This could possibly be our last big family vacation together. I say that only because the family continues to grow and it is hard to arrange everyone's schedules. I hope it's not but if so let's just say this vacation was fantastic! This was our Christmas Present to the family.....however we couldn't afford to pay for it all and so the kids paid for their passes and lunches and extra's. It worked out well since the married kids had wanted to take their families at some point any way. I am just glad that they agreed to share their time and vacation with all of us. I love having the family together......absolutely love it!
Everyone drove except for Larry and I, we flew.....I guess we deserved that. (wink) The kids all spend the night or two in Saint George before heading to California to meet on Sunday, January 20. The timing was perfect....we got to the house that we rented just before the first car load of kids. The house we rented was nice and such a great idea to have the family together. Everything was pretty great.....however the flu did get a hold of a few of the family. Ivy was sick at Jerry & Darinda's then Kamryn was sick on the drive to CA. Kam was riding with Trichelle and TJ and so they had the privilege of catching the throw up and cleaning it up. (yuck) Kimi also felt crapping when they reached CA. Trichelle and Zaden also had a little episode of not feeling good but neither of theirs lasted too long. The first night Julie, TJ, Kimi and Kevin all fought for the bathroom. Kimi was fine in the morning but the others were still punk. They all toughed it out though and went to Disneyland weak and feeling yucky. (Kevin even carried a bag just in case) The park was crowded on Monday because of Martin Luther King day and so we took it easy as far as rides go. We watched some parades and even went to the Aladdin Play in California Adventure. It was a great day to do all those things. The day was enjoyable even with the crowd and some not feeling up to par. I was a little concerned that the sickness would spread but we were blessed and no one else got it while we were there. (Justin got it when we got back home & Natalie got like a cough and head cold one day)
Tuesday was wonderful.....everyone felt good and the crowds were gone. We played all day and Larry even surprised us all with lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Larry really does know how to make us all smile and me wonder how he can swing all this. I don't worry too much though....things always seem to work out. Larry is one to make Dreams Come True....especially for me. I love the man! The new Cars Land in California Adventure Land was awesome.....everyone loved it. We played hard. I ached every night but felt good to go every morning. (I am so out of shape but look good for being 50+ & having 7 kids~it's a joke but I do get told that)
Wednesday Kevin, Julie, Kam, Braxton, Ivy, and Jared went to Universal Studio's and the rest of us stayed at the house. Justin took his family to the beach and they had some family time. Trichelle and Justin worked on their homework and we just chilled. The plan was to swim that day but the pool was too dirty to get in. (sad) To our pleasant surprise the pool guy showed up in the early evening and by Thursday there was a note on the door saying the pool was ready. Believe it or not we swam a few nights after going to the parks. The kids loved it....I loved it too. I loved looking down from the room we stayed in seeing the whole pool with the kids. It was glorious!
Thursday we all went to San Diego to visit Sea World. Our timing was perfect and Jaydan met us right by our cars in the parking lot. Jaydan flew in on Thursday since he had school that he wasn't able to get out of. It was fun having him join us.....the Whole family together at last! We pretty much had Sea World to ourselves. Hardly anyone was there and it was fun. The best part for me was being "Surprised" by getting to swim with the Dolphins. That was on my bucket list and Larry made it happen. I was wondering why we were going into the Interaction Shop and was Pleasantly Surprised when Larry said we were there to check me in. I couldn't believe it.......really? The kids all knew but hadn't let on. Trichelle even packed an extra bag with my make up and stuff for afterwards. Oh my word....I was so excited. I think I might have appeared to be nervous by the other two that were also doing it because they asked me a few times if I was nervous. I think I was just in shock....I was so excited and not nervous at all....except to put on the wet suit....that made me nervous. It was awesome swimming and interacting with the dolphins and having the family there to watch and cheer for me. Mya was so cute and told me that I did really good. Dang, I am thankful for little ones who make my heart smile so big.
We had reservations for Goofy's Kitchen at 5:00 and I was excited to go there to relax and enjoy watching the grands with the characters. It was delightful and so much fun. The food was really good too except I wasted some space in my tummy with mac & cheese pizza. I wanted to try it just because and ended up eating the whole slice (small) even though it wasn't that good to me. Oh well....we were all full and happy.
We split up and shopped or went back to the park for Fire Works. (I was with a shopping group....I watched them shop)
The kids all got up early on Saturday and headed home. Larry and I went to the Airport and gave up our tickets so we could get some flying vouchers ($500 each) and so we got home a few hours later than we planned which turned out to be good because the weather cleared up and wasn't bad by the time we did fly in.
I will cherish this vacation forever! It was perfect except for the flu distraction right at first. I love my sweet family. I love watching them interact with each other and have fun together. I love being Larry's wife and Trichelle, TJ, Justin, Natalie, Kevin, Julie, Braxton, Jaydan, Kimleighel, and Jared's mom. I love being the gramma to Ivy, Mya, Kamryn, Zaden and Parker. I am truly blessed and so very grateful to God for such blessings!
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