sat that one out, and I’m glad he did – there was no way he could’ve sat in that little bobsled comfortably with his back issues. Kevin had trouble getting in and out of it – I had to grab him by his arms and help LIFT him out LOL But glad to say I finally got to ride it and I can mark it off my list.

After that we headed back to Batuu.

Blue and Pink milk. Had to try both.

Little photoshoot!

Got some pics in front of the falcon with photopass – the photopass photographer thought Kevin was our child and kept calling us mom and dad LOL

Saw Vi and R2D2, and Chase got in trouble with Kylo Ren.

Kevin and I rose Rise – Chase sat it out again.

I always like to stand right in front of Bek because it kinda freaks me out to be that close to an animatronic LOL This was Kevin’s first time ever getting to ride this where the final Kylo was working.

After that we had a very long hot wait for food at Hungry Bear, but it was good. Then we went and did Pirates, Kevin’s fav.

And then we all had Dole Whips and Chase was in pain or something?? LOL

Then off to Haunted Mansion.

We got stopped right in front of Hatbox Ghost! First time seeing him and got to get some good pics.

Also generally when we ride HM one of us rides with Kevin and the other rides alone, because we don’t all fit. We were discussing how to do it in in line and I said “I don’t mind riding alone” and Chase said “I don’t mind riding alone either” and then Kevin said “Me neither” — so I said do you really want to ride alone? And he said yes, so we let him ride alone. He did fine, just when he got out of the doombuggy at the end he just stood there on the walkway trying to wait on us and had to get shooed along by the cast member LOL

Had a frozen lemonade that really hit the spot, shopped some more. Enjoyed New Orleans square.

Headed back to main street to drop stuff off at the locker, and then time to check in for dinner at Carnation Cafe.

Been waiting 13 years to have this potato soup again. Was not as good as I remembered, but still good.

I got the club and the boys both had patty melts.

And Kevin and I were both too full to eat much LOL We packed up our leftovers and stuck them in the locker! LOL

Kevin defeated

Chase got ice cream

We rode the Storybook Land Canal which I’ve always wanted to do, but I kept calling it the Storybook Love Canal. Don’t wanna ride the Love Canal LOL It was nice, especially being just after sunset with everything lit up.

Then we rode Mr Toad, because I thought we’d skipped it in 2010 and I wanted to ride it because I never have. But as soon as we were on it I was like… oh I have been on this LOL

After that we staked out a spot for Paint the Night. We ended up being in a good spot, everyone in front of us stayed sitting and we were right up against a fence we could kind of perch on.

Stopped on Main St for Chase to buy a hat and to get our stuff, then headed on out.

Kevin ate the Carnation Cafe leftovers in the hotel room LOL

Friday was California Adventure!

Kevin’s Star Lord look for posterity because it was way too hot for the jacket. We left it in the hotel room.

My Scarlet Witch look – had been hoping I could wear the hoodie in the morning but nope. I wore it around my waist all day except at the very end of the day when it got a tiny bit cooler. These shorts were the bane of my existence that day though… the legs kept rolling up and I was constantly having to adjust them ALL DAY.

Kevin and I did a little photoshoot around the entrance while Chase set up the locker.

I placed a mobile order for mickey waffles for the boys and a smoothie for me at Schmoozie’s and apparently just completely forgot drinks were needed so Chase got back in line to get coffees for them.

Wandered around a bit before our first return time.

Checked out Cars Land. Look, tbh I hate Cars, but this land was really cool and when Lightning Mcqueen actually rolled down the street? That was kinda awesome. We rode Radiator Springs and it was so fun!

Linked these pics to the wrong account and wasn’t going to pay separately for them so I Just screenshot them.

Then back around to Avengers Campus where we watched the Spider-man jump, and got some more photopass photos.

And then met Shang-Chi and Antman!

Call me a bad cousin but… I did not tell Kevin that Guardians Mission Breakout was just Tower of Terror. He stopped riding Tower of Terror a while back because he said it made his head feel funny – but he’s gotten so much better about the dizziness since then, so I thought I’d try it. He figured out that it was essentially Tower of Terror once we were in the queue, and he agreed to try it. (And we were in line with a service dog which was kinda cool to see how they handle service dogs on this ride? There was a kennel right there for it to wait in!)

Photos taken moments before disaster

Just kidding! The drops started and he started giggling. He loved it. When I asked him at the end of the day what his fav ride was… it was this! (And then he said or maybe Radiator Springs)

Had a churro

Kevin made a mess

And discovered a cool way to hold onto our fans while in line to meet Goofy.

Goofy!

Ran into Dr Strange

We rode Webslingers which was really fun! Then met up with Chris & Leah and had lunch at Pym’s. On our way out of Avengers Campus we stumbled into this:

Kevin got to shake hands with several of them after, Dr Strange remembered him!

Spotted Star Lord over in the corner and had to go get a pic with him.

After that we just kinda of wandered around with Chris and Leah, ate festival food, rode Soarin. I had some Strawberry drink, the boys had alcoholic drinks (Kevin had some tiki thing and got a buzz from it LOL), I had birria tacos, I can’t remember what else the boys had.

Aesthetic

Rode Webslingers again and this time I beat the boys.

Met Loki, told Kevin “good job” after he posed and Loki said “Thank you” LOL

Red Guardian. Glad I made Kevin watch Black Widow and Thunderbolts before we left LOL

Captain Marvel!

Walked over to Grand Californian for dinner. I want to stay here!! We ate at Craftsmans Bar? Grill? Whichever one is more quick-servicey. I had nachos, Kevin had a hot dog and Chase had wings… and apparently somewhere along the way Kevin forgot how to eat a hot dog and tried to eat it from the middle. I was stuffed and the nachos was too much.

Walked back around towards Radiator Springs the other way and it was all so pretty lit up at night.

Rode Radiator Springs again which was really fun at night.

Then we headed out, completely exhausted again.

Funny that the day before when I wore those flat, no-support cheap pleather boots with my bound all day my feet were fine. I even brought a pair of sandals in our backpack incase they hurt and I needed to change. But no problems, feet were good all day. The next day wearing actual nikes with support and cushion? My feet were on fire and so sore halfway through the day! I would’ve liked to walk through Avengers Campus on our way out, but my feet were too tired!

So now our Disney fun is over… time for 2 days of LA fun 🙂

Kevin’s cool LA shirt

HOLLYWOOD

Chase picked out a breakfast spot that was in the area where needed to be that morning. Pat came up and had breakfast with us!

We got there super early and just hung around for a bit.

Everything was going fine til breakfast was done. Kevin said he needed to go to the bathroom – there were only 2 single bathrooms, so he got in line and waited. I stood with him, and he started gagging. I knew he wasn’t going to hold til a bathroom opened up so I rushed him out of there and he puked by a tree outside.

He’s had issues with his throat clearing/coughing for years. He takes omeprazale for it, and mucinex to clear it up. We’ve had it under control pretty well the last few years but the last few times we’ve had him it’s been way worse. He’s started doing this “horking” thing and then it gags him and he starts getting pukey. I found that giving him hard candy to suck on in the morning helps a lot – but apparently it didn’t this morning. Haven’t had a puke incident since… 2017? Maybe even 2016. Poor kid.

And people started coming out of the restaurant, giving us napkins, cups of water, a wet wipe, a handkerchief – wow, everyone was so nice. I got him to the car and gave him an emetrol and got him cleaned up – and no more issues the rest of that day thankfully.

Had a few minutes to kill so drove over to see the Ennis House.

Then it was time for our Hollyhock tour!

It was so cool to get to actually walk through this space I studied in school 25 years ago and have been obsessed with ever since.

I took a gazillion pics so I won’t bore you with them all!

The crazy history of this place and its restoration is amazing.

So cool!

After this we decided to drive up to Griffith Observatory. Before we left, Chase and Kevin went to the porta-potties outside. The one Kevin opened had a woman inside and she hadn’t locked the door?? Kevin was mortified LOL

It was too crowded to stop at Griffith so we just admired the area and kept driving.

Went to pay our respects to Carrie and Debbie.

Lunchtime!

We all got burgers and fries – and I got a luggage tag to put on the new suitcase.

We were 2 booths away from the Beatles booth!

After that we went shopping, found a little area with a lot of vintage shops and other neat things and just walked around and shopped. Didn’t buy anything.

Stopped in “It’s a Wrap!” first! Funny I had just posted my Anna Valerious costume that day on IG and that sure does remind me of her blouse.

I was very tempted by this wool capelet I found but did not get it.

Capitol Records!

We went into Little Tokyo after that and found Kevin heaven with all those stores. Peeked in a few stores, found one really cool vintage store where Chase got a jacket and Kevin tried to get a tattoo.

Had dinner at an Italian spot – had a hard time finding parking. Kevin got a compliment on his shirt though!

Headed back to the hotel. We talked about how we should’ve switched hotels after disney to something in LA – but the thought of having to pack up after those long disney days and carry our stuff around until a new check in was just as laborious as having to drive 40 minutes to our hotel every night.

Sunday!
Drove out to the beach and had breakfast at this cool place called Sloopy’s.

Fancy OJ

Drove up the coast for a while admiring the ocean and the cute areas around the beaches… and seeing the devastation from where the wildfires hit last year.

Speaking of, went to Will Rogers State Park. All that was left of his house were the fireplaces.

Enjoyed some nice weather for a bit, saw some horses.

Headed off into an area where Chase used to hang out when he lived here.

Incredible shirt in a vintage store.

Had an ice cream sandwich at diddy riese – which we tried to do back in 2010, but the line was too long.

Also, Kevin was OBSESSED with the delivery robots and waymos. While we were sitting in front of diddy riese eating our ice cream, one of them activated and rolled past us. I think Kevin was more intrigued by that than anything he saw at disney or anywhere else the whole weekend LOL

Went to Century City mall, followed by Grove mall. Shopped around for a bit. I got to go to Popmart! Got a snoopy blind box and we all got a snack.

Then checked out Grove mall which was neat. Went into this Barnes and Noble just so we could say we’ve been in a B&N in NYC and LA, LOL. And so chase could go to the bathroom.

We drove around and just looked at things in Beverly Hills, and then decided even though dinner wasn’t for another hour and a half, we ought to figure out how we were getting there with the roads blocked off for the Academy Awards. Glad we did – it took us that long to get around trying to figure out where to park. Finally had to just call the restaurant who told us how to get to their parking lot and avoid the closed roads.

It was neat being in the area though. We could see the big Oscars sign and people walking around the area getting ready for it. Even saw Jack Sparrow taking out his trash (LOL some random dude pulling his garbage can down to the street was dressed like Jack Sparrow? Dunno. I love how whimsical LA is.)

Dinner!

We were there nearly an hour early, but we figured we could just park and sit at the bar so we didn’t have to figure anything else. They were able to just go ahead and seat us, so that was nice.

Kevin had spaghetti.

Chase and I had steaks and they brought out a brownie for Chase’s bday!

We were sitting in Sophia Loren’s booth apparently. The servers were great. It was a lot of fun!

We left through the front so we could gawk at the Oscars stuff – they had it all caged off and seeing folks walking around inside the “cage” in their evening gowns and suits was funny. Celebrity zoo!

Made the long trek back to the hotel to finish packing. We had to be up at 4am for our flight. Unfortunately our hotel was also host to a dance/cheer competition and the kids were being little shits, running up and down the hallways at 11pm. I got into it with one of them and their mom. Called security who walked up and down the halls but lesson learned – make sure your hotel isn’t hosting a bunch of shitty teenagers if you’re in need of a good sleep.

Up at 4am and dressed and off to the airport. Returned the car, caught the shuttle to LAX. LAX has the worst signage I’ve ever seen?? Couldn’t figure out how to get to ticketing, finally had to ask. Agent at the desk after we checked our bags pointed us to go one direction to security. Got yelled at that this area is only for Precheck, go to 3rd floor for general. Get on the elevator to go to 3rd floor and there’s nothing up there, get yelled at by security that we’re not supposed to be up here? No signage anywhere to say where to go. So weird for such a big airport. Finally found general security and got Kevin through, found our gate and got breakfast and finally everything was chill.

Set up Kevin to watch a movie on the first leg. Towards the end I noticed him doing his little head shake he does when he doesn’t feel good so I gave him a hard candy to suck on and put his bands on… but it was too late, we got the barf bag to him just in time. Had to talk to him to keep him engaged the rest of the flight to keep his mind off it and to not puke again. The flight was really bumpy so I think that contributed, but also frustrating that for 3 hours we couldn’t get up to take him to the bathroom or to get water and had to sit there with his puke bag for the rest of the flight.

Second leg was smoother, he did ok. Got to Memphis, got our bags, and on the way out he was still moaning and groaning so I stopped at a garbage can and said if I still felt like puking, now was the time. He did. Poor baby.

We were going to keep him at our house for the night and bring him home today, but I knew since he wasn’t feeling good he was going to want his own bed. So we took him home and I’ll sort through his laundry this week and take it all home to him later. Called him this morning to check in on him and he’s still not feeling good – not pukey, but I think he’s just exhausted and maybe has a little cold. Directed him to take some medicine and told him to rest. You know how men turn into giant babies when they don’t feel good? Kevin takes that up to 11 LOL. “Am I going to die?”

Anyway, after we dropped him off Chase and I picked up dinner, came home and ate… I took a bath and then we both passed out. I think we slept for like 13 hours LOL.

Anyway, great trip. I want to go again – I think another trip in the future will be slower, not so much to try to cram in.