The day we returned home, day, uh, four. Yes. Day four.

We rose early and got the kids dressed. While the family ate the last of the cereal, I crawled around on the floor peering under beds and nightstands, looking for any belongings that would cause a 7.0 tremor should they go missing. I managed to locate only ONE of Ariel's shoes, which was problematic, but I squelched the uprising by pointing out her TAIL.

Then came the ungodly task of repacking the heap o' crap that we brought, plus the 900 tsotchkes that we had acquired. One suitcase, fully expanded held the clothes. The other suitcase held everything else. Toiletries? Check. Carseat? Check. My bag, hubs' backpack, stroller. Check check check.

Our flight was at 3:45 pm. It was now 8:30 am.

Ooooh-kay.

We checked out, dropped off the luggage with the concierge (I totally need my own personal concierge) and took the shuttle to Downtown Disney. We wandered around, and decided to buy the kids gold Mickey ears. I will not admit how many shots I had to take to get all three kids facing forward with hats on heads.

We headed over to the Rainforest Cafe for breakfast. Like any good parent, I took a photo of my children bellied up to the fully stocked bar.

I really restrained myself. I could have had them posing with bottles of tequila or shot glasses.

Ahem. So we ordered, and watched in amazement as my son, who normally eats one bite of any given food (unless it's bacon) systematically devour a waffle the size of my head. I'll spare you the photos of our visit with the elephant and gorillas.

After our experience with Super Shuttle on the way to Anaheim, we opted to take a cab back. We arrived at the airport with two hours to spare, and the hubs and I took the kids in turns on laps around the terminal. We ended up giving them benedryl (since I remembered this time) and before boarding the plane, all three kids were drooping.

At last they announced our flight for boarding. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Flying on United with small children sucked. We were in the fourth boarding group, and after they announced first class boarding, we asked the boarding attendant if we could pre-board, since we had two sleeping kids to carry and a carseat.

She said, (and I quote) "It is not United's policy to preboard families with small children. It is a courtesy we extend on occasion, but this flight is full. We will not extend this courtesy to you." Then she smirked.

I'd like to say we took a measure of satisfaction in the fact that we disturbed every passenger already seated in our attempts to get to our seats, but we really didn't. It sucked. Whump! Sorry! Whump! Sorry! Whump! Sorry! Whump! Sorry!

The flight was uneventful, and once we reached the gate, I whipped that carseat up and shoved my way off the plane. Normally, we would wait until all the other passengers were clear before attempting to exit, but they can bite me. It was with great relief that our baggage arrived quickly. We took the shuttle to parking, got the van and headed home. My son expressed his interest in driving the van once again. I'm going to have to watch him like a hawk.

Home sweet home. For all the manic activity, this truly was a vacation. We came home recharged, relaxed and very much in love.

We now return to our regular programming. Thank you.