Family Vay-cay-shlin

Yes, you read that right. That's what Max has been calling it ever since we decided to go on a little mini vacation just the four of us. We packed all our junk in the car and drove up to Anaheim for three days -- 2 spent at Disneyland and 1 spent at the beach. It was perfect for us! Not too long, not too short and lots of fun. Well, mostly fun. But I'll get to that.







Our first day we drove up early in the morning and arrived at Disneyland just in time to park far away and ride a bus to the park -- I'm pretty sure the bus was the highlight of Lia's trip. Every time we got on one she would sing "ROUND AND ROUND! ROUND AND ROUND!! ROUND AND ROUND!! BEEP BEEP." Recognize that little ditty? Since neither Tyler nor I sing this song to her we're guessing she learned it at church. But it was adorable listening to her sing it at the top of her lungs.





So, as I was saying, Day 1 -- starting well. Until Lia kicked off one of her shoes and lost it. Yeah, she's a stinker like that. And then both kids started acting like horrid little monsters. Tyler and I weren't sure what was going on -- were they tired, were they hungry, were they just monsters? We got our answer after we got home, but let me tell you, our fun little family trip would have been much more fun had the kids been healthy and happy.





Anyway, we rode all of Max's favorite rides. We had a good system down. We got to the park early and rode all the long line rides (Pirates, Dumbo, Teacups, etc.) and then around 1 left to go for naps at our hotel. When the kids were up for naps we went back to the park and did more rides. It was perfect because we missed the most busy part of the day at Disneyland and were able to get on the most rides and wait in the least amount of lines.







Max of course picked a sword as a souvenir and Lia picked some pirate bracelets. We even splurged and got the kids some Mickey ears. Mostly I was the only one who wanted them, but Max quickly learned how awesome they are and wore them around for both days at Disneyland. Lia preferred to throw hers as far as she could from the stroller. Probably in protest for not being allowed to walk/run/get lost.





Oh, and did I mention that at the end of Day 1 Max broke his shoe? Yeah, it just fell apart. Nothing a little Macgyver thread couldn't fix, but still, we had a lot of shoe troubles. We waited for the fireworks that night. And of course, as luck would have it, they were delayed an extra 20 minutes. Our kids LOVED that.



Day 2 started off with an overpriced breakfast at our hotel followed by another jaunty bus ride to the park. We headed over to the lost and found to see if anyone had turned in Lia's shoe. And lo and behold -- IT WAS FOUND!! Things were going alright, we got into the Buzz Lightyear ride again. Max got to go on his first roller coaster -- the Matterhorn.


(That's Max and Tyler going down on the Matterhorn)





And then it happened. We're sitting on Pirates of the Caribbean for the second time, having a good old yo-ho time, we get to the end, Max gets off my lap and there is a very large wet spot on my jeans. When I thankfully realized I hadn't wet my own pants I quickly realized Max had wet his pants on me. Um, yeah. This kid hasn't had an accident in over a year. Even after us repeatedly asking him and making him go before we got on the ride. Needless to say, we had to go back to the hotel.

The kids napped and Tyler and I hung out at the pool. When they woke up we took them to the pool, too and were promptly harassed by some kids from Texas who asked us questions like "how old are you guys? 40?" and "are those your kids?" and "why did you guys get married and is that bathing suit one that you can swim in or is it a dancing one?" and proceeded to tell us way to many details about their lives in Texas.



So cute and chubby in her bathing suit!


Lia was as equally weirded out by the Texans as we were.


Max, too.

The kids weren't that into the pool. It was getting chillier out and the sun was behind the trees at that point and the pool wasn't all that warm. They much preferred the spa and the bubbles. We mostly hung out in there. It had a nice ledge for Max to walk around on since he was slightly nervous in the pool (which reminded us how badly we need to get him into swimming lessons). Lia just didn't like being cold.











We went back to Disneyland that night for the parade and some more rides.


(This dude was having way too much fun to not have his picture taken.)

Max and Tyler got separated from Lia and me to go potty and didn't get back to our side in time for the parade to start. But Max got a good view on top of his dad's shoulders.









Mickey Mouse confetti -- so cool! It stuck to our dirty stroller wheels while we tried to make it through the crowd for some dinner. And the crowd was well worth it for a meal like THIS! Oh yes, that's fried chicken, and it was dang good. After 2 slightly rough days (thanks to the kids' moods) it was nice to eat something fried with gravy.



And then, it happened again. Oh yes. This time it was Tyler that noticed a wet spot on his shirt after holding Max in the RIDICULOUSLY long line at the Rockets ride. Max had wet his pants AGAIN. At that point we were pretty ticked off parents. We immediately left the line and Max had to sit and watch Lia ride the ride with Tyler in his wet pants, then endure the cold tram ride back to the car in his wet pants (well, that part wasn't on purpose; we didn't have a change of clothes for him and at that point I felt kind of bad for him -- still mad, but he was clearly embarrassed).





You might be thinking, why didn't we ask him if he needed to go? Why didn't we make him go? Please. We aren't that dumb. We DID ask him. In fact, he had gone right before we got in line. And because of the previous incident asked him over and over. Later he confessed that he lied about it. Hm, how to get a four year old to stop doing that! Anyway, it was kind of a sad ending to the night, but we were looking forward to our beach day the next day.

I have to mention that this was the trip where Tyler had the most ingenious idea ever. Normally when we stay in a hotel with the kids we request a room with a handicapped bathroom so we can shove Lia in there in her pack and play so she has her own room to sleep. And then we have Max sleep in one bed while we're in the other, which means we have to either go to sleep at 7 with him, or sneak in after he's fallen asleep and risk waking him up.







Well, Tyler came up with the awesome idea of making a nice comfy bed for Max in the tub in the bathroom with Lia. It worked like a charm! Max was SOOO excited about his special bed (packed with lots of blankets) and Lia was happy to have Max in the room with her again. And Tyler and I got a nice hotel room to ourselves for the night where we promptly crashed out in our own beds from sheer exhaustion.





The next day we ventured to the beach with the kids. This was the best day of our trip. We just relaxed on the beach, let the kids run around, enjoyed some ice cream and on the way home stopped at Sprinkles for some cupcakes.




I love fat baby legs in the sand!





We decided on a beach in Corona Del Mar. It was a gorgeous beach, HUGE mansions on the cliffs surrounding it (I mean HUGE) and it wasn't too busy. The kids were definitely more calm just hanging out.


I think the ice cream was their favorite part of the vacation.


Or it could have been the giant hole Tyler dug in the sand. What a cool dad, right? It was almost over Max's head and it was even complete with a slide for Lia.










Tyler even enjoyed a few treats after all his hard work.



We had a quiet drive home while Lia slept and Max was content with listening to his favorite music on the radio. I have to say, taking the time for a trip with just our little family was awesome. Even though the kids were clearly not feeling well and acting out and even though it was a lot stressful at Disneyland, you kind of forget that part and remember how nice it was to just be together with nothing else to do but be together. When we got home we figured out that the kids both had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (yeah, I thought only horses got this, or people that were around horses a lot, don't ask me why). It just sounds like a dirty person disease, but I guess it's a really common virus that we've all come in contact with. The kids had sores in their mouths, throats and on their tongues as well as fevers. We weren't really aware of it when we were at Disneyland, but it totally made sense once we got home and realized all their crazy wild behavior was because they weren't feeling good. Poor things. I mean, I know they had fun, but it couldn't have been easy to do all that stuff when they were feeling so crummy.

But I'm so so glad we did this. I always have this feeling like we're letting time with our little kids just slip away without taking advantage of it before they are big kids, then big adults. I have to remind myself all the time that it's not going as fast as I think it is and that we still have loads of time with them. I'm just glad we get to do these things like take little impromptu vacations to Disneyland and the beach and eat at yummy places with delicious coconut shakes and enjoy how quirky and funny and spunky our kids are at this age and the ages that come. This stuff is important to me. And I hope our kids learn that. And I hope they know how much their parents love heck out of them. So much so that we do things like this: