Of Big Trips

Joe and I decided to spend some of our tax return on a big family vacation this year. We had limited time and a big agenda; hence, big trip.

The first adventure was at "The biggest dinosaur museum in the world" at Thanksgiving Point. Since our oldest is semi-obsessed with dinosaurs (he literally brought home a different dinosaur book to read every day of the school year), we had to stop. He said, "It was the funnest thing of my entire life!" AKA put a check in the "We're good parents" box. The kids left with a shark tooth fossil (AJ), a pink stuffed snake (which Natalie promptly named Pinkalicious Snakey), and a cute little white owl (which Brooklin named "Baaa..."drool).



We spent the next few days in Monticello, where my youngest brother, Ben, just returned from an LDS mission to Bolivia. He can barely speak English. He gave a non-homecoming talk in church on Sunday. He said he wasn't going to speak Spanish to bear his testimony, but my Mom said he had to.

Here's my kids tackling their Grandpa Muhlestein.

Joe and I got to take a great RZR ride over the mountain to the cabin while the kids rode out with Grandma and Grandpa M. FYI: the RZR can jump, but you have to go pretty fast. Oh, and the governor is between 55-60 MPH :) We had a nice cookout at the cabin and shot skeet while we were there.



Joe kept complaining that we have driven by Arches dozens of times on our way to Monticello, but he had never been. So we broke down and drove up there one day. AJ was so funny. We didn't have time to hike to all the arches, and he really wanted a good hike. So on one of the stops, we had to walk on a pathway between two of the sites between the parking lots. We told him that that was the hike. He didn't think that was okay. He told us when you hike, you have to go somewhere, not from cars to more cars.


The next day, we drove to Las Vegas and stayed on the Strip at Treasure Island. That night, we attended Cirque do Soleil's Mystere show. It was a lot of fun. Even Brooklin was kept entertained the whole time. There's so much to look at; you can't keep track of it all. This particular show is geared to children and has a lot of slapstick humor. The kids thought it was hilarious.

On the way to Las Vegas, our new car was acting up, so Joe brought it to a dealership while we swam in the pool the next morning (thank you warranty). Brooklin didn't like the water, at first. However, by the time to go, she didn't want to get out.


We headed down to San Diego next and spent the evening on the wharf next to the big boats. Joe stayed near there for one of his conventions while he was in school and has wanted to go back ever since. AJ was just disappointed that he couldn't get a ride on the submarine.

The next day was dominated by Sea World. My brilliant husband suggested we buy waterproof cameras for that day, and I think they were worth it. When I get the pictures back, I'll let you know. At least I didn't have to worry about my camera on the 3rd row of the soak zone at Shamu's show. We got absolutely soaked on the Shipwreck Rapids ride. I was still wet when we were driving away.









The next adventure was fighting LA traffic to drop off Brooklin with my cousin, Haley, who very graciously offered to watch her for the day. She might be mad at me when she's older. But per several recommendations and based on her reaction to Sea World, she would not have enjoyed Disneyland. And it would have been a big pain to have one parent sit out of every ride with her.

Disneyland was probably my favorite part of the trip. It is the happiest place on earth, you know. Seeing Natalie meet the princesses was so great!! I think I enjoyed it more watching my kids see it for the first time than I did as a kid. AJ's favorite ride was Splash Mountain (that's my boy!). Natalie loved the Merry-Go-Round. Joe laughed the entire ride through Space Mountain.









I think we've mentioned before how our kids are totally suckered by any and every commercial. The one that has made a big impression lately is "Pillow Pets" (i.e. it's a pillow. No, it's a pet. No, it's both!!!) One of the gift shops had pillow pets, and the kids just HAD to have one. We checked the ol' internet to make sure they weren't a total ripoff and finally gave in. AJ and Natalie are thrilled with them. And we haven't heard the end of how amazing these things are yet.

The drive home through California and Oregon was fairly standard. We took about a dozen pictures of Mount Shasta because the kids were fascinated with the fact that it's a volcano (they're on Joe's phone; I haven't uploaded them yet). AJ told us he thinks it's going to erupt tomorrow despite it not showing any symptoms of such activity. So we had to drive really fast to get away from there.

We even managed to see Andrea and Scott on their way back home where we crossed paths on I-84. We're looking forward to seeing them for AJ's baptism on the 17th.

While we had way more puke than I like on a road-trip, I'm proud to say there were no other bathroom accidents this time. And we made it home with all the children/gear we came with (and more)!