Vacation Day 7--Still More Family

My paternal grandfather died while I was in college.  He is buried in a Veteran's cemetary in Utah.  I promised my father that every time I go to Utah, I would go and see Grandpa.  He doesn't get a lot of visitors and so it is a nice thing that Mack and I like to do and it was an important lesson to teach our children.
On our way to the cemetary I explained to the kids that we were going to go visit Grandpa's grave.  They don't have much of a concept of death but I tried to explain to them that Grandpa was dead and we were going to go visit where his body was buried.  I got a lot of blank looks and nodding.  Then we grilled into their heads that there would be no running and no stepping on grave markers.  (I may have threated with immediate placement in a car seat.)

 This was the best picture I got (sorry Dad).  The sun was really bright and the kids were a bit squirmy.
The kids were exceptionally well behaved.  They mostly wanted to visit the grave of the man who had a pinwheel next to his marker.  Then they wanted to go see all of the ones that had flowers.  Then they wanted to know why there were some that were flat in the grass and some standing up.  Then we had a little history lesson about what the symbols on the top of the markers mean (religions) and what all of the words mean. 
I hope that some day my kids appreciate their ancestors and those who have served in the Armed Forces as much as I do. 
I miss my Grandpa a lot and it is always nice to go visit.  Of course I was crying, because that's what I do.  Reese asked, "Mommy, why are you crying?"  "Because I miss my Grandpa."  "I'm sorry Mommy.  That's ok.  I will share my Grandpa with you."  Oh my goodness.  It was the most precious thing in the world and still makes me tear up.  I love my sweet little boy and his pure goodness.

Then we dropped Mack off at the sealing of our niece, Rachel.  The kids and I drove around looking for a park with no luck and so found a bit of grass and had a picnic lunch.  That night we went to the wedding reception and we were off.
And by 'off' I mean headed back home.  It sure was nice to visit with so much family.  We see some of them more than others but we love them all.  The kids fit right in (maybe not in appearance) and had a great time. 
It was a fun trip but we were anxious to get home.  We knew our kids couldn't make the twelve (fourteen for us) hour drive in one day and so we drove to Kanab that night.  Brisbane was not happy that he was not in a bed at ten o'clock at night.  It was a good thing Barbara gave the kids mini flashlights and my mom bought them glowsticks (because both of those are a good time in a car at night).

I won't make a seperate post about driving home the next day.  We were just so glad to get home.  It was a great trip, but long.  We learned a lot about vacationing with small children that will serve us well on our next adventure. 
And you know what our kids asked about every single day that we were driving (all four of them)?  They wanted to know if we were going to go pick up Zippy.  That's right, they were worried about their partner in crime the whole trip.  Don't worry, we went and got her first thing Monday morning.

Vacation Day 6--More Family

My children only have one living Great-Grandparent.  It is my paternal Grandmother.  She lives pretty close to where we were staying and so we went over for a visit first thing in the morning.

 Grandma also got some toys out for the kids and this time they managed not to break anything in her house (thank goodness)!  It was a fun visit, I haven't seen my grandmother in some years and so it was nice to introduce her to the kids.
Then we went up Provo Canyon for some Family Fear Factor.  Good times.  JoLynn was in charge of the reunion this year and she did a bang up job on this one.  The kids had loads of fun and the weather was impeccable.

 I didn't see Jessenia most of the morning because she loves her cousins so much.  Yes, that means she did eventually warm up from the night before.  Above she is about to grab sticky-notes with a sticky lizard thing.  Her cousin Erica is helping (aka Erica is doing all of the work and Jessenia is clueless...hence the look on her face).

 Look at that grass!  The boys had a fun time running around in the beautiful, gorgeous, immaculate, heavenly green grass.  (Oh how I wish we had grass like that in Arizona!)

Reese and I did a challenge where we had to squirt shaving cream off Uncle Rand's face.  We were pretty good at it.  And even though our squirt gun ran out of water, we were declared the winner for removing the most shaving cream.  Good job Reese!
After Fear Factor we went back to the house for lunch and then it was off to _________'s Got Talent (No, the blank is not for an innappropriate word.  I go to great pains to not put our last name on our blog).
We asked the kids if they wanted to sing in the Talent Show.  To my surprise they both said yes.  We were pretty sure that we would get up there and neither one of them would sing or at least Reese would not.  We practiced a few songs and let them pick which ones they wanted to do.  Jessenia chose "I Am A Child of God" and Reese chose "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
When it was their turn, I took them both on the stage.  I had Jessenia go first because I didn't even think Reese would sing, much less sing first.  Jessenia was really quiet but it was so sweet.  I got a little misty.  She even sang the chorus all by herself.
Then it was Reese's turn.  I was nervous.  But he did it.  He even sang loud enough for people to hear and did an awesome job.  I was super proud of both of them.  Mack tried to get it on video so if I ever figure out how to get videos onto my computer, I may post it.
It was another good day with family.  I was very proud of my kids.  They amaze me and inspire me everyday.  When I grow up I hope to be just like them.

Vacation Day 5--Family

We woke up the next morning and got out of my least favorite place that I have ever visited.  We had a really good day of driving this day, I actually think we improved with each day.  That is everything improved but Brisbane's mood.  He was still not happy with the confinement.
The purpose of going to Utah was for a reunion of all of Mack's parents' posterity.  But I was promised by my husband that the next time we were in Utah we would visit some of my family too.  So before we went to the reunion we stopped at my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Keith's house.  Aunt Barbara is one of my mom's sisters.  She has always been close with our family and I love her and Uncle Keith heaps.
They drug out toys for our kids to play with and Barbara really is my mom's sister and had gone to the dollar store for some little surprises for the kids.  They are basically spoiled rotten.  And those little flashlights proved to be a lifesaver on the drive a few days later.  They fed us dinner and Brisbane may or may not have broken something in their house before we left.  Sorry about that.  It was so great to see them, hopefully we can do it again soon.  (And hopefully next time I will take some pictures....grrrrrr.)
Then we went to meet Mack's family at his sisters house.  A lot of people who read this blog are members of that insanity but I will paint a picture for the rest of my readership.  Mack is the second youngest of nine children.  He was the last to get married, so that is 18 siblings and their spouses.  We have the fewest number of children, and one of the siblings has ten.  When we got Reese and Jessenia, they made 50 grandchildren.  Add Mack's 2 parents and you have 70 people.  Two of the grandkids are now married (one got married at the reunion actually) and so that makes 72.  There were a few missing, but all those people in one house (not to sleep, thankfully) and you get the idea.  It's pretty crazy.
Our kids had all fallen asleep on the way to the reunion and so they were a little groggy when we arrived.  And then they were totally shell shocked by all of their aunts wanting to hug them.  I know that I was totally overwhelmed when I met the family for the first time (and every time thereafter ;)) so I can't even imagine what my kids must have been thinking.  Jessenia would go to Aunt Jo (although I stole her back) and then eventually she would let Uncle Dean hold her.  She does love them.
Once the shock wore off it was straight to bed for the kiddos and a late night of game playing for the adults and big kids.  After several rounds of "Murder" I don't think anyone trusts Russell or Rand. 

Vacation Day 4--Las Vegas

Now that the San Diego portion of a our trip was over, we had the Family Reunion for Mack's family to attend.  It was in Utah.  We didn't want to make that drive all in one day and so we decided to make it two days and stop over in Vegas.The drive went surprisingly well.  We learned a few things from the first day of driving and so we had a lot less hitting each other with books this time.  We did however still have toy destruction which banned them from all new toys the rest of the trip.  (I document this only to see if we have any improvement in coming years/trips.)
This was my first Vegas experience (except for slot machines in the airport).  We had to stop at a gas station for a potty break and Reese wanted to know what the colored machines were for.  (He is a bit obsessed with the video games at McDonalds.) 
If I never see Vegas again in my life I will consider my life a complete success.  I hated everything about it.
Except...

 love me some Ethel's Chocolate.  My brother introduced me to Ethels in Chicago and so I was stoked to find out there was a factory in Vegas.  It was the 4th of July so none of the workers were there but we could see all of the machines they use to make the chocolate and get a sample.  Yummy!  We also had to buy some treats for the road.

At the hotel, Reese got a timeout.  Brisbane apparently believes in solidarity in all things and went to join him.  What a pal.

Vacation Day 3--Museums

A second day at the beach was obviously out of the question.  Mack and I had been to San Diego before and went to the Science Center in Balboa Park.  We thought the kids would really like it.  So we made plans to go there and stop by a little toy railroad museum next door.  When we got to the Museum though, we realized that we had a huge problem.  It was the Tuesday before the Fourth of July.  Combine that with Free First Tuesday of the Month for County Residents and you have a really long line at all participating museums in Balboa park.  It was a disaster.  There was no way that the kids would wait in that line, and it would have been a complete waste of time.
So we decided to take them to the Air and Space Museum (let's just say five steps below the original plan...but we were already there in Balboa Park). 
I would like to take a moment to point out if we had followed my original plan of going to the Beach on Tuesday and the Museums on Monday, this would not have happened.  Lesson learned?  Don't let your kids make any decisions about planning a good vacation, leave that up to the person who spent hours pouring over the details of this trip.

 The best part of the day was the free trolley ride that we took around Balboa Park.  A trolley is almost like a train, so Reese was in heaven.

 I must publicly apologize for my hideous sunglasses.  I was in desperate need of a new pair that the lens would not pop out of.  These were the only sunglasses I have ever been able to find that don't pinch the sides of my head.  When I was trying them on in Target, I asked Mack how I looked.  He told me they were fine, very on trend and stylish.  After seeing this picture they look ridiculous.  My nose is huge because of the giant bug glasses.  I am shocked my children aren't afraid of me in these things.  Last time I take style advice from Mack.  But not the last time I wear those puppies, because they really are. so. comfortable.

 We were hoping the Air and Space Museum would be more space than air.  We were hopeful when we were welcomed by this astronaut.  (What is with Jessenia's smile on this day?)

 There were a million planes to look at and not a lot of kid friendly places.  Mack and I have been to really well done museums of old and new airplaces.  Unfortunaly, this was not one of them.  Everything was very close together and obviously not much for kids.

 But we did find this mini plane they could all sit in.

 Reese got to sit in it after I drug him away from this wicked boring movie about the first flight (or something).  He saw it playing and said that he really wanted to watch it.  So Mack sat with him while I walked the other kids around (thank goodness for Dads).

 Then we took the kids into a 4D movie.  We decided after the torture they put us through at the beach, it was payback (just kidding!).  4D are the ones where the movie is in 3D and then your seat moves and blows air and stuff.  The first show was a cartoon about an animal and a jet pack.  Very cute.  The second was a trip through time...much...less...cute.  Jessenia had to hold her glasses on the whole time (as illustrated above) and the kids were terrified!  They didn't cry but they each had a vice grip on our hands the entire time.  I was so glad they were too short to feel the air that blew on your neck, because to me that was the worst part.  There was also a totally obnoxious summer camp group in our viewing.  I almost went all Postal Middle School Teacher on them, but refrained.

 As a pick me up after the 4D Experience, the kids sat in a little helicopter.

 There's that smile again.

 Brisbane is very serious about his helicopter flying.

But I did get one good smile out of him.
Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for me.  Then it was back to the hotel for some naps and cartoon watching.
It may not have been the San Diego vacation I had dreamed of but it was great.  I loved spending that time as a family, and it was so nice to have Mack around.  This vacation was the first time he spent two full consecutive days with the kids since we got Reese and Jessenia.  I love my family and I love the memories that we made together.

Vacation Day 2--The Beach

For the record, I am not a fan of staying in hotels with children.  On a more basic level, I am not a fan of sleeping in the same room as my children.  They keep me awake, I keep them awake.  It is zero fun.  Brisbane loved it though because he had an audience bright and early every morning.  We had not planned on going to the beach on our first day in San Diego, but after the devastation of the night before when the kids realized that we were not immediately driving to the beach, we decided to change our plans.  But first I wanted to go to the aquarium and so we went there first.

 Aren't we cool?

 The kids were surprisingly interested in looking at the fish.

 Reese and Jessenia balked if we skipped a fish tank.  They wanted to go back and make sure that they got to see every one.  I learned that in some ways aquariums are more interesting for kids than zoos.  At aquariums the fish are almost always moving.  Pointing out a moving creature to a child is way easier than trying to explain where the completely still snake is hiding on a limb or the one African deer really far away and lying in the dirt is located.

 Then we got to the educational part of the aquarium and the kids were less excited.

 But humored their parents just the same. 

 Then we went outside to the water works playground area and they thought that was pretty cool.

 With a little help from their parents...

 they were able to see-saw.  (If they had figured out how to kick off these two would have been excellent see-sawing partners.  They weigh within three pounds of each other.)

 Then we shoved them in a cage and the sharks attacked them (the kids are all looking at the people who were googling at them and declaring how adorable they are....we know, thank you, thank you, they get it from my side).

And then one of the sharks got these two and that was the end of the aquarium.
So we headed off for the big excitement.  The moment we had all been waiting for.  The moment that we had been counting down to for months.

We walked down to the water...

the sand was wet...

and cold...

but we loved it!

 The water came in...it was very exciting!

 Until one three year old boy got knocked over.  Best. Picture. of. the. Trip!  When the tide started coming in, Reese and Jessenia started running away.  They were laughing and they thought it was funny.  Until the water started going out and they were still running to shore and it knocked Reese down (his face didn't even get wet).  He started crying and crawling as fast as he could, like a mad fool (it was straight out of a movie where the person yells, "I'm drowining, I'm drowing!" and they are in two inch water).  Mack told Reese to stand up.  And oh boy, did he ever.  He stood up and started running as fast as he could.  Through the wet sand, over the rocks, up the bank, and plopped himself down by our beach towels.  His parents were walking behind him, yelling for him to stop, and laughing the whole way.  Then they took a picture of him in his misery.

 We did talk him into coming back down to the wet sand.  But everytime the tide came in he would start crying.  Any time Mack, Brisbane, or I went in the water, he would start crying.  It was lame.  After all of this build up about the beach and the ocean, this is what we got.  Of course he ruined it for Jessenia because she too was also terrified at that point (not because of anything that happened to her, mind you).

 Mack, Brisbane, and I eventually pulled ourselves away and took the wimpy kids back up to the dry sand and the sand toys.  Then they were all smiles.

 Mack convinced the kids to let him bury them. Jessenia doesn't look too thrilled with the idea here.

 Reese found the experience much more relaxing.

 This is how I found Reese at one point.  He isn't asleep.  He is just laying there.  Weirdee!

 We ended up with some pretty filthy kids...

 but we know how much my kids like dirt, so they were in heaven.
We did convince the kids to come back down by the water at the very end.  Mack took Brisbane and Jessenia down first.  He said there was a little bit of crying from Jessenia but she was ok.  I eventually persuaded (aka bullied) Reese into going down.  I told him I would just hold him while I stood in the water.  I tried walking out deeper and deeper so the waves would hit his toes, but he kept creeping his legs up higher and higher around my body.  By the end his legs were in my armpits and I knew it was fruitless.
The next day we asked the kids if they wanted to go back to the beach.  We recieved an emphatic "NO!" in response.  After the trip we asked them if they liked the beack, "YEAH!  Can we go back!?"  Um, yeah, sure.  Maybe after we visit everything else in the world we will try that special brand of Parental Torture again.

Vacation Day 1--Driving

I mentioned to the kiddos in May that we were going to take a vacation to the beach this summer.  Of course they thought I meant we were leaving the next day.  They asked us every day for a week if we were going to the beach that day, before we realized that we needed to stage an intervention.  I had the kids make a paper chain so we could countdown the days to the beach.  It proved pretty effective and by the day that we left on vacation they were over the moon excited.Mack only had one week off after Boards and before he started rotations and so we took full advantage.  On the first day we drove to San Diego.  It is a five hour drive that took us over six hours.  The kids were pretty good in the car.  That is after I told them they had to stop hitting each other with the toys that they were given, "or else".  (I said it in my best elementary school teacher voice.)
I had been preparing for this trip for days (in total we spent over 28 hours in the car...according to Google Maps).  I went to the dollar store and bought little toys to keep them entertained.  My mom and I made puzzles out of some old animal cards I had and popscicle sticks.  We then put magnets on the backs so that the kids could put the puzzles together on metal baking sheets.  I sewed pockets that I suction cupped to the back windows by their carseats for them to keep their treasures in.  I bought little boxes that you hold odds and ends or beads in (the ones with ten little compartments) and put a little bit of a snack in each compartment.  I was up late in to the night and I am not yet sure if it was worth it.
The kids broke most of the dollar store toys, just for fun.  They hit each other with the new books I got them until they had to be confiscated.  They played with the items in their pockets and then threw them on the floor so they couldn't reach them anymore.  I suppose it was a success, since it kept them mostly entertained.  But certainly not how I envisioned.
The hardest part was keeping Brisbane entertained.  He is at the age where he wants to be on the move at all times (church is a joy).  Plus he has no concept of why we are in the car for hours on end.  Add to that, nap schedules were way off and we had Senor Grumpy Pants.  He was most entertained by the pinwheel I bought him.  If I had enough air to blow on that for five hours, he might have been happier.
As we pulled into the hotel Reese asked, "Is this the beach?"  We had already tried to explain to him that we wouldn't actually see the beach that day.  Oh well.  We told him it was the hotel (which he had no idea what that was).  We tried to explain to him that we were sleeping there tonight.  He then asked, "Are we going to go get Zippy?"  We had dropped Zippy off at the kennel the day before and the kids seemed a bit stressed about it the whole trip.  We tried to assure him that Zippy was fine.
Once he realized that there was a tv with cartoons at the hotel, he lost all care about the beach or Zippy.  Go figure.

Jessenia's Birthday

Jessenia's actualy birthday is June 27th.  But we got back into town from Carlsbad on the 26th and Mack was taking Boards on the 28th.  So we pushed her celebration back until the 29th.  I don't think she noticed or minded. :)We started the day with pancake breakfast.

 Yep.  My little girl is three.  And yes, I realize that the pancake is huge.  My number making skills aren't very good.  But she ate a lot of it.  You would to if you were three and were presented with a giant chocolate chip pancake.

 I included this picture for sheer cuteness factor.  I love my family!  Plus Mack is Supremo Father!

 After breakfast I asked Jessenia if she wanted to go to the Splash Pad for her birthday.  We have had great success at a little splash pad at an outdoor mall by our house so I thought they would like it.  I then asked if she wanted to go to the little one or the big one.  She wanted to go to the big one (much to her older brother's dismay).

 Brisbane of course ran right in.  No fear or hesitation.

 As did his older siblings.  They loved it!  I am so glad that they have gotten over their 'fraidy-cat ways.  These kids were sticking their faces right into the jets of water.  Then they would run over to us and say, "Did you see!?  I got my face wet!"  SUCCESS!

It was a Friday and the Splash Pad got pretty busy with summer camp and day care groups.  I was pretty impressed how my three kids found each other in the middle of the chaos and played together.

 That is I was impressed until they started drinking the water off the ground.  DISGUSTING!  They had to be threatened with immediate removal from the splash pad in order to get them to stop.

 After we got cleaned up and took naps we had some present opening.

 Jessenia was very excited for her new Princesses.  And no, she is not in pain or constipated, that is just the face we get when we tell her to smile.  This is actually quite good for her, usually she closes her eyes and we have to take ten pictures.

 Look at that haul!  Thanks to all of her grandparents for spoiling our daughter rotten.  She really loved everything she got.

 Mack and I got her this cheap-o trike/big wheel.  We wanted it so that she could learn to pedal before we get her a nice bike/trike.  She likes it but we definately got what we paid for.  Notice the purse on her arm (it has her Princesses in it...and she proceeded to carry them around for days!).

Jessenia wanted "Princess Cupcakes" for her birthday.  I didn't have a lot of time since we just got back from vacation and am not very talanted in the decorating department.  So I bought some little tiaras and dyed the frosting pink.  She was happy.  So I was happy.
I love my sweet little girl.  Most especially I love when she is being sweet to Brisbane.  If he is sad she goes and gets his favorite ducky or runs to the fridge for his sippy cup to try to cheer him up.  She always has lots of things to tell me (some of them true) and she is a singing machine.  She can seamlessly go from ABCD's, (what she calls it) to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to Thomas and His Friends, to I Am A Child of God without missing a beat.  Of all my kids she is our most stubborn and our least likely to be pushed around.  Which I secretly love (even if I moan about it to Mack).
I love you Jessenia Jo!