~
or, How I spent Spring Break…
or, What I did on my first vacation in who knows how long…
First things first. Single fathers should never—ever—take 600+ mile trips with their 18 and 21 year old daughters. You will say things that you’ll wish you never had. And even if you don’t, they’ll hear something and turn it into something you’ll wish you never said—even though you really never said it.
Kidding...!
Still, it was fun. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
The last time I was at Disneyland was 10 years ago when we were in California for my great-grandmother’s 100th birthday. My baby girl was somewhere around a month or two old. That’s all I’ve allowed myself to remember. She was due to go back. I was due to go back. We were all due to go back as a family. Well, mostly.
The oldest and her baby (my grandkid) ended up coming with us at the last minute and I’m so so so so so so glad they did. We had a ball. And that grandkid of mine is so so so so so so stinking cute! She looks just like me!
We drove down to St. George Friday night and spent about 6 or so hours napping in my brother’s in-law’s house. It’s good to have family who have family who have a house you can crash in once in a while. Up and on the road by 5:00 so we could be in Henderson, NV by 7:00 for breakfast at the in-law’s of my sister. It’s good to have family who have family that will feed you breakfast!
From Henderson we drove to Corona, CA where we stopped for lunch. Some of us ate at a Taco Bell, some at a Subway, and some at the Mad Greek. Some may have gone somewhere else, but I don’t know for sure. We had about 3 hours to kill until our hotel rooms in Anaheim would be available—what can you do in Corona for an hour or three? Fortunately, we didn’t really have to find out. A quick call to the hotel revealed that one of the four rooms was ready. And off we went.
I don’t recall much more than that about our first day there. I think we ran over to a In and Out Burger joint for dinner and then later we had a family meeting to discuss the next morning’s events and schedule.
The next 3 days were spent inside Disneyland and California Adventure wandering around, riding rides, chasing kids, and getting sore and tired feet. Seriously, walking around Disneyland for one day hurt my feet and legs more than the 50k I ran on Antelope Island 3 weeks ago!
I enjoyed Star Tours. Got wet on Splash Mountain. Experienced whiplash on the Indiana Jones ride. Was impressed with changes on Space Mountain. Heard more than my fair share of It’s A Small World. Loved Pirates of the Caribbean. Screamed on Screamin’. Felt totally cool on Soarin’ over California. Got a little claustrophobic on the Nemo Subs. And a bunch of other stuff too. All right along with the best company a guy could ask for.
I haven’t done anything with the pictures yet but I will. There’s about 100 of them I need to sort through.
The baby was a perfect angel the whole time. Most of the time. She was jabbering quite a bit on this trip! She met goofy and one of the Fairy God-Mothers.
Wednesday dawned and we headed home. This time I had the two older girls, the grand kid, and the boy. If traveling 600+ miles with your older daughters is a bad idea, traveling with them and your teenaged son is even worse! We had a blast even if our patience was running a bit thin.
The snow really started to fly as we left Beaver, UT. Had to stop at the gas station at Cove Fort to clean the ice off the headlights. Ended up staying there for a bit while the weather let up. Don’t know that it actually did, but we took off anyways and found the weather greatly improved up the road a bit. Ran into more snow at Nephi, UT and drove through near white-out conditions from there all the way home. 30 to 40 miles an hour and the snow just kept coming. Woke up Thursday morning to find about 5 inches outside and many trees and branches in the area had broken or fallen under the weight of the snow.
It was good to be home though. Really good. Still, I wouldn’t have minded staying in CA a few more days—soaking up the sun, hitting the beach, visiting good friends…
Oh well. There’s always August.
I so love my kids!
or, What I did on my first vacation in who knows how long…
First things first. Single fathers should never—ever—take 600+ mile trips with their 18 and 21 year old daughters. You will say things that you’ll wish you never had. And even if you don’t, they’ll hear something and turn it into something you’ll wish you never said—even though you really never said it.
Kidding...!
Still, it was fun. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
The last time I was at Disneyland was 10 years ago when we were in California for my great-grandmother’s 100th birthday. My baby girl was somewhere around a month or two old. That’s all I’ve allowed myself to remember. She was due to go back. I was due to go back. We were all due to go back as a family. Well, mostly.
The oldest and her baby (my grandkid) ended up coming with us at the last minute and I’m so so so so so so glad they did. We had a ball. And that grandkid of mine is so so so so so so stinking cute! She looks just like me!
We drove down to St. George Friday night and spent about 6 or so hours napping in my brother’s in-law’s house. It’s good to have family who have family who have a house you can crash in once in a while. Up and on the road by 5:00 so we could be in Henderson, NV by 7:00 for breakfast at the in-law’s of my sister. It’s good to have family who have family that will feed you breakfast!
From Henderson we drove to Corona, CA where we stopped for lunch. Some of us ate at a Taco Bell, some at a Subway, and some at the Mad Greek. Some may have gone somewhere else, but I don’t know for sure. We had about 3 hours to kill until our hotel rooms in Anaheim would be available—what can you do in Corona for an hour or three? Fortunately, we didn’t really have to find out. A quick call to the hotel revealed that one of the four rooms was ready. And off we went.
I don’t recall much more than that about our first day there. I think we ran over to a In and Out Burger joint for dinner and then later we had a family meeting to discuss the next morning’s events and schedule.
The next 3 days were spent inside Disneyland and California Adventure wandering around, riding rides, chasing kids, and getting sore and tired feet. Seriously, walking around Disneyland for one day hurt my feet and legs more than the 50k I ran on Antelope Island 3 weeks ago!
I enjoyed Star Tours. Got wet on Splash Mountain. Experienced whiplash on the Indiana Jones ride. Was impressed with changes on Space Mountain. Heard more than my fair share of It’s A Small World. Loved Pirates of the Caribbean. Screamed on Screamin’. Felt totally cool on Soarin’ over California. Got a little claustrophobic on the Nemo Subs. And a bunch of other stuff too. All right along with the best company a guy could ask for.
I haven’t done anything with the pictures yet but I will. There’s about 100 of them I need to sort through.
The baby was a perfect angel the whole time. Most of the time. She was jabbering quite a bit on this trip! She met goofy and one of the Fairy God-Mothers.
Wednesday dawned and we headed home. This time I had the two older girls, the grand kid, and the boy. If traveling 600+ miles with your older daughters is a bad idea, traveling with them and your teenaged son is even worse! We had a blast even if our patience was running a bit thin.
The snow really started to fly as we left Beaver, UT. Had to stop at the gas station at Cove Fort to clean the ice off the headlights. Ended up staying there for a bit while the weather let up. Don’t know that it actually did, but we took off anyways and found the weather greatly improved up the road a bit. Ran into more snow at Nephi, UT and drove through near white-out conditions from there all the way home. 30 to 40 miles an hour and the snow just kept coming. Woke up Thursday morning to find about 5 inches outside and many trees and branches in the area had broken or fallen under the weight of the snow.
It was good to be home though. Really good. Still, I wouldn’t have minded staying in CA a few more days—soaking up the sun, hitting the beach, visiting good friends…
Oh well. There’s always August.
I so love my kids!
2 comments:
I'm sooooo jealous! I'm glad you had a good time, Brad. You deserved it!
If you think traveling with your older kids was bad, you should have been in my van with your youngest! Holy cow did those 3 girls drive me crazy with their....
quietness! I would have forgotten they were with me if it hadn't been for a lost polly pocket accessory that they wanted me to look for every time we stopped!
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