Entry for July 24, 2006
Well I thought I'd post about our vacation... ya'll were there for the reunion, but I'll put up stuff from the rest of our trip to share. :)
Day 5- Up and out the door by 8:30am. We said goodbyes to all the family and got on the road to Grandma and Grandpa Newton’s house. It was a relatively easy drive and we got there at about 8:30 pm so it was just 12 hours.
Day 6- We slept in and then played at the house for a little while. Alyssa knocked her head on something that morning so she had a goose egg for that day. We packed some lunch up and took it to a park near their house and went and played there. They had playground equipment, a sandy area with sand toys and a water spout fountain area where the kids got all wet! Then we went and watched the ducks and walked over to another area and played and swung on the swings. Our Allergies there came out in full force and Rich and I went and stocked up on some allergy meds, but Alex’s asthma was really bad that evening with his short coughs.
Day 7- We went to Marine World! It’s a mix of Sea World and Six Flags rides. We had a lot of fun riding the rides and watching the shows. Angela did amazing and was happy and content most of the day in the stroller and she loved riding the rides we took her on. Alyssa got another goose egg on the other side of her head while on the white water rafting ride. She was riding with Rich and he said when the waterfall hit them he lost his grip on her for a moment and her head knocked the center wheel handlebar in the raft.
Day 8- We went to the beach. This is the first time we have really ever gone to the beach. I guess I took the kids once to Galveston with my family when Alex was three and Ashley was one. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and wading in the water. Angela could not get enough of the water. She would take off running towards it and then giggle when the cold water came washing up the sand and onto her feet! We kept trying to distract her with the sand toys and then she would turn around and start running to the water again.
Day 9- Sunday again so we went to church. The kids were pretty well behaved and they went right into their classes for Primary and Nursery. It was fun to see a bunch of older ladies that would come up to me and comment about remembering when Rich was the age of Alex and other stories they remembered about him growing up.
Day 10- we went to Mrs Grossman’s sticker factory where they make stickers. We went on the tour and they give out goody bags with like 50 stickers or more in them and let you decorate a postcard and take them home at the end. The kids had fun seeing how they were made and we had a fun time. Then we went and saw the Adobe of the general that was over the Sonoma Valley Area and the Mission and fort/garrison. We also stopped in at a cheese factory and sampled their cheese varieties.
Day 11- It was time to head home. We loaded up the car and said our goodbyes and started driving down the road to home… or maybe not?? About two hours into our drive Rich turned to me and asked me what I thought of extending our trip for a couple more days and taking the kids to Disneyworld. He could easily take off Thursday and Friday (which he had initially planned on going to work for). So we were on the road and decided to just go for it. Lol! We didn’t let the kids know or anything. I called Rich’s mom from the car and asked her if she would be willing to find us a hotel online and book it for us for the next two nights and we got that taken care of. Then we just kept driving as if we were going home as far as the kids knew. We were in Anaheim and we drove right past Disneyland and the kids are commenting on the tree’s and the signs around them and we are in the car saying wow… look at that poster, who’s that and stuff. It took them about 10 minutes to realize we were at Disneyland and we were going to go there the next day. Lol!! After dinner and a quick trip to the store to pick up some diapers since we would be gone longer than originally planned and with the promise of Disneyland the next day the kids went to sleep pretty easily.
Day 12-DISNEYLAND- By the time we got everyone up and dressed and fed and over to Disneyland and through the parking and through the security and ticket and stroller lines it was 10:30. The kids had a lot of fun. We weren’t thinking though when we went on the sleeping beauty ride first. Alyssa did not like the dark scary ride and was hesitant to go on most of the rides for the rest of the day. Overall though they all had a great time. Alex even went on the haunted house ride. Ashley was our little ride companion and she absolutely LOVED the Indiana Jones ride. She was just barely tall enough to ride it and they kept measuring her at every point in the line to make sure she hadn’t slipped past without being tall enough. She went with Rich and Alex, and then went with me while Rich stayed with Alex and the little girls. Each time we had a ride the little girls couldn’t ride on she went twice- once with me and once with Rich while Alex usually had enough one time on the ride. We stayed till the park closed at 11pm, and got back to the hotel by midnight.
Day 13- we slept in… Rich didn’t sleep well so once the kids got up I went and got some donuts (not much breakfast at that hotel) and brought them back to the room and the kids and I went and swam in the pool for two hours while Rich got a little more sleep and packed up our stuff. Then the kids and I changed and we got on the road by noon. We had a 16 hour drive ahead of us and also lost two hours from pacific time to central time so we knew we would stop somewhere to sleep for the night. We decided after a few hours to call Rich’s brother in Phoenix and stop by and have dinner with him. Of course that changed our route and added two hours to the total time, but when you are looking at 16 hours- really, what’s two more? So we met up with Dave and his girlfriend and headed out to go to a buffet for dinner. We pull up at 8:20 and it closes at 8:30 so we had to figure out somewhere else to go. I had Angela’s sandals in my hand while we were standing around deciding where to go next and I must have set them down on the car or something and forgotten about them because that’s the last time I saw them. We found a Golden Corral that was open until 10pm so we went there and had dinner and had a fun time visiting with Dave and Amanda (his girlfriend). They are pretty serious and we are just waiting for wedding announcements to come from them anytime now. They were closing the restaurant at we finally left at 10:15. Then on to the hotel and it was a very nice hotel. In the summer you get off season rates in Phoenix so we booked a Hampton Inn and it had granite countertops and pillowtop mattresses and soft comforters… only $75- a big difference from the $110 that we paid for the comfort inn hard beds and “continental breakfast” of donuts at Disneyland lol! I was looking forward to getting a good night sleep on that bed, but Angela did not sleep well so neither did I.
Day 14- We got up and got out on the road by 9am. From Phoenix we had a 14 hour drive and on top of that we lost two hours with the time change. We got home at 3am central time- so it felt like 1am to our body clocks. Angela of course slept really well in the car and was up to play when we got home so I think I went to bed around 5:30 am or something… we all slept in the next day and then just spent the day cleaning the car out and doing laundry and stuff.
It was a fun trip and I’m glad we went and even added on the extra few days at the end.