California

Oh man.  So, did I ever tell you about that time I drove 6 hours (with all the stops included) to California with three kids 4 and under, by myself?  No?  well I did, two weeks ago.  And I may *still* be recovering, hahaha.

Our dear friends have two littles the same age as A and B, both born in July, so we decided to make a mini vacation out of it.  The catch?  Justin's leave was denied so he couldn't go.  And Grandma was already scheduled to be out of town.  So rather than bagging the trip, I decided to take a cue from Nike and "just do it".    I had built this trip up to be a gigantic mess and a horrible mistake in my head before we even left.  Why?  Because I'm a negative person?  NO!  I did this so that if anything less than horrible happened, it would be a huge success!!!  Call me crazy, but it's how my mind works.  But you know what?  The worst part of the trip was the drive.  Everything else was practically a breeze!  

We stayed in an all suites hotel, so we had a one bedroom hotel room - which gave B some space and quiet when he needed to nap, and gave the kids a little bit of space to play or watch TV without the fear (my fear) of them waking B.  

And really, the drive wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Sure, B cried.  A lot. But J and A did really well and tried their hardest to help make B happy.

When we arrived at the hotel, J exclaimed no less than a dozen times "THIS PLACE IS AWESOME".  From the glass elevators, to the luggage carts and indoor pool, the lobby was his favorite place to be.  A close second was smack dab in the middle of the king sized bed the three of us shared (B thankfully slept perfectly and contentedly in the pack and play).

After getting all our stuff into the room and settled we took full advantage of that indoor pool before the aunties and birthday boys came to visit for dinner.

Saturday we wasted no time, and once B was up from his nap, we headed out to get our toes in the sand.  J was in HEAVEN and loved everything about the beach.  A, was a little more reserved and preferred to play in the sand and stayed mostly out of the water.  B hated the water and preferred trying to eat all the sand and wanted nothing to do with the picnic lunch we packed.  Go figure.  After a few hours there, it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and nap/quiet time before heading over to auntie's house for some play time with the cousins and dinner.

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Sunday was off to a slow start, we were all pretty tired, but rallied around lunch for some playground time before the boys birthday party.

After making an early exit from the party before the B bomb blew up, we attempted some much needed naps, and really only succeeded in trying to listen to the TV over B's incessant screaming.  Eventually I gave up and just worked towards surviving till dinner when some more friends were coming by for a picnic next to the hotels pool.  Needless to say, we all slept really well that night.  So well, that for the first time in ages B slept past 6!

If Sunday was a slow moving morning, Monday was a dead stop.  I managed to get myself and B dressed and almost everything packed and loaded on a luggage rack without J or A waking up.  B couldn't even wake them up by crawling all over them.  Eventually I told them that the luggage rack was loaded and ready to go.  And you know what?  THose two popped right up and got dressed faster than they had all weekend.  Note to self, get a luggage rack - they make for great bribes.

The drive home was better than the drive there, but still a far cry from pleasant. 

Once home we worked to get back into the swing of normal, and managed a trip to the water park with Grandma.  J rode two new slides (slides that A isn't tall enough to ride yet), which means he's ridden all the slides he's currently tall enough to enjoy.  ANd loved all but one.  It also means that as long as I have a second adult with me - we can take turns riding the bigger slides with J - and that the water park is more fun for us too!

Saturday was a fundraiser at the police department's air unit, so the kids and i went out to show our support.  THey had a blast getting up close and personal (inside or on) all the police and fire vehicles - fire trucks, helicopters, police cars and trucks and a motorcycle.

The rest of the weekend was laid back and chill - or at least it was until A had some sort of an allergic reaction to something she ate during dinner on Sunday.  Nothing like seeing your daughters face break out in hives over the course of a minute.  Holy crap that rattled us.  One trip to urgent care and a course of benedryl and all is better….just wish we knew what it was that triggered it.  We were only having pizza for dinner - from a place we've eaten at before….so its all very strange.

Side note - my wee baby is now a biped and its making me so proud and breaking my heart with every tipsy step he takes.  He can now traverse most of the house on his own provided he doesn't get knocked over by a dog or a sibling - or doesn't get too excited and try to run.  Oh that baby boy of mine…where did you go?

Until next time friends!