Much-Needed Fun Day!

I felt the need for a fun, mommy day with the kids. I have been working around the clock and we have been overwhelmed with our busy schedule. Although I am really enjoying my job, there are days when I miss just being a mom. Since our Disneyland passes expire this week, I decided to take a day off and let the kids skip school and we could have a fun day together at the amusement park. I wanted to surprise them, so I talked to their teachers ahead of time to make sure they weren't going to miss anything important, and to get any work they could do...
When they woke up in the morning I told them we were taking the day off and heading to Disneyland. Their reaction wasn't quite as I expected! Zoe was quite shocked. She was sad that she wouldn't be getting perfect attendance and afraid she would get behind in her work and would miss something important. Cooper was disappointed that he would miss his math facts quiz, but otherwise was ok. I told them that it had all been worked out and that it would be fine. On our drive there, I looked behind and saw Zoe crying. I honestly didn't realize she would be this upset! Since I have never taken them out of school for anything other than them being sick, this was a new experience for them. Zoe is very much a "rule-follower" and wasn't comfortable with missing school. I told her that it was ok to have a "fun" day once in a while, and that she deserves a break sometimes too!

Once we got to Disneyland, everything was better and we had a great day together! Grandma joined us for a while, then left to get Jax and came back with him. The park was all decked out in Halloween decoration galore...I loved it!

Of course our favorite ride this time of year is the Haunted Mansion since it is re-done with the 'Nightmare before Christmas' decorations. As we were getting in line Zoe spotted the Jack and Sally characters, so after the ride we went and got in line to meet them. They were great characters, Jack was so animated and spent a lot of time talking to the kids!

Grandma left to get Jax, and the kids and I stopped for lunch. They wanted to get some corn dogs from the corn dog cart, and they loved them!
Then we hit a few more rides before Jax joined us...

We had a ton of fun on the roller coasters, especially Thunder Mountain...

We had a great dinner at the Orleans Cafe (our favorite place to eat!) and hit a few more rides. After Mimi and Jax left, we stayed a little while longer. It had been a long time since we'd stayed at Disneyland until dark, so we were enjoying the lights and scenery. We finally left about 9. We were exhausted, but had big smiles on our face. It was worth the effort, and even the tears. We had a fun day!!