I just got back from a quick weekend trip with the boys to Disneyland. A bunch of my fraternity brothers (I am a Kappa Alpha) and I got together with our families to play at Disneyland and California Adventure. We also met more So Cal brothers at a bbq hosted by one of the families. It was great to see these guys; they are truly special to me. It's amazing to see all the kids too; I think we had something like eighteen kids ranging from six months to fourteen years old. They all got along and played like they'd known each for years, even though we came from California, Texas, Oregon, and Washington for the event. I hope we all get together again soon.

As Michael (5) said, "Disneyland sucks. I like Disneyworld better." It's true. Disneyland was fun for a weekend, but it really doesn't compare to Disneyworld with the huge array of choices it offers. The guys did enjoy the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and some of the other stuff, but they're not really into thrill rides, so that limited our choices a bunch. Games, climbing stuff, and geeky hands-on stuff like Innoventions seem more their speed, although Andrew (8) did succomb to the desire to look cool in front of Derek, a new 10-11 year old friend, and rode the swinging/sliding gondolas on the Sun Wheel (a huge ferris wheel). These cars swing so much that the thrill riding parents didn't go on, and even I'll-ride-anything Derek said he didn't want to go on it again. Andrew toughed it out, although he looked a bit queasy when he got off.

I did notice that we got scolded a lot more at the park ("we ask the kids wear a shirt", "please don't let your children sit on the railing", etc.) In the zillion times I've been to Disney parks, I've never had so many "cast members" wag a finger at us. It was kind of a downer really.

To make the trip even more exciting, I was solo parenting. With my recent and upcoming travels and classes taking me out of the house a bunch, Michelle deserved a weekend sans kids and me plus this was mostly about my college buddies, so I offered to take the kids alone. By and large this was OK, especially since we almost always had other parents with us to help. The guys were pretty well behaved, so it turned out to be OK.

Finally, we stayed at the Anabella Hotel; I had planned to stay a the Grand Californian Hotel, a Disney hotel in the park that we've stayed at before, but I messed up and couldn't get reservations. The Anabella was located conveniently, about a half-mile walk to Downtown Disney. However, this "hotel" isn't exactly the Four Seasons. It's really a nice-ish motel, not the "luxury hotel" with "elegantly designed Anaheim deluxe accomodations" and "lavish features". I can't remember the last time I've stayed in a hotel anywhere in the world that didn't have broadband (I admit, I don't have a very representative sampling of hotels...); horrors -- I had to use dial-up to check in on some stupid issue at work. Anyway, the hotel got the job done, but I'm confident the Anabella won't make my short list of must-stay hotels.

Anyway, it was a nice boys weekend away. It was super great to see my old friends and their families. Back to the salt mines tomorrow...