Our Vacation - Day 1

Our family was scheduled to leave Utah on Tuesday, December 26. We set the alarm, and struggled to wake up when it went off. We were supposed to pick up our rented mini-van at 7:00 am, but we were running late and didn't get there until about 7:15 or 7:30. Oh well. Once we did get there, we were informed that they didn't have a mini-van for us. So they had to upgrade us, and we got a Mercury Mountaineer instead. It only had 2000 miles on it, and it had leather seats. It was super nice, with 3 different climate controls, and lots of space. It had a ton of leg room in the front which I really enjoyed.

We drove the vehicle back to our house and proceeded to finish packing and load it up. I was hoping that we would be on the road by 9:00, but we didn't get going until 9:30. Oh well, not a big deal, especially since we didn't pick up the car on time. Besides, we missed the morning commute!

The drive was long, but uneventful. Very uneventful. We have a portable DVD player, so I bought this nifty bag that can be hung between the two front seats and the kids were very content to watch movies as we drove along. I didn't want them watching movies the whole time though, so there was usually an hour break between each one. It worked out well. I had also bought 'Color Wonder' books for the girls, and those kept them very busy as well - quite the hit.

We arrived at our hotel around 9:00 that night. We were staying at the Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel. Everything seemed to go well at check-in, and we walked to our room and found the door open and dirty dishes everywhere. Back to the front desk we go. They apologize profusely and give us another room. We were relieved to find the door closed and locked on this room, and horrified to find other people's belongings scattered all over the room once we opened the door. Back to the front desk again, this time not so happy. The front desk people are very confused by this point, and issue us a new key for a new room AND accompany us to the room to make sure it's OK. They also brought along two plush Snoopy dogs for The Princess and The Dragon - a nice touch, but not really solving the room problem. This time all goes well, and we are ready to get settled in for the night.

The Bellman assists The King with all of our luggage, and we hurry to get everyone tucked into bed because we want to be at Disneyland early in the morning.