 |
This picture is crazy because the beach was PACKED but somehow I got this shot that makes it look like the girls were the only people in the water.
|
We had a great vacation this summer seeing both our families, but I was super excited to take a weekend away just the four of us. I was also excited to have Chris all to myself (well not just me I guess b/c I did have to share him with the children) in the car for 6 hours each way! He has been working a lot and hard to pin down for lots of deep conversation like "do you think we should have pink cupcakes or pink and brown cupcakes for Riley's birthday?" "Oh and what do you like best about our relationship?" (just so you know we never got to talk about the cupcakes and when I brought up the second question he responded with "I think I am too old for these kind of conversations."). Really though some of my favorite memories with Chris are listening to music and having random conversation. A long car ride gave us the opportunity for both. Well at least one way (more on this later).
We left Friday after school let out and I have this whole new attitude about tv wherein I was happy to let my children watch it for the entire car ride. This made everyone happy and wasn't really hurting anyone. My kids get plenty of activity and they were strapped to their seats anyway, so if they wanted to watch a couple of movies I was totally game. We stopped for dinner, changed the kids into their PJs and continued on our way. Just as I'd hoped Reegan fell asleep right after dinner and Riley about an hour later. Chris and I work well together when we travel. We got to San Diego about 10:30 and the girls were passed out cold. So Chris went in, made up their beds and set up each of their perfect sleep arrangements (i.e. special night lights and stuffed animals) while I waited with them in the car. Reegan transferred pretty much without waking. Riley woke up for a minute and said "did I fall asleep in the car?" and then asked me a few questions about her surroundings before drifting right back to dreamland. And then we relaxed. Oh my gosh, we relaxed and chatted and just hung out because our children went right back to sleep instead of waking up feeling falsely rejuvenated by their 2-3 hours of sleep and running around like maniacs. It was a magic moment. And we celebrated it. Quietly. And not for too long.
Saturday we woke and just lounged until our children were begging us to feed them. Then we headed out to the store to get some supplies (i.e. food for our little vultures). I have no idea how we ever lived before smart phones. Pre-SmartPhone period is completely erased from my memory. We got in our car and typed in the name of a grocery store and followed the map it gave us which took us from the exact spot we were in to the exact spot of the grocery store. Radical. Let me just stop here and give major kudos to my mom who planned a 2 or 3 week trip (no, I cannot remember how long b/c I was like 10 and was so busy having fun I forgot to count the days) "out west" without...the internet. Really, how do you do that? And that was real life...not like that story they tell us about walking in snow uphill both ways to school.
Anyway, I digress. We hit the jackpot and found a convenience store which had some things we needed, a grocery store and a bagel place. So we got sunglasses, food for the weekend and breakfast (& coffee). We headed back to Chris' dad's house and got ready for the beach. We knew it would be busy...not just b/c it was labor day weekend but because the weather was perfect. The past few years we have usually been in long sleeves on the beach, but this year it was warm enough to go in the water! We got to the beach and found a great parking spot almost immediately (I was bracing myself for 30 tense minutes driving up and down streets). We made our way to the very crowded beach, found our 3'x3' of sand and set up for the day. The girls were super excited to go in the ocean....at first. Reegan got swept up by a wave and thrown about and covered in sand a couple of times...and then declared "I not like it." I can't say I blame her she was being thrown about like a rag doll being handled by a 3 year old boy. Riley is taller and could push through the waves a little better and LOVED the water. She wanted to go out farther and farther. She also asked for a boogie board. They both enjoyed playing in the sand. And Riley hooked herself up with someone else's mom who was building big sand turtles. They had already build a mom turtle but Riley somehow roped this lady into building a dad turtle. And, of course, I didn't want to look like a total loser so I had to push up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. Just kidding. I was thrilled to piggyback on this lady's idea because while I lack in the creativity I am pretty good with the labor piece. I could dig, pile and smooth out sand for a Daddy turtle. Reegan also enjoyed burying herself in the sand. She successfully managed to get it in every crack and crevice on her body. She did not however love the outdoor shower I stuck her under to try to get the sand off. She made this known by screaming as loud as possible while about 20 people waited in line to use the shower she was fighting.
Anyway, I digress. We hit the jackpot and found a convenience store which had some things we needed, a grocery store and a bagel place. So we got sunglasses, food for the weekend and breakfast (& coffee). We headed back to Chris' dad's house and got ready for the beach. We knew it would be busy...not just b/c it was labor day weekend but because the weather was perfect. The past few years we have usually been in long sleeves on the beach, but this year it was warm enough to go in the water! We got to the beach and found a great parking spot almost immediately (I was bracing myself for 30 tense minutes driving up and down streets). We made our way to the very crowded beach, found our 3'x3' of sand and set up for the day. The girls were super excited to go in the ocean....at first. Reegan got swept up by a wave and thrown about and covered in sand a couple of times...and then declared "I not like it." I can't say I blame her she was being thrown about like a rag doll being handled by a 3 year old boy. Riley is taller and could push through the waves a little better and LOVED the water. She wanted to go out farther and farther. She also asked for a boogie board. They both enjoyed playing in the sand. And Riley hooked herself up with someone else's mom who was building big sand turtles. They had already build a mom turtle but Riley somehow roped this lady into building a dad turtle. And, of course, I didn't want to look like a total loser so I had to push up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. Just kidding. I was thrilled to piggyback on this lady's idea because while I lack in the creativity I am pretty good with the labor piece. I could dig, pile and smooth out sand for a Daddy turtle. Reegan also enjoyed burying herself in the sand. She successfully managed to get it in every crack and crevice on her body. She did not however love the outdoor shower I stuck her under to try to get the sand off. She made this known by screaming as loud as possible while about 20 people waited in line to use the shower she was fighting.
Saturday night we headed out to dinner with Chris' brother Mark and his girlfriend. Again we had this crazy sort of good luck going and found a parking spot directly across from the restaurant we were going to...on Saturday night of Labor Day weekend at 5:45pm. After dinner we stopped at sunset cliffs and the girls saw their very first ocean sunset. Riley says "Why is the sun going into the water?" Hmm, I never really thought of it that way.
Sunday we went to Legoland which was a big reason for our trip. The first ride we went by was a roller coaster and to our surprise Riley declared she wanted to ride this. Unfortunately, the wait was 60 minutes and we didn't think the girls would love that so we moved on and took a little boat ride. We tried to go on the tower rides Riley wanted to do (b/c we watched a video of them on the computer before the trip) but they were closed for annual maintenance. So we headed to Fun Town where Reegan was like a 3 year old at the park (Fun town is essentially a park :). But Riley really wanted to go on the roller coaster and so we headed back and waited. This was a perfect starter roller coaster and the girls both liked it. After that we headed out to the car and ate lunch. This was a great break for all of us and the girls got on their swimsuits. We headed straight to Pirates Shores on our return where there is an awesome splash pad and little splash park (small water slides) and also a log ride. Here is where I made a rookie mistake. I wanted to do the log ride so we got in line. Going from a 60 minute wait for the coaster to lunch to another 45 minute wait...yeah, this was not so fun for anyone. But we enjoyed our 30 seconds of log ride fun after our long wait and declared we would wait no more and only go on rides that didn't have a line. The girls were going to play on the water features to cool down but only minutes after we got off the log ride they closed them (for cleaning, I think). We were all a little hot and getting worn and the girls wanted cotton candy. We started our search for the bag full of sugar. And then we stumbled onto 3 young girls dressed up and singing. Perfect. This rejuvenated the girls' enthusiasm. Riley thought one of them was Selena Gomez but it turns out they were promoting the Lego Friends line. After this we went on our way again looking for cotton candy. This brought us to the other side of legoland which ended up being awesome. I found a fast roller coaster with a big drop. Riley went went me on it. Yay! And then we found rides that had no lines and went on them multiple times.
And as we were heading out, all but given up on the cotton candy we made one last stop in the lego store. I asked an employee if they had any cotton candy. She pointed me towards the registers and said if they had any left it would be there. At first I couldn't find any but then I found about 20 bags of Cinnamon Cotton Candy. That did not sound very good...to Riley OR me. And then we saw it. One lone green bag of Mike & Ike's regular flavored cotton candy. Riley was SO happy. She kept saying "Thank you Mommy. Thank you." Next visit we are just gonna stop at the 7-11 and buy a bag of cotton candy and call it a day. :)
Sunday night we met Chris' brother and his girlfriend again for dinner. The girls were so good, drawing and coloring and using crayons as little figurines to play imaginary games. BUT...the next morning Chris woke up really sick with what we think was food poisoning. This made for a rough drive home. Poor guy. But we were both thankful it happened on our day to g home rather than our beach or legoland day.
I loved this family vacation.
And as we were heading out, all but given up on the cotton candy we made one last stop in the lego store. I asked an employee if they had any cotton candy. She pointed me towards the registers and said if they had any left it would be there. At first I couldn't find any but then I found about 20 bags of Cinnamon Cotton Candy. That did not sound very good...to Riley OR me. And then we saw it. One lone green bag of Mike & Ike's regular flavored cotton candy. Riley was SO happy. She kept saying "Thank you Mommy. Thank you." Next visit we are just gonna stop at the 7-11 and buy a bag of cotton candy and call it a day. :)
Sunday night we met Chris' brother and his girlfriend again for dinner. The girls were so good, drawing and coloring and using crayons as little figurines to play imaginary games. BUT...the next morning Chris woke up really sick with what we think was food poisoning. This made for a rough drive home. Poor guy. But we were both thankful it happened on our day to g home rather than our beach or legoland day.
I loved this family vacation.
 |
| Our little beach girl |
 |
| Enjoying the sand |
 |
| Chasing (and running from) waves |
 |
| Covered from head to toe and everywhere in between |
 |
| These two girls enjoyed the beach |
 |
| Daddy & his girls at the sunset |
 |
| Family self portrait at Sunset Cliffs - Take 1 |
 |
| Family self portrait at Sunset Cliffs - Take 2. Look at Chris' beautiful eyes |
 |
| Legoland!!! |
 |
| Reegan really wanted her pictures with these Lego Friends. It was really cute |
 |
| We had a great time on this ride...rode it 2-3 times. You go up about 15 feet and then it drops and back up and repeat. |
 |
| I think someone liked it. |
 |
| I loved how they were holding hands waiting to ride |
 |
| The girls were all set to ride this all by themselves but even though Reegan met the height requirement you have to be 4 years to go without a parent. |
 |
| Making the trip perfect |
No comments:
Post a Comment