Its "GO TIME" !!!

On your mark, get set.....Its GO TIME... Well in a few hours it will be. There is an excitement in the air at my house. Everyone's first words this morning had something to do with Disneyland and/or vacation.

No work or school for 9 whole days. I am praying for safety during our trip and for time to go so slow that its almost annoying. I want to soak up every second of warm weather we get and enjoy every second of my kids being 'just kids' at Disneyland. This truly will be our last trip with Zack as a 'boy'. He is 17 now and next year means he is an adult, not to mention he will be a father in 4 months. From here on out vacation time (or any other time) will mean he has more responsibilities than he did on this trip. I'm looking forward to meeting my grandaughter but I'm excited for some little boy time with Zack at this moment. Tyler is on cloud 9 but being a little anal about what we can & can't pack to save him room in the back seat. He keeps telling us that we should leave Isaiah at home with Grandma and the dogs. Isaiah is excited for the Zoo and Shamu and of course Mickey and seeing Uncle Anthony. He told me he loves to stay in "ho-tales". I'm assuming that he is going to be exausted from all the excitement of the next week. I cannot wait!!

Our bags are sitting by the door waiting for Ron to load the car after work. Isaiah has his back pack filled with all his toddler necessities. I think I've convinced him to leave the lazer tag goggles behind. Stay tuned for lots of pictures upon our return.

61 hours til our Disneyland road trip starts!!!

"Our bags are packed, we're ready to go. We're standing here outside your door. We hate to wake you up to say goodbye... The dawn is breakin its early morn. The taxi's waitin, he's blowin his horn. Already so lonesome we could die.. So kiss us and smile for us.. Tell us that you'll wait for us. Hold us like you'll never let us go...Cuz, we're leaving on a jet plane....."

Ok we're leaving in the car, not on a jet plane, and only 3/5 of our bags are packed. I think you can guess which 3 those are.. Isaiah, Ty & Me!! psst.. we were packed last week!

Important items I don't want to forget

1. Camera

2. Portable dvd player for Isaiah in the car (road trips ain't what they used to be sistah)

3. Case/solution for my contact lenses

4. Theme park tickets

5. Nail file/clippers (hate being on vacation without either...weird huh)

6. Swimsuits

7. Flat iron (can go without the hair dryer but this is an absolute)

8. Munchies (to keep the passengers quiet in the car)

9. Lotion

10. Kids

9 Days til the Russell's go on VACATION ~

The entire household has vacation-itis. We have even started coming up with ways we could leave a week early. Now I could do it, seems how I can work anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. Thanks to T-mobile I'm up and ready to roll. tee hee!! Ron that is a different story. He has exactly 6.5 days of vacation left. (somebody isn't a good planner) Either way he is going we're just not leaving until the morning of the 27th.

1st stop will be San Diego. We're guestimating about 1200 miles and a 20 hour car ride. No worries, we will stop to sleep as we will have Isaiah with us and I'm gathering he will be content for at least the first 6-7 hours of driving. We'll push to try & do 10 hours the first day though. We're hoping to get there in time to have dinner with my nephew, Anthony, who lives in the area. He works at a outdoor education camp so he heads off to work by the end of the weekend. Sunday we will spend the day at Sea World. Introducing the Shute's to the Shamu Splash Zone. Even Earwig said she will sit in the zone this time. LOL.. Last time she was pissssed!! Just imagine a teenager who worked very hard on getting her hair perfect to have some huge whale mess it up with water..and we're not talking just a splash we're talking 'tons' of water. Still makes me giggle.

Next stop is Disneyland/Anaheim. We will be there from Monday through Friday. We'll also hit up Universal Studios during this time and of course taking my sis & bro -in-law on a tour of Hollywood and some famous peeps homes in Beverly Hills. Don't know why I still find this cool. My Aunt Edie did this with me when I was 12. I thought it was so cool then...because I was in love with Tom Selleck (Magnum PI?) and she showed me where he lived. I look back now that she isn't around and I think its even cooler considering the lady was like 72 when she did that.. Hope I have that kind of energy at that age. Hope my niece, Earwig, and my boys think I'm just as cool for doing it with her a few summers ago. However, I think we only found Nicholas Cage's house and Hugh Hefner's mansion. LOL!!

The last leg of our trip will be a stop by San Fransisco on the way home. We'll stay the night somewhere near Napa and then hit up the Redwood forest before cutting back over to I-5 for the haul home. No matter how many times we do this trip, it never gets old. I'm looking forward to special, uninterrupted time with my family. I'm really excited to see Isaiah's face when he sees Disneyland/Mickey Mouse/Goofy/Tink etc. He has been talking about it for a year and he knows its getting close. We have special sandals that are going to make him 1 inch taller so he can ride some more exteme rides. (don't worry...he won't make the cut for California Screamin..unfortunately they don't sell boys' sandals with a 6 inch heal..I did look) He will be able to do Soaring over California and the Tower of Terror..but only if he wants to. I'll post my pic's as soon as we get back.. See you later!!