Vacation 2010 with Marissa, Quinn, and Alex.

In the lazy river at WorldMark, Las Vegas.

This is how we entertained ourselves in the car driving to Las Vegas.

The walk to and from Disneyland.

In line for Thunder Mountain.

Thunder Mountain

It's a Small World

Indiana Jones line

Indiana Jones line

California Adventure

My goofy children.

Waiting in line for Indiana Jones.

Day at the ocean.

Home, the Happiest Place on Earth?

Alex got lost in Disneyland last night. Yup. He wanted to play "futuristic games" in the Innoventions building. We said to wait at the exit at 9:00 p.m. "Do not leave if we're not right there. Wait until we come." So what did he do? He left EARLIER than 9:00 and walked around Disneyland while I panicked for 45 minutes looking for him. My cell phone rang, and his voice said, "Mom, this is Alex." I wanted to strangle him. Another long lecture.

I awoke this morning to Alex asking me if we're going home today. I said yes. He asked if it was a day earlier than expected. I said yes. I thought he would be sad and disappointed. Instead he said, "I'm so excited to go home and sleep in my own bed. I think home is the happiest place on earth." A pleasant surprise.

Disneyland, the Not-So-Happiest Place on Earth

The five of us -- Michael, I, Marissa, Quinn, and Alex -- are on vacation in Anaheim, California, but, alas, I forgot my camera cord to download pictures into the laptop. I'll have to do that when we get back home and post our fun pictures. Yes, even after seven months, we are still having some post-adoption issues. Here is my diagnosis of the problem. Feel free to comment. We tell Alex we're going to Disneyland for vacation this summer. We tell him how fun it's going to be. We do a little assignment in "Mom" school about Walt Disney and what a creative genius he is. We look on a map to see where we'll be driving and how long it will take. We talk about the fun rides and tell him it's way better than Lagoon, etc. etc. etc.

Fast forward to Day 1 in Disneyland. There is unhappiness, ungratefulness, poutiness, feel-sorry-for yourself periods, etc. The problem continues the second day at church and the next day at California Adventures. We are all getting really tired of it, I give him a huge lecture, he pulls out of it, and the rest of the vacation has been fun.

So what is going on in his head? Have we built Disneyland and family vacation up so big in his mind that the reality, when compared to the anticipation of how it will be, is always disappointing? I have decided in the future that we will not talk beforehand about fun things coming up. We can never live up to his expectations, I suppose.

The next fun thing coming up? Eric is coming home to visit and be here for Marissa's wedding. Alex has not yet met Eric. (Eric is in the Air Force and has been in Guam and Iraq for the last year and a half.) We can tell from things Alex has said that Eric has become, in Alex's mind, this "larger than life" member of our family. He talks about how Eric is going to play with him, Eric will do fun things with him, so on, so on. Oh, dear. I don't really think this is how it will be, and we're heading for some more melt-downs. But just the same, we really are SOOOO excited to see Eric a week from today (on Gage's birthday).

Anyway, just wanted to comment for my "adoptive friends" that the big, fun days always seem to be the worst days for Alex. I hope we can get by this issue in the future.

Yesterday we went to Disneyland again, and today we spent several hours at the beach playing in the sand and water, and things have gone a lot more smoothly. This is our last vacation with Marissa as a single woman. She said good-bye to Zack for ten days to spend time with us. Nice, huh? I'm trying not to think too much about how boring vacations will be without her and how boring our house is going to be now. Not quite ready to let my mind go there.

Gage, Emily, and Zack are home KEEPING OUR LAWN GREEN AND OUR FLOWERS WATERED. We have a wedding reception coming up, and I'm starting to feel stressed out but at the same time trying to enjoy the ride.

Well, we're going to Disneyland one more time tomorrow, and then we'll be on our way to Las Vegas tomorrow night, then home on Friday, one day early. We're kind of Disneylanded out. Anybody interested in our last unused day of Disneyland tickets?