Travel, Griswold style

No trip in our family is complete without a few hiccups along the way.  Usually, those hiccups are caused by me, and relate directly to me, but sometimes other things happen that make us laugh, or panic, or both.

Here is a run down of the Arizona trip "highlights".

Leaving dinner on Friday night Quinn fell off of a very tall curb and skinned his knee up pretty bad.  He cried so hard that once Ross got him in the car, he was so worn out he fell asleep in about 30 seconds.  It was a pretty bad crash.

On Saturday morning, it was raining pretty hard.  We'd planned to go to the zoo, but the rain made us second guess ourselves and we decided to go to a small aquarium in the mall.  It opened at 10 am, we stood in a long line and once we got to the front, realized that the line was for people who had passes or who had already purchased tickets.  Doh!  Of course, there were no signs indicating differences in the lines, and, once we got to the back of the "need tickets" line we decided to give up and just go to the zoo in the rain.



Lucky for us, the 2 hours we were at the zoo, it didn't rain.  I still spent $12 on ponchos for the kids, but no rain.  We did however have a couple of adventures at the zoo.  Adventure 1: we were chased by a very fast, very vocal, very crazy road runner.  It was roaming free in it's enclosure and it gave us a run for our money, and plenty of giggles.  Adventure 2:  My blood sugar started to drop pretty rapidly when we were about finished - joy of diabetes - and just as I put a glucose table in my mouth, Wyatt came around the corner, excited to tell me there was a whole cage of Scarlet Ibis - my favorite bird.  Well, in my attempt to be excited about the birds, I inhaled my chalky tropical fruit glucose tablet and it got stuck in my throat.  I could not breath.  I was chocking.  For a good 30 seconds, I thought that I might suffocate and die.  Once I could breathe again, my throat was on fire and hurt for the rest of the day.





Saturday night we had tickets for the Arizona Coyotes NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks.  The game was supposed to start at 6 pm, but the first 10,000 people were going to get a FREE bobble head of a former player because the team was celebrating it's 20th anniversary.  We arrived one hour early, to get our FREE bobble heads and then had to sit there, with the five other people who came early for an hour before the game was going to start.  The big boys really liked the hockey game, but Quinn?  We were there so early that he fell asleep right after the National Anthem and slept almost through the first halftime.  By the way, hockey games take forever.  Ross said they were fast, they are not fast.  20 minutes of play, 20 minutes of half time, 20 minutes of play, 18 minutes of half time, 20 minutes of play.  We didn't make it for the last 20 minutes because, hello!  We arrived so early.  But, it was still fun.

On Sunday, we drove up north to the towns of Cottonwood and Prescott Valley.  Driving to Ross' parents house in PV, we were following a route outlined by google maps.  Well, that route came to a dirt road.  We paused momentarily to see if Google was serious.  She was. (can google be a girl?)  I told Ross that I thought it was a bad idea to drive on a very wet and very muddy dirt road.  He, being the man, told me we would be fine.  We maybe drove a quarter of a mile before it got really wet.  I began to plead for us to turn around.  We continued a bit more until - yes, you guessed it -we were halfway in a muddy ditch.  Yeah!  I felt justified in my "I told you so moment" but that didn't change the fact that we were stuck in the mud.

Ross got out of the rented mini van.  I climbed over to the driver's seat.  He pushed.  I floored it.  After a few intense minutes, and let's face it, many silent prayers on my part, we got out of the ditch.  But then, because I was driving, I had to do a u turn, on the slippery muddy road and drive us off that road.  Where was Ross you ask?  Well, his head, arms, and torso were inside the van.  His butt, legs and lower half were hanging out the window.  He was a wee bit muddy once we got back to the road and switched seats.  Sometimes, Google leads you astray.

The biggest screw up however was on my part.  Sunday night, while eating dinner with Ross' parents, I realized that I'd left ALL MY INSULIN in the fridge in our airbnb apartment in Phoenix.  Swear words!  I had 60 units left in my pump, enough to get me until the morning and I was panicking.  Everyone was calling or texting people who could either write me an emergency prescription or help me solve the problem.  Finally, Ross was able to talk to the small town PV Walgreens pharmacist and he was sure that they could get my prescription transferred in the morning so I could get enough insulin to get home.

It was.

I did.

The end.

The Griswold's go to Jellystone Park :: Part 4, heading home

On the last morning of our vacation we woke to a beautiful Sunday.  And another half dead mouse that Wyatt found exploring a new part of the house.  This one though, we left for the people coming to clean the cabin after our departure.  A parting gift, I suppose.  It was funny, too, because this place was supposed to be somewhere we could relax and have fun and instead, it's beauty was marred by all the animal issues we had.  Not until we were leaving did I even walk around to look at the front of the place.  It did sort of look like the cabin from the movie "The Great Outdoors".  We should have known...





During our Saturday driving around Yellowstone, my dad and Ross decided that we wouldn't head home through the Park to Jackson Hole as originally planned, but instead we would take "Wilson's pass" and head on some new roads through Idaho farm country and cut through the Grand Tetons.  This was a great idea.  We drove for a while and then stopped at both overlooks for the upper and lower Mesa Falls.  The waterfalls were gorgeous and in all my life traveling to Yellowstone, I'd never seen them before and was so happy we stopped.  And, guess what, the visitor center/information house at the falls had bats!  Totally out of control.











The big boys drove with my parents to Jackson while Quinn opted to ride with us.  He was having a hard time because you see (TMI coming) he, like his mother, suffers from chronic traveling constipation and being a kid who only poops every couple of days anyway, adding another 3 or 4 to that already long record makes for a pretty uncomfortable ride in the car.  When he first started having trouble, he eventually fell asleep for about an hour - buying us some swift driving time.  But, when he woke up, climbing through the Tetons, we were in for some trouble.  He started to wail and scream that he couldn't sit down anymore!  I knew the probably so I threw caution to the wind on a windy mountain pass and unbuckled him.  He cried and screamed and nearly fell over, but did manage to take care of his business.  And then, moaned and wailed because he needed me to change his diaper immediately!  When we hit the summit, we found a good pull out and finished taking care of his business.  He was surprisingly calm after that.  It was a pretty pathetic and hilarious thing to witness.  Let it also be known that on the Friday of our trip, he did not pee for one whole day.  Seriously.  He peed before he went to bed on Friday night and then didn't pee again until Saturday morning.  I don't know how he did that, but he should have received a major award.




We made it to Jackson Hole and ate a late lunch at a Mexican place that had been featured on Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives called "Picas".  It was delicioso!  After that, it was time for the obligatory walk around the center of town.  Holy crowded Batman!  Jackson Hole is a complete tourist trap and it was in a t-shirt store when all members of our party started to officially lose it.  Boys were fighting, souvenirs were being bought, and my mom and I were on a hunt for some fudge.  We found it, loaded into our separate cars and headed on our way home.

No one wanted to drive towards Evanston, so Ross and my dad found a new route through Wyoming back to Idaho via Soda Springs and Pocatello.  It was such a beautiful drive through some small towns and so much cool farmland.  And, Ross would like me to note that he got the worst soda of his life in Soda Springs.  Go figure.

We had nearly made it home when we had to stop just outside of Brigham City to use the bathroom.  Wyatt was exhausted.  Elliott was tired of being in the back of the car, and Quinn, Ross and I were ready to head home.  We made it in record time, unpacked our bags and stretched out.  It was so good to be home, but we had had a really fun, eventful, and memorable trip.

Thanks to my mom and dad for going with us and experiencing all the crazy with us, too.

Amen!

Stupid is as stoopid does!

Seriously, this feels like the theme of my life lately.  My mom always told me that I don't get along well with stupid people and she's right.  My patience levels are not high.

Here is an example.



This is a picture of my new bedding.  I got it a couple of weeks ago from a pottery barn sale.  Side note - my bedding my entire marriage has been from pottery barn.  Go figure.

Anyway, because I have new bedding, I now had old bedding.  It was being used, as a trampoline, blanket, tent, fort, comforter, sail boat, wrestling ring, in my bedroom on the floor by my children, but that really wasn't the best use for it.

So, Ross listed the old bedding, pictured below, for $30 on KSL. This image, along with 4 others, was featured in the sale add.




I may get a few of the details wrong, but on Sunday Ross was contacted by a woman who lived all the way in Syracuse who was interested in the duvet, down insert, and two standard shams.  But, because she was driving clear from Northern Utah, she didn't want to pay the full $30, she only wanted to pay $20.  Because we just wanted to get rid of it, Ross agreed to the price reduction and the buyer headed down.

We however, were leaving to go to my mom's for Sunday dinner when they would arrive so Ross texted to tell them that the duvet was in the garbage bag on the pork and to leave the money in the planter on the front porch.

This is where things get interesting.

When we got to my mom's, Ross received a text that they had arrived from our house, but where was the duvet cover, all the saw in the bad was a sheet.

Ross explained that it wasn't a sheet, it was the actual duvet cover, down insert and two standard pillow shams.

The next text told him, that the sheet wasn't in the bag and because the sheet wasn't there, they were only going to pay $10 would that be okay.

Ross said no, that $10 was not acceptable, and that there was no sheet included.

The next text said that there was a sheet in the picture, and they wanted the sheet.

Um...duh!  They wanted the SHEETS OFF MY BED! because they were in the picture showing what the bed looked like made.  A picture that was also taken three years ago.

Then Ross handed me his phone in frustration.  I replied.
$10 not okay.  $20 only.  Sorry for your trouble.  Drive home safely.

Then there was silence for a while.

Then another text.

It said: "Thank you.  We left the money in the snail!"
 

Sleepless in Arizona

While on our trip, we had a hotel room that called itself a "suite" but we had five people, two queen beds and a pull out sofa...not sweet.  Not so spacious when you add all our sweaty bodies.  Since there were only two beds, Quinn was assigned the fold out sofa and then one bed would be occupied by Ross and myself and the other by the big boys.

Mistake numero uno!

On our first night at the hotel, the boys fought and fought and fought at bed time.  Now, not your regular argument about covers, but actual fist fights because "he's touching me!"  "He is breathing on me!"  I'm going to pound you sorts of stuff.  After A LOT of muffled yelling from mom and dad (we were in a hotel after all) the big boys fell asleep and while Ross was getting Quinn to settle down, I started to crash out.  Just as I was drifting to never land, I heard a muffled scream.  A muffled blood curdling scream.  The kind of scream that comes from Wyatt at least three times a day.  I opened my eyes to find him on the floor, completely wrapped and suffocating in the comforter of the hotel bed.  I unwrapped him in the dark, told him to quit screaming and plopped him in bed with me because at the time, I sort of assumed Elliott may have kicked him or pushed him and didn't think that sending him back was a good idea.

By the time Ross got Quinn to sleep, Wyatt and I were out cold in our bed so rather than move Wyatt, he just got in the bed with Elliott.

Mistake numero dos!

Never sleep with your insane sleeper children.  At several points throughout the night, Elliott started talking and mumbling LOUDLY, or, laughing a  pretty noisy hyena-like laugh.  He did it most of the night while flipping and flapping in bed with his dad like a seal, kicking and flopping.  Ross didn't sleep much.

I didn't fare much better with Wyatt.  At least three times in the night he got up on his knees, like a meerkat or prairie dog to survey the land.  He was wiggly enough that it woke me up and I just watched him.  He'd get high on his knees, pull his hands up limply to his face, look around, and then just dead weight collapse back into the bed - on top of me in some sort of tangled and painful way.

When Ross and I woke up, exhausted, on Saturday morning, we vowed never to do that again.

Fast forward a couple nights to the night Ross' brother hosted us at his home.  We'd had a great day playing, a great meal prepared by my sister-in-law and a very cooperative bed time routine.  That was, until it was time to go to bed.  The air mattress that the boys were sleeping on had lost some air - when there are 6 little boys jumping on it, that tends to happen.   The deflation, plus the weight difference in the boys, and their general sour attitudes made a recipe for disaster.  After hours of lying in bed wide awake myself I got up around 1:30 and took a pill.  Okay, a xanex because I was freaking out a little.  When I came back to bed, Quinn was awake and Ross fed him a bottle.  Once Ross came back to bed and we settled in, we heard Wyatt.  It wasn't a good sound.  It actually sounded like he was throwing up.

I was the first into the room with the boys and as I got down onto my knees to see their faces I realized that no, there was no puke.  Instead, Elliott had a look of terror in his face as his younger brother was screaming at him, chocking him around the neck.  Yes, apparently Wyatt had rolled over onto Elliott and even though he was asleep, Elliott hit or pushed Wyatt away and that woke Wyatt up, sent him over the edge, and he tried to injure his brother.

I was angry.

We got them separated and calmed down.  We lectured and whisper yelled.  They finally went back to sleep.  Ross went back to sleep and I eventually drifted into a drug induced coma.  At 5:30, Quinn woke up again (I think he was waking up to clue us in to his brothers), Ross fed him a bottle and just as he finished, threw him on the bed with me to run to break up the second air mattress brawl of the night.  Same thing - boys on top of each other - but this time, no choking.

Ross got smart and brought Wyatt into the room with us.

Quinn and I were on the bed.

Wyatt was on the crib mattress on the floor.

Ross was sleeping on the floor.

Elliott was in the other room, sunk into the middle of the coffin air mattress.

Not our best night as a family.

By the time we checked into our hotel again for our final night's stay, I wised up and had one boy under the sheet and one boy on top so technically.....

they weren't touching. 

halftime conversation

My mother:  So, who is this guy anyway?

Willie:  Bruno Mars.

Mom: Who?

Haley:  Bruno Mars

Mom:  Oh, I don't know him.  Is he related to the singer Jason Mars.

Annie:  Who?

Mom:  Jason Mars.  The one that sings that song (sings something none of us know.)

Annie:  You mean Jason M-raz?

Willie:  (Laughing) No.  Bruno Mars and Jason Mraz are not related.

#siblingagogo13 :: Food

I grew up in burgers and fries family.  I am still a burger and fries girl.  Probably, if it wasn't embarrassing or strange or super unhealthy, I'd eat a hamburger every day.  My husband is a ham sandwich and pickle person.  He likes deli's and all that stuff and when we go to Crown Burgers, he gets chicken kebab's and rice, not a burger and fries.

But, throughout our marriage, food has become just as important part of a vacation as the location and the company.  That being said, I cannot tell you the last vacation I went on where I intentionally ate at a big chain restaurant.  I like to keep it local and new.

On our way to the ocean, our first stop was "Swig" in St. George for dirty diet cokes and sugar cookies.  My first experience with a dirty diet coke didn't win me over...there was too much coconut, perhaps?  And not enough lime that I could even taste it?  And, the after burn tasted like what sunscreen smells like.  I'd be willing to try it again, but with my own ratios.  The cookies though?  They were pretty great.  We each got two, sugar and chocolate chip, and snarfed them down pretty quickly.

Next up was the food highlight of my trip.  Raising Cane's in Las Vegas.  I know, it's just chicken fingers but until you try them, and go back for seconds and thirds, then don't mock.  There are about 6 Raising Cane's in Las Vegas and we hit one on the way to the ocean and one on the way back home.  Divine.  Melt in your mouth.  Tastes like real chicken.  And, the Texas toast is heavenly.  I would actually be willing to drive to Las Vegas just to gorge myself at a Raising Cane's.  I would even eat there twice in the same day!

By the time we got around to being hungry in California on Friday night, pretty much everything was closed.  It was late.  But, the manager of Johnny Rockets (who was closing up) told me of a small local burger place just a few blocks over on Huntington Main Street called, "Bomb Burger".  It was excellent.  I got a bacon BBQ burger and the skinniest, cutest, tastiest french fries I've ever had.  It was, well, the bomb!

On Saturday morning, thanks to the recommendation of my friend Erin, who used to live in Huntington, we had breakfast at the Sugar Shack.  Breakfast really isn't our thing, but this place was awesome.  Giant pancakes, great bacon and amazing hash browns.  Locally owned and operated since, like, 1967, the kid that was our server looked like he came to work straight from surfing, and was a pretty authentic beach bum.  The service was fast and it was tasty.

Our final real food destination of the trip was a pretty regular spot for us.  Ruby's Diner on the Huntington Beach Pier.  We love Ruby's.  The food is yummy.  The atmosphere is cool and they bring your milk shakes BEFORE you food!  Who doesn't like that.  I got a salad, Willie a grilled cheese, and Haley a burger.  We each got laughing to hard during dinner that our waitress came to ask us if we were okay.  And, we made Willie put dinner on his debit card.  It was the first time he had ever done that, and the first time he had to calculate a tip.  We were so proud of him!

#siblingagogo13 - the ocean

My mom, brother and I have a fascination with the ocean.  I could sit on the beach all day long and watch the waves, the surfers, the kids in the sand.  Hunting for seashells is one of the most relaxing activities around.

My sister, she doesn't love the ocean so much.  She and I share an irrational fear that if we get much wetter than our ankles, a shark will jump out of the water and eat us.  But, she humored us, and spending hours sitting on the beach, had a great nap and read on of the first books she's read in years.

The whole point of our road trip was to see the ocean.  Willie wanted to play his ukulele on the beach.  I wanted to sit somewhere beautiful without anyone asking me for anything.  I think Haley wated a nap.  And she got one.  Our hours on the beach were excellent.  In all the trips to California I've taken in my life, I've never been able to spend some time just hanging out at the beach.  Isn't that crazy?  The beach is wonderful.  In my lawn chair, with my diet coke, my shells, and my brother's ukulele.  The three of us hardly talked on the beach, we were just there.  We took turns guarding our stuff to walk through the surf and watch the surfers wipe out.  The beach is a pretty good place to watch people.  A good place to relax.  A good place to have your hair go all frizzy crazy and never look back.

And a pretty good place to get sand in your toes.  If getting sand in your toes is what you're after.

And a beach sunset?  That's a pretty spectacular thing.  Even if you almost miss it while trying to find the beach again and have to get your sister to stop, dump you out of the car to go and watch it while she circles in a parking lot.  A good sunset and a good sister.

 



Passing the buck!

Last night we had dinner at my mom's house, with my grandpa.  My mom does dinner every Wednesday night, and we try to join as often as possible.  After dinner, I went down to the basement to round up my children, and saw, that, in the toys section, that the toys had pretty much exploded into a giant ball of mess.

I asked for some help as I was on my hands and knees.  Of the four children in the basement I had no takers.

Then I saw the Lego's.  There were teeny tiny Lego's everywhere.  It was a mess, to say the least.

"Elliott", I exclaimed!  "Help me clean up these Lego's!"

"Molly did it!" and he ran up the stairs.

"Wyatt, will you help me clean up these Lego's?" I asked.

"I don't want to.  Molly did it!"  He told me.

"I'll give you a dollar...." I replied.

"Okay, but Molly did it.  I saw her dump them out." he told me back.

"Molly, get over here and help me clean up these Lego's," I yelled to her across the room.

She walked over, casually dropped the toy she was carrying in front of me and looked me in the eye.

"Jack did it!" she declared.....

and walked away.

It was just me and Wyatt.

And he got two dollars.

Waxing Philosopical....in the car

 

Driving home the other day, we had a deep conversation.  It went something like this.

Wyatt:  Mom, can we add riding the Trax train to our list of summer things to do.

Mom:  Yeah, that's a great idea.  Where do you want to ride the train to?

Wyatt:  Maybe to the children's museum?

Elliott:  Or maybe we could just go for a ride?

Mom: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.  I guess we have to decide which is more important, the destination or the journey.

****

Elliott looks at me like I'm speaking a foreign language and Wyatt looks out the window.

*****

Mom:  Elliott do you know what I'm talking about?  What is a destination?

Elliott:  It's the place your going to.

Mom:  Okay, Wyatt, what is a journey? (Silent stares out the window)

Elliott:  It's the time it takes you to get to your destination.

Mom:  Very good, Elliott.  So,  then what does it mean when I said we have to decide which is more important, the destination or the journey?

Elliott:  It means we have to decide if it's more fun to ride the Trax train to a place, or if we want to ride it just for fun!

Mom:  Excellent my boy!  Very good.  So, do you want the destination or the journey?

Wyatt:  I want the journey!

Elliott:  I think I want the destination!

******

A funny little conversation with my boys and me.  I think that it's pretty telling that Wyatt picked the journey, and Elliott the destination.  And, you have to admit that it's pretty cool my kid figured the whole thing out....he's a pretty smart little fart.  And #2, I was shocked that Wyatt was even really listening....talk about wanting the journey.

Always attractive to the elderly....

Last week, at Willie's basketball game up at Weber State, I was standing in line waiting to purchase an expensive (and flat) diet coke (that I wouldn't get to drink because Wyatt kicked it over) when the following occurred.

Nice old grandpa-ish guy walks up behind me.  He was a bit palsy-ed on the right side and had a bit of a hard time walking.  He came up behind me, leaned over and whispered in my ear.....

Old Man: "I'll just stand behind you for protection."
Me: "Um...okay."
OM:  "So, how tall are you?  Six foot two?"
Me: "Very close.  I'm six foot three."
OM:  "Even better. I've always thought that was the perfect height for a woman!"

Getting hit on by a married for 50 years grandpa at a high school basketball game.

It's what I'm good at.

"More than just a hairy dude"

My brother made a movie in his art class.

Of course, it's about Bigfoot.

Enjoy!

When he's left alone...

I thought he was playing Curious George on PBS kids.

I guess he wasn't.

Good Evening....

Not the most flattering photo of my little squishy, but he does bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain horror/suspense film director of the 1950's and 60's.

Hello Baby Hitchcock.

Are you afraid of birds?

Birds!

This afternoon, my three boys and I were stir crazy.  The big boys had waited too long for a friend to eat lunch and were certain his mom had made him take a nap.  The little brother was restless and burrowing into my shoulder.  I felt like my skin was crawling with bugs.

You know, a typical day at 2:00 in the afternoon.

So, we loaded into the car, rain boots and all, and headed to the hobby lobby for some 50% off early Christmas cheer and crafts.

The boys were good.  They asked to drive past our old house on the way home.

I obliged.  She looked good.

Then we decided to drive past the lake.  Boy number 2, in the middle of his 1000th rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star crashed in the back seat.  Out like a light he was.  Daylight savings time is still killing him.

Anyway, Elliott and I noticed while driving by the lake that it was full of birds.  Geese, ducks, seagulls, all sorts of feathered and flocking friends.

When we got to the northern most part of the lake, it was full, literally full of all kinds of fowl.  With two boys asleep in the car, the big brother and I decided to get out and take a picture.  To one side of us, was a body of water chock full of all manner of quackers (the picture however doesn't do it justice).

To the other side of us was a makeshift gravel parking lot with at least 1000 seagulls just doing their gull thing.

As we turned towards them, walking slowly to take our picture we discussed why we were being careful. I mean seriously, who wants to get 1000 pigeons all up in their face with a start. No matter though because as careful as we were, the guy who had been taking pictures next to us got into his truck and drove right up to all those gulls and startled the living crap out of them.

And quite literally right into our faces.

Elliott and I screamed and screamed. We laughed. We ducked. It was awesome and absolutely terrifying all at the same time. We started to run but stopped because it felt like the birds were chasing us. Elliott yelled, "mom, cover your head so they don't poop on you!"

When we got back into the car, both out of breath, we laughed the rest of the drive home because we decided that if what had just happened to us had happened to Wyatt, he might have peed his pants and then died.

Freudian Slip

Me:  I have the worst headache I've had in, like, 10 months.
Him:  I wonder why.  I wonder what triggered it.
Me:  I don't know.  I haven't had any orange juice. (side note:  orange juice is a migraine trigger for me)
Him:  I did.  I wonder if I put some sort of boobie doll curse on you by drinking it?
Me:  What?
Him:  You know, a boobie doll?
Me:  What?
Him:  Oh, I mean voodoo doll.  Maybe I put a voodoo curse on you.

Yes, there is a certain topic in our house these days that is apparently on everyones minds.

sometimes I swear he's got to be older than five.

A charm off of his bracelet (that he made without any help) broke the other night as I was getting Wyatt out of the bath tub.

"Mom" he yelled LOUDLY as he walked down the hall back into the bathroom.  In his underwear no less.

"What?" I replied returning the loud.

"Mom!  Another charm fell off my bracelet.  Can you work your magic on this one like you did the other day and fix it?"

.....

Yes my boy, I can work my magic.


>>>>>>>

I'm behind on reading the happenings in the twitter-verse, but this morning I was catching up on the tweets of my brother.  My boy said the following to his uncle willie over the weekend and it was worthy of a tweet by the president.

Sharks eat everything! Kind of like goats. I call them the goats of the ocean.

I thought it was funny

We're thinking about toilet training the Chick.  It's not something that I'm ready to tackle and not something I think he's ready for mentally.  Why do I think this?  Because the conversation usually goes this way:

Mama:  Wyatt, do you want to go pee-pee in the toilet?

Wyatt:  No!

Mama:  Why not?  Big boys go pee in the toilet.

Wyatt:  No sanks.  I like to pee in my pants.

Or like this:

Mama:  Hey Wyatt, are you ready to wear Phineas and Ferb big boy pants and use the toilet?

Wyatt:  Not today.

Mama:  Okay, when?

Wyatt:  How about in 7 days, like next Tuesday?

Then the other boy?  The older one who is super observant, he makes us laugh.  Last night we were getting ready to watch our Dad FREAK OUT while the BYU Cougars tried to lose a basketball game. Before the game started, the commentators were doing a BYU video flash back to when Danny Ainge was on the team and did this super cool full court dribble layup thing to win a game.

Elliott turned to his dad and said, "Dad, why aren't those basketball guys wearing shorts?"

Apparently the shorts of 25 years ago were so short, my son couldn't tell that they were even on.

LegoLand

Our trip to San Diego wasn't just the four of us.  We traveled with Ross' family - his parents and his brothers family.  This was the first time we'd ever traveled together as such a large group - 6 adults and 5 kids five and under and I think we were all prepared for any sort of adventure that fell upon us.

Luckily - all the adventures were of the good variety.

The first all day family outing was to Lego Land.  This was largely to humor my Lego obsessed children and those boys of mine could have, much to the boredom of their parents, spent the entire vacation at Lego Land.  People had told me that the park is really geared towards little boys around 7 years old and those people couldn't have been more right.  I'll extend the age group from 3-9 year old boys, but it's pretty much the same thing.

All we needed was a burp and fart station, and the entree into boy land would have been complete. 

We rode kid rides, played kid games, made kid driver's licences, built race cars in a building with the biggest collection of Lego's I've ever seen, and saw little boys living out their wildest fantasies.  I thought that maybe my kids dreamed about Lego's before our visit to the park but I'm pretty certain that after our visit, they do for sure.

It was a grand adventure.

The warmest day of our trip was the day we spent in Carlsbad.  It was delightful.  I got a sunburn.  We really had so much fun.  We played, we rode rides, we made Wyatt go on a little roller coaster that scared the crap out of him.  Not literally of course - that took a little help from the Walgreen's and dad that night in the hotel room.

As we were leaving the park, I only had one thing on my mind.  Gassing up the mini van.  We'd coasted into San Diego the night before on fumes.  We drove to Lego Land on the fumes of fumes and never in my life have I been in a car that was so low on gas.  34 miles in the tank before my husband quit messing with my head and filled up the tank.

We all met up for dinner at this place called Tip Top meats.  It didn't make the food post because I didn't remember to take a picture.  I got a French dip.  It was excellent!  We ended the night as we always seem to do when we travel.  Ross found an outlet mall with a Banana Republic outlet.  The second BR outlet run of the trip.

And then, Ice cream.  Who doesn't want to eat ice cream in California when the sun goes down in February and it's only 42 degrees outside.

If you've got it....

 After our lunch of slurpees and donuts for the boys, a DC and croissant for me it was time for a dance party. 

 I was issued a challenge, "Mom, be our DJ," and the songs started to play. 

After the last request had been played I said, "Okay, what do you want to listen to now?" 

In unison, without any coordination of their efforts, my boys both looked at me and shouted, "Mom, we want to bust a move!" 

 Yes my boys. If you want it, you got it.