Go Grease Lightning

On Saturday July 23, we took a mini-Va-K to St. George to go to Tuacahn and see Grease.  I have wanted to take Cayden to Little Mermaid but those tickets were hard to come by.  Connor was going to Pioche with grandma and grandpa so we just had Cayden and Caleb (oh and the baby bundle).  We drove to St. George and went to Olive Garden for dinner.  We let the kids get whatever they wanted and so Caleb got Lobster Ravioli and then they each got their own desserts. It was quite delicious.  After dinner we ran to Target for a few things and Don got a haircut next door at GreatClips then we checked into our hotel-The Hampton Inn.  We headed to Tuacahn around 7:15.  Don and Caleb had not been there before even though Cayden and I had-last year to see Tarzan and the year before that Cody and I went with some of Don's family to Les Mis.  There really is not a bad seat in that place and even though it was really hot they do have misters and frozen lemonade and snow cones.  The kids really liked Grease even though they knew nothing about it.  I was glad that Tuacahn made it a bit more tasteful than the actual movie was.  After the show we hit In and Out Burger just to give me an extra extra dose of heartburn and headed back to the hotel.  The next morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast where Cayden almost needed the heimlich after too much bacon in his mouth-then instead of going home we drove up to Pine Valley.  Don has been wanting to take the kids camping up there and he wanted to check it out before they went.  It was still pretty warm even in Pine Valley but it was nice under the trees.  The boys hiked around a little and Caleb even used his Leave No Trace skills and picked up some trash and a soda can from the river. I sat on a rock and swatted at mosquitoes.After Pine Valley we went to Arby's and then drove home.  It was a quick but nice little jaunt.

Family VayCay in CA Part 1

Breakfast at the Hampton

Cayden not sure if he wants to go in the water.

Yeah, the water is a bit cold.

As far as Cody got to the water.

Cayden was adamant that he was not wearing his swimsuit. It took forever to get all the sand out of his shorts.

My lovely sunburn.

Posing outside the Hampton.

We always must find a frozen yogurt shop.

Our hotel in Hermosa.

Crepes and funnel cake at Downtown Disney.

The Lego store.

We decided to take one final trip together before Cody moved to Utah.  We left on Tuesday June 14 for Hermosa Beach, California.  We drove into Vegas to get lunch at In and Out Burger then proceeded with Pam's help to our destination.  Pam is our GPS on Don's phone-Pam is map backwards.  We stopped a few times for potty and treat breaks and hit traffic of course on one of the multitudinous Cali freeways.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn  in Hermosa Beach who welcomed us with fresh cookies.  We have to get 2 rooms because of the size of our family but unfortunately we could not get connecting rooms.  We ended up being 2 doors down from each other.  Don took Caleb and Cayden and Cody, Cayden and I stayed in the other room.  We ordered pizza from a delivery place later that night for dinner.  Wednesday started breezy, cool and cloudy but by 11:30 when we finally made it out of the room it had cleared up sufficiently to go to the beach.  The Hampton offers a free hot breakfast every morning so that was super for us.  They had choices of fruit, cereal, yogurt, toast,muffins, english muffins, and bagels plus hot waffles you could make and some sort of hot choice like eggs and sausage or bacon or something.  It was all very simple but very nice for the kids.  We all especially enjoyed the daily cookies and they also had hot chocolate you could make any time of the day.  We left our hotel Wednesday morning to go exploring a bit and find a beach.  It was still relatively cool but after we drive up the coast a bit we found Venice Beach and decided it was a nice place to hang out for the day.  The water was cold but the sun stayed out for a few hours before the clouds came back which was just long enough for the kids to dig in the sand, boogie board and for Cody and me to lay on the beach and get sunburned.  After about 2 hours we had all had enough fun and so we found another In and Out Burger  and headed back to the room for showers and a rest before dinner.  While I took a little siesta, Cody played gameboy, and Caleb and Cayden watched TV.  Don and Connor walked across the street to Von's for some waters and snacks. For dinner we headed to Olive Garden.  It was not a successful dinner but it was dinner none the less.  We thought there was a Coldstone close to our hotel but after Don, Caleb and Cody walked up and down the block a few times and around the shopping centers, they could not find one so we had to opted for ice cream bars from the hotel shop.  Cody and I both did not apply sunblock appropriately and his back was toasted and my knees were fried.  It was very painful for both of us.  Thursday morning we slept in, started  packing up and heading to Anaheim.  After Connor's not so lovely few days we decided to let him make a choice to go home where we thought that he would feel much better.  It was either that or we all left and went home.  After we packed up we headed to Anaheim where we got settled into our next Hampton.  Don and Connor took a shuttle from the Hampton in Anaheim to LAX.   Did I mention the TSA safety drill that happened the exact time that Don and Connor were going through security?  It is a good thing that Don is a very calm person and travels quite frequently.  Even while he had no clue what was going on until AFTER it was over, he stayed calm and kept Connor as calm as he could.  It did not last more than a few minutes but there was a lot of yelling, noise, and a siren plus numerous frightened and unsure people.  Could they have picked a better day to do that?  Don said that he had never in all his traveling been part of a drill.  Thanks TSA for your "help". After the drill they were able to fly uneventfully to Las Vegas.   Grandma and Grandpa met Don and Connor in Vegas where they did the hand off and then Don turned around and got back on a plane to fly back to LAX where he took a taxi to our hotel.  If he would have driven to Vegas he only would have saved himself about an hour or two but he would have been driving the whole time.  He got back to the hotel around 9:30 and we ordered Chinese food from some place who did deliver but overcharged us by about $20.  While Don and Connor were traveling, Cody, Caleb, Cayden and I went to Red Robin and ate overpriced burgers and then went back and rested while we waited for Don.  Cody did take the boys down to the pool while I took a a little nap.  It was a little cool so they did not stay down there long but atleast there was a pool. After a little siesta we drove to Downtown Disney and wandered a bit and ate a crepe and a funnel cake.  Cayden wanted to spend his money from Grandma Penny at the Lego store and we found that the Build A Bear there had 2 levels.

Happy Anniversary

Don and I celebrated our anniversary on March 19.  Don wanted to go somewhere exotic-like Texas-but I was afraid that I would be no fun and too sick.  We thought about California but in the end just opted for sleazy old Vegas.  We did stay in the Hilton Grand Vacation hotel which is not connected to a casino and is new and smoke free so that was good.  We had nice room overlooking the pool but it was a pretty chilly weekend so there were not too many people swimming.  We left on Friday afternoon and went to the airport first to pick up Don's bag that the airlines had lost from his trip the day before.  After that we went to PF Chang's for lunch.  We had yummy egg drop soup which I normally don't like because it is too eggy but this time it was quite tasty.  We also had Crab Wontons, Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Shrimp-Don's, not mine- and their little dessert cups of cheesecake and tiramisu.  I had not eaten that much in  weeks and weeks.  We checked into out hotel and lounged around for bit then headed out to the strip.  Oh what a filthy smutty place that strip is.  We found a lovely French restaurant called the Sugar Factory where I ate crepes and Don at a Monte Cristo then the big partiers we are we headed back to our hotel.  Saturday morning we stayed in bed until 1pm and slept then we got up and went to Town Square for lunch and a movie.  We talked about going to Barry or Donny and Marie and I even tried to get Bon Jovi tickets but couldn't.  We opted for Limitless and then a late late dinner at Ruth's Chris.  We ate ourselves literally into a coma there and it was delightful!  They have the best Creme Brulee EVER!  Sunday we slept in until about 10 and then checked out and headed for IHOP.  After breakfast we headed home and the boys were at church so we took a short nap.  It was a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.  I love my hunny bunny so much and he takes such good care of me and the soon to be 5 kiddos.  It is nice to get away once in a while!