a summary.

i wish the joy in this picture could sum up our trip to california.

i also wish that after a few days of being home, i could look at the silver lining of what went on and be ready to "chalk that one up."

chalk it up to what though? the realization that EVERY SINGLE TRIP i have been on in 2009 has ended or had during it some sort of major illness or disaster??

i know it could be worse, i get that.

i know we made it through in one piece (even though i felt like i left several pieces of my own behind in our hotel room).

but seriously.

when it comes to trips:

I CAN'T SEEM TO CATCH A BREAK.

so here's a slight summary:

2 out of 4 of us vomited
1 out of 4 of us went to the ER
1 out of 4 of us missed a day of disneyland
4 out of 4 of us were severely sleep deprived

however,

4 out of 4 of us had a lot of fun intermingled with the other stuff
4 out of 4 of us...nope, wait. 3 out of 4 of us would totally do it all over again


i won't go through the day-by-day sordid details, however there were a couple of severely "come on! you have got to be kidding me!" moments that deserve their own postings. so they will get them.

one of them being a complete dedication to the ultrasound tech who was checking to see if i had gallbladder stones.

i hope he is somewhere close, has nothing better to do in his spare time than read mommy blogs, is a secret follower of mine, and reads that little ditty. because i have a feeling that after it, he will never open his mouth again. or at least i hope so.

another being the adventure where i...the self-professed germaphobe... let leah suck on my car keys after they had been on the bathroom floor at the local target (multiple! times!).

yeah, go ahead and vomit. i already did.

well luckily i have already come to the point where things are quickly becoming ironically funny. and so hopefully the postings won't reek of the bitterness i felt on the drive home and instead turn around and be able to convey that sometimes things aren't always roses and chocolates, but you can get through them and still cling to the glimmer of hope that you might be able to one day have a successful family vacation.

whatever that means. :)