Vacation Notes

I know this blog is long and some of you may not care, but this was our vacation this summer and it took a lot of planning (before), patience (during), and putting stuff away time (after). So it deserves a long blog.

On June 29th we started our trek. 28,001 miles later on July 15th we came home and crashed in our beds.

The first day, our mini van was packed full and we had everything we could possible need to keep 3 kids happy for a nine hour drive that day and hopefully enough for the rest of the two weeks also. We had a few small dollar store toys for the kids that they could periodically unwrap and play with for the next ½ hour at least. The problem with that philosophy was that as soon as they knew we had toys, they wanted them all right now! They would unwrap it and love it for 2 minutes max and then ask for the next one! It worked great for the first day because that was our longest driving day and it kept them amused. That and the DVD player that we got for the journey kept us all sane. We woke up the kids at 4:00am and carried them out to the car hoping they would fall asleep again. They did not. It was too exciting to sit in the car and stare out the windows at the dark for the next 3 hours.

Lake Tahoe: We stayed at the KOA near Lake Tahoe. That was also a few miles away from where the large fire had started a few days before we arrived. We went anyway, knowing that we could always leave if we needed to. It was beautiful. Aside from the wisps of smoke we saw on the first day, we saw no evidence of the fire. It was completely put out the day before we got there. We spent three days there and we really love it. We spent as much time as we could on the beach. The water was a little too cold for swimming but Jaxon jumped in a couple of times. We rented a paddle boat that we all went out on. When hiking around our campsite the kids found a “secret door” partially buried in the ground. Jaxon just knew that it lead to some underground cavern probably to China. We went to a “carnival” with rides. We were the only ones there so the ride operator followed us around and started the rides that the kids wanted to go on. Luckily the run-down rides didn’t break while we were on them. The KOA pool was pretty cold but the older boys liked it. Alex was not impressed. In fact I realized that although he loves baths and loved to play in our backyard wadding pool, he had never been to a real pool. He didn’t like it at all. We also had a small fishing pole because the kids really want to learn how to fish. I bought a complete pole with all the pieces we needed. Well, we got there and it didn’t have a hook. So we went to the car and found a paper clip. The kids didn’t know any better. They were not going to catch anything in the three inch stream by our campsite anyway. It was funny to us though! Over all, I recommend Lake Tahoe for a fabulous vacation and I will be going back.

In the car there was almost always noise. We either had the DVD players going or we had a book on tape playing or someone was talking, crying, singing… Well in the odd moments that it would be quiet. Tanner had to make sure that we realized it. “It’s quiet in here!” Every single time it was quiet.

Yosemite: We stayed at the KOA about 35 minutes to the west of the main entrance. We got to Yosemite from the Eastern side in about 4 hours. We should have gone down and approached from the Western side. It would have been faster. We had to drive all the way through Yosemite to get to our campsite. The road through it does not have all the sights that we are all familiar with. It had fields of grass and a lake and some pretty normal mountains. We stopped a few places and got out and explored and played but it seemed like it took all day to drive somewhere that should have taken 4 hours. We got to the campsite at 5:00pm. But we saw a part of Yosemite that we probably would not have seen so that was good. Yosemite Valley was incredible. I have seen so many Ansel Adams prints of Yosemite that I felt like I had already been there. It was July in a drought year so the waterfalls did not have much water but they were still impressive. The hikes we went on were not very long so we made it with out much complaining. By the end of the day Tanner was tired so I basically had to carry him to see Bridalveil Falls. He made it from the car to the beginning of the trail and announced that he was too tired to go on. But it was really cool to be there. Did you know that Yosemite Falls is around the 7th tallest waterfall in the world? Jaxon got a Lake Tahoe shirt and was very proud of it. While we were at Yosemite, Jaxon got very upset that no one had noticed his shirt. It said that he was a life guard at Lake Tahoe. He really thought people would believe his shirt and be impressed. Well, finally at the end of the day someone walked by us and commented that there was a life guard! Jaxon probably grew three feet right then. He was so proud. The kids were so impressed by little things in the trip, not the big impressive things. They saw a sign near our campsite that said to watch out for poison oak. Well, that was all they could talk about. What does poison oak look like? What does it do? What if… on and on…

This was when I realized that although we had planned shorter car trips in between places we were going, I didn’t factor in all the driving we would be doing once we got to the place. We were in the car for hours longer then I planned. Oh well. The kids didn’t complain too much.

Then we drove to Visalia California. It was HOT. We stayed in a KOA that was about 45 minutes outside of Sequoia National Park. The pool was finally warm and Alex was tolerant of the pool. We swam twice that day because it was so hot. It was when we went to bed that the interesting things happened. It was the Fourth of July. We knew there might be some firework noises so we told the kids to ignore them and go to sleep. We had checked around town for a fireworks display but decided that our kids were so tired that they would just not enjoy it. I was glad we didn’t go anywhere because at 9:00 pm they were asleep and slept soundly for the rest of the night. We did hear some pops toward the beginning of the night, but it was not a big deal. One thing we really did well on our trip was tire the kids out. They slept well the whole time. Andre and I did not really sleep well on the trip- but the Visalia, California night is one that we will never forget. First, it was 95 degrees at 9:00 it is impossible to go to sleep when you are sweating to death. The campsite was in the middle of an industrial area so we were surrounded by large industrial buildings. All night large trucks rumbled down the road. Did I mention that in the huge KOA, they put the six tent campsites 5 feet away from the main road? Every truck that drove by felt like it would drive through our site. There were train tracks somewhere nearby so trains were constantly going by in the night. I am not a fan of trains honking in the night. At some point in the night we realized that there must be a small airport nearby because there were tons of low flying planes directly overhead. The kids slept through it all but they were moving all over the tent. When we finally got up in the morning, both kids had fallen off their mattresses. The most incredible thing that happened in the night was about 3 am. It sounded like the KOA was mowing the grass IN our campsite. I still am not sure where the lawn mower was but it was probably right on the other side of the fence (remember 5 feet away from our site.) It went past about 3-4 times. I was staring at Andre in disbelief at how horrible this night was. Then early, early in the morning the rooster started announcing that it was morning. This rooster was also very loud. So I am not sure why we had a rooster living in an industrial area. Needless to say we did not sleep well.

We went to Sequoia National Forest the next day. We really liked this national park. It was beautiful. We saw the world’s largest tree and the world’s third largest tree. We drove our car through a tunnel carved in a tree. We walked lengthwise through a fallen tree. It was not too hot because the elevation was so high. (But when we came down the mountain, it was 111 degrees at 6:00 at night.) There were squirrels everywhere. Alex kept saying his version of the word dog- “da”. We decided to go to a restaurant so we could be air conditioned during dinner. It was after we had ordered our food that we realized that the air conditioning was broken in that restaurant!

Then we made our way down to San Diego. San Diego is now one of my favorite places, I am sure I went there when I was younger, but Los Angeles and San Diego are all meshed in my memories. San Diego had a great temperature. It had wonderful beaches and it was perfect. My brother works with the Navy and they sent him and his family down to San Diego for the summer. He was working and family was doing other San Diego type things. We decided to go see them while on our road trip. Because of this, the rest of my family all decided to meet there also. Two siblings live near Phoenix and it is a 6 hour drive from there. My parents and one sibling flew from Salt Lake. We spent a lot of time on the beach and swimming and doing San Diego type things. It was fun for our kids to see their cousins and play with them because all of these cousins now live in other states. It really made our trip fabulous to spend time with family and do things that we didn’t even know were there. We went to the Mormon Battalion visitor’s center and walked around old town San Diego. That was really fun so thanks to my family for all they did for us. We loved the tide pools because of the crabs and cool stuff that live under the water. Jaxon is such a beach lover now. He stayed in the water for as long as he could then he would come out and roll around on the sand until you could not even tell it was him. The first time we went to the beach Tanner was so tired that I wrapped him up in Towels and he fell asleep. A couple of hours later the tide came in and really got close to him. We built a sand mote and wall blocking the water but that only worked for a while. We finally had to wake him up so the water didn’t. We also went to Sea World. That is a very cool place. Tanner’s favorite part was touching the sting rays. Jaxon’s favorite part was a roller coaster ride that you get really wet on. Alex really liked the sand box. They have a kid play area. While the big kids ran all over the slides and climb-y things, Alex sat in one place and played in the sand. It was about an hour until he moved. I would live in San Diego if I could- it was so great.

We went to Las Vegas next. We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle who have a pool in their back yard. That was a highlight in my kid’s minds. They won’t stop asking for a backyard pool now! My kids have gotten an M&M computer game from the library a few times. It is really fun and they really obsess about it. Well, in Vegas they have an M&M store! We went there first and spent a long time looking at everything M&M. They also had a (pretend) mini factory that looked a lot like the computer game. They had a 10 minute movie that the older boys really liked. We also went to other kid-friendly Vegas activities. We went to see the white tigers (who were asleep and hiding) and some dolphins (they were cool). Then we went to Circus Circus. We found out that they have a mini amusement park in a dome. Jaxon was in heaven. Jaxon LOVES roller coasters. We spent the rest of the day there. So Vegas was a hit. It was hot there too but we stayed inside mostly. We got back to my Aunt’s house by 5 or 6 each night because the kids were exhausted, but also because Vegas is not a great place for kids after dark.

Then we went to St. George. Andre’s sister lives there so we got to spend time with some more cousins that we don’t see often. They had a great time swimming, playing and “having a sleep over” in Cole’s bedroom. We also saw Andre’s grandma. We go down to St. George about once a year to see Grandma and our kids talk about her a lot so it is good to see her. We ended our trip in a park with Andre’s uncle and his family. It is always good to see them. There are some cousins that we see every year but this year we saw his cousin Tara that he had not seen since he was about 12. We were at a park that has fountains and water toys so the kids loved to run around and get wet. It was fun. Tanner was playing with a water gun and standing near the fountain to fill it up when all of a sudden he started screaming! We ran over and he had been standing on an ant hill and they were all over his feet and biting him! He calmed down but I thought that was a nice way to end our trip.

After a four hour drive we were home. We carried everyone straight to bed and slept well all night long. We had a great time. The kids talk about it all the time and want to do it again and again… I told them that it will be a while until I want to spend that much time in the car with that many little people. But I would do it again. It is a great way to see the country. Next time maybe we’ll go to Arizona to visit our cousins down there. The Oregon Coast still sounds like fun… well, we will see.