the happiest place on earth

I had to move to Belgium to finally make it to Disneyland. (Full disclosure - I did go to Disney World when I worked as a nanny back in college.)

The hubs got sent on yet another business trip back to the States. I'd officially hit the point of being homesick - wanting to be able to order anything I wanted in a restaurant, buy clothes off the rack and watch TV in English any time of day. So, I sorta invited myself to crash in his hotel room while he was in LA/Anaheim for the BUILD event.

How are things so so cheap in the US?! I mean seriously, we are so incredibly spoiled. We have no idea how affordable nearly everything is. This is my way of saying not only did I make it to Disneyland but I also went shopping - and then shopped some more!

At Disneyland I picked up two t-shirts - a faded baseball style Mickey shirt and an awesome Star Wars shirt. The hubs totally didn't understand the Star Wars shirt but whatevs. I love it! But then I loved the Indiana Jones ride and he really didn't get that either. Guess we've still got some stuff to learn about each other, huh?

And then there was the food. Who am I kidding - when the trip involves me and Herb, there's always lots of good food. We had proper American breakfast. Awwwwesome! American style bacon, Dutch apple pancake, corned beef hash and bottomless coffee aw yeah. Then I had Mexican at least three times while I was there. Let's not forget that I convinced H to find Dairy Queen not once but twice for chocolate chip cookie dough blizzards. And obviously what trip to the land of Disney wouldn't be complete without Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast?!

I was really looking forward to hitting the beach while we were there but we brought the temperamental Belgium weather with us to LA. We went out to Huntington Beach but only made it about an hour (fully clothed) before we called it too cold for good beaching.

It was definitely a good trip. I enjoyed a lot of things that I've missed being in Europe. But it also reminded me that the US doesn't have it all figured out. I mean, no matter how many times I told the guy at the front desk that I wasn't planning to drive every one of his recommendations required driving. He even recommended that I drive the two blocks to the post office and was really thrown when I asked if it was possible to walk "well, uhm... I guess probably."

It's always interesting when a new place starts to feel like home. You know, when you've been away and you think "boy, I can't wait to get home, sleep in my own bed." Yeah, this trip almost did that for Belgium.