Spring Break 2019

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... sorry to start so dramatically, but that's how this last vacation started out. Lol. 

John finally had one of his 2 weeks off of school for the year and we were set for a week long trip that included St George, Dana Point, San Diego, Calaveras State Park, and Yuba City as the last stop. Oh yeah, and over 35 total hours of driving in the car with 2 small children and a nursing 4 month old. 

The driving would have been "the worst of times" but with a small DVD player, and at least 8 new movies borrowed from the library, the driving actually wasn't too bad. What was bad was all the whining and disobeying that suddenly started happening in St George. It was like a flip had switched in our kids and they were having a very tough start to the week. 

To start off, we drove to our campsite Friday night and spent almost all of Saturday at the St George children's museum. Our kids love this place and we try to go there whenever we're in St George. 

On Sunday, we went to church and then to the St George Temple Visitor's Center. I'd never been to the visitor's center before and it was great! They had a video and display all about the importance of families which was nice. Not to mention, air conditioning and shade felt a lot better than sitting at our hot campsite all afternoon. Then, after trying to decide what else we could do that wasn't too hot, we finally just let our kids change into their swimsuits and play at the splash pad for a few hours. 

Like I said before, our kids were a bit moody and John was seriously debating on turning around and cutting the trip short! I'm glad we didn't though because they completely flipped again by Tuesday afternoon and the rest of the trip was great! 

Monday we drove to Dana Point and stopped at the world's largest chevron station. There were 96 stations to fill the car up at! (Not sure why I thought this was so cool, but I did. Or at least cool enough to take a picture. Haha!)

Once we were checked in to our hotel, we watched the surfers at Doheny Beach before going to bed. After camping for a few nights, it was nice to sleep on something soft again! I feel like I've been a wimp about bedding every since we got a memory foam topper for our bed at home!

As a side note, every time we went to the beach, Aaron fell asleep right away. It was like listening to the world's largest sound machine for him! Haha!

On Tuesday, we dropped Brooke and Aaron off at daycare and went to a sales meeting (which was the only way we were able to get a cheap deal on the hotel anyway like in Tahoe last year). It went an hour and a half over the two hours it was supposed to take... And we were both pretty frustrated by the end. 

Either way, we got it done and rushed out of there! After picking the kids up, we got pizza and then did the Dana Point Sea Caves hike. We never made it to the end to see the actual "cave", but the kids had a lot of fun seeing all the hermit crabs, anemones, and oyster shells along the way. 

On Wednesday, we drove to San Diego and spent pretty much the whole day at the San Diego Zoo. We decided not to do the Safari Park because with our kids being so young, they would have just sat there thinking, "Why are we driving through Nevada again??" Haha! In the end, the kids had a lot of fun! 

David's favorite animal was the capybara because it basically looks like a giant guinea pig and it's related to the elephant somehow. For Brookie, she liked to look at the pink flamingos (of course!). And with how young Aaron is, he just kind of sat in the baby backpack and was probably confused every time he woke up in a different section of the park. He's a pretty happy baby overall though, so it was fun to have him along with us. :)

As a cherry on top to Wednesday, we went to Smash Burger for dinner and when we went to pay, their card reader broke! They ended up giving us our meal for free because of the inconvenience of it all. I know my love language is quality time, but when it comes to food, I definitely have moments where it switches to gifts... or at least to milkshakes. Yes. My love language is milkshakes.

On Thursday, we checked out and drove to Calaveras State Park and away from soft beds again. It rained on our way there and we were nervous we would be wet and cold all night! But the skies cleared up and even though it was colder than St George, our Jean blankets kept us warm in our tents and it was better in the morning. We did a short hike and then John and Tami did some rock climbing before going with David and my dad to do the Moaning Caverns cave tour. David was a little scared, but he toughed it out and was enjoying it by the end. 

Saturday was the last day before making our long trek home. We kind of just hung out at my parent's house while John, David, Brooke, and Tami went swimming. I always think I'm excited to swim again once it starts getting hot in Utah and then end up backing out once we're actually at my parents' house. That and I had a baby four months ago who is nursing so putting on a swim suit does not sound like a good/fun idea at the moment... 

Since we were leaving on Sunday which was mother's day, we celebrated it a little early and played a who knows mom best newlywed game. My three sisters tied with the top score and for the prize get to be mom's favorite children for the year. Haha! Afterwards we went to my favorite ice cream parlor, Brock's, for their rootbeer marble ice cream! 

Sunday morning my dad made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream on top (just like last year because it's the best!) and then we drove home. 

Also on Sunday, John and I had our 7 year anniversary! Sounds crazy that it's been that long, but then I remember that David just turned 6 and it makes sense. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!

When we were about 2 minutes away from our house, our car started clicking and after we parked it in our driveway, we found out it won't go in reverse... Once again it was an inconvenience happening in a very convenient way! I'm grateful it was so close to home and not in the middle of Nevada! 

With that week of fun over it's back to work. And only 76 more days until John gets another week break from class! But who's counting? Haha!