Roadtrip Recap
Last month, Jake and I spent two weeks on the road visiting family and friends with our 2-year-old and then 6-week-old in tow. (I joked when we got home that Fisher had spent 1/4 of his life on the road--he was 6 weeks old when we left and 8 weeks old when we got back :). Haha!) Depending on who we talked to before we left (and while we were on our trip), we got a whole lot of hilarious commentary that ranged from "you're crazy" or "you're brave" to "you are so smart to go when Fisher is still so little." Hahahaha. I'm not saying we didn't have any reservations (we did), but we were due for a visit and I always exhaust all of my vacation time on maternity leave, so I wanted to go when I was taking extended time off anyway. So we just went for it. Here's a snapshot of how our trip shook out:
Day 1: drove from our house to Klamath Falls (to my parents' house)
Day 2: drove from Klamath Falls to Merced (longest day)
Day 3: drove from Merced to San Diego
Days 4-6: visited family and friends in San Diego
Day 7: packed up and drove from San Diego to Anaheim
Day 8-10: three magical days at The Happiest Place on Earth
Day 11: drove from Anaheim to Sacramento
Day 12: spent some time with our dear friends in Sac
Day 13: drove from Sac to Klamath Falls
Day 14: recuperated in Klamath Falls (at my parents' again)
Day 15: drove from Klamath Falls back home
Whew. Honestly, though, the kids were SO GOOD on the road. Fisher has been a more challenging baby than Lyla in some ways, but not when it comes to travelling. That kid is a champ in the car. I think he loves sleeping in his carseat in a moving vehicle second only to sleeping on me. He was seriously so easy. We kept Lyla busy with shows and movies on our tablet, coloring books, regular books, and these Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow Activity Books. Ummm, if you are a parent of a toddler/preschooler you need these. We have five of them now, and I pretty much make sure I have one in my diaper bag at all times--they're great in the car, waiting at the doctor's office, at a restaurant, etc. This is $5 well spent, folks. Do yourself a favor and pick up one... or five. My mother bought Lyla the first one, so I can't take any credit for this genius find--thanks, mom!
San Diego was lovely and, as always, our biggest problem was not having enough time to see everyone. We did get to see a few friends and spent a lot of time with family. It was really nice for our kids to finally be able to play with their cousins! We also made it to the Celebrate San Diego Rally at Petco Park, enjoyed some brews at Modern Times Beer, and squeezed in a day at the bay, which Lyla absolutely LOVED. That girl just loves being outside and after months of rainy cabin fever, it was such a relief to get some time outside in the sun. Also, we literally ate Mexican food every. single. day. I miss it already.
And then we went to Disneyland. Oh, Disneyland. I have so many thoughts on this. It was magical. It was happy. It was also crazy. And totally exhausting. We had three day park hopper passes which was the longest trip Jake and I had ever made to Disneyland. So I think we were just unprepared for how MUCH that was going to be. We mostly had an absolutely delightful time, but we also experienced the most epic meltdowns of Lyla's life (it didn't help that she had not taken a single nap since we had left home). So three days may have been a bit much. That said, the girl talks about it all the time, so I think the memory is mostly positive for her, too :). Lyla takes after her dad and is totally unafraid of rides. She is too little for any of the big rides, but she loved Gadget's Go Coaster (in Toontown), the Teacups, the Mater ride in CA adventure, "driving" her own car on Autopia, and the Dumbo ride. And she LOVED the characters. Be still my heart, we had some sweet, sweet moments with Disney characters. I may have even been teary-eyed a time or two :). Fisher hung out with me in the ergo 90% of the time and it was awesome. Wearing your baby at Disney is pretty much a must in my book. Fisher got to be held all day (his dream come true) and because we were riding all the little rides, he got to come along on just about everything. I had to stop to nurse and change him every few hours, but he was really an easy/chill baby the whole time. We are already dreaming of our next trip to the happiest place on earth!
After wrapping up our Disney adventure, we started our slow trip back up north. We took things much slower on the way home (which was infinitely better) and stopped in Sacramento to spend a couple of days with some of our favorite people. The Moores have been so good about coming to us for the past five years, so we finally repaid the favor and came to stay at their house. Lyla totally made herself at home and literally put herself to bed at their house to catch up on some much missed sleep :) :) :). This has NEVER happened before, but she was a much happier kid after she caught up. Two days came and went too fast--next time we'll stay for longer!
We then headed about five hours north to stay a couple quick nights at my parents' house again, just to keep everything from feeling too crazy. Lyla got to show off all her Disney spoils and recant her adventures for the other grandparents. Our very last leg home was just four hours and we were SO happy to arrive. There's just something about coming home, even when you've had a very sweet vacation.
Many thanks to everyone who hosted us and made time to see us! Until next time, California!
Day 1: drove from our house to Klamath Falls (to my parents' house)
Day 2: drove from Klamath Falls to Merced (longest day)
Day 3: drove from Merced to San Diego
Days 4-6: visited family and friends in San Diego
Day 7: packed up and drove from San Diego to Anaheim
Day 8-10: three magical days at The Happiest Place on Earth
Day 11: drove from Anaheim to Sacramento
Day 12: spent some time with our dear friends in Sac
Day 13: drove from Sac to Klamath Falls
Day 14: recuperated in Klamath Falls (at my parents' again)
Day 15: drove from Klamath Falls back home
Whew. Honestly, though, the kids were SO GOOD on the road. Fisher has been a more challenging baby than Lyla in some ways, but not when it comes to travelling. That kid is a champ in the car. I think he loves sleeping in his carseat in a moving vehicle second only to sleeping on me. He was seriously so easy. We kept Lyla busy with shows and movies on our tablet, coloring books, regular books, and these Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow Activity Books. Ummm, if you are a parent of a toddler/preschooler you need these. We have five of them now, and I pretty much make sure I have one in my diaper bag at all times--they're great in the car, waiting at the doctor's office, at a restaurant, etc. This is $5 well spent, folks. Do yourself a favor and pick up one... or five. My mother bought Lyla the first one, so I can't take any credit for this genius find--thanks, mom!
San Diego was lovely and, as always, our biggest problem was not having enough time to see everyone. We did get to see a few friends and spent a lot of time with family. It was really nice for our kids to finally be able to play with their cousins! We also made it to the Celebrate San Diego Rally at Petco Park, enjoyed some brews at Modern Times Beer, and squeezed in a day at the bay, which Lyla absolutely LOVED. That girl just loves being outside and after months of rainy cabin fever, it was such a relief to get some time outside in the sun. Also, we literally ate Mexican food every. single. day. I miss it already.
And then we went to Disneyland. Oh, Disneyland. I have so many thoughts on this. It was magical. It was happy. It was also crazy. And totally exhausting. We had three day park hopper passes which was the longest trip Jake and I had ever made to Disneyland. So I think we were just unprepared for how MUCH that was going to be. We mostly had an absolutely delightful time, but we also experienced the most epic meltdowns of Lyla's life (it didn't help that she had not taken a single nap since we had left home). So three days may have been a bit much. That said, the girl talks about it all the time, so I think the memory is mostly positive for her, too :). Lyla takes after her dad and is totally unafraid of rides. She is too little for any of the big rides, but she loved Gadget's Go Coaster (in Toontown), the Teacups, the Mater ride in CA adventure, "driving" her own car on Autopia, and the Dumbo ride. And she LOVED the characters. Be still my heart, we had some sweet, sweet moments with Disney characters. I may have even been teary-eyed a time or two :). Fisher hung out with me in the ergo 90% of the time and it was awesome. Wearing your baby at Disney is pretty much a must in my book. Fisher got to be held all day (his dream come true) and because we were riding all the little rides, he got to come along on just about everything. I had to stop to nurse and change him every few hours, but he was really an easy/chill baby the whole time. We are already dreaming of our next trip to the happiest place on earth!
We then headed about five hours north to stay a couple quick nights at my parents' house again, just to keep everything from feeling too crazy. Lyla got to show off all her Disney spoils and recant her adventures for the other grandparents. Our very last leg home was just four hours and we were SO happy to arrive. There's just something about coming home, even when you've had a very sweet vacation.
Many thanks to everyone who hosted us and made time to see us! Until next time, California!
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