The countdown begins!!
Andrew has had a big summer! I am finally getting around to blogging about our trip at the end of June. I had over 2,000 pictures to sort through and edit, and it's been so fun looking back on the amazing memories we made. Andrew loved this calendar I made for him which marked very important days for him. The start of the much anticipated Madagascar 3 (ha!), the Heartwalk, and our visit to see a very special mouse! Every day he would get so excited to come downstairs and mark off a day on his calendar. He never forgot once!
Happy girl at the airport!
When the big day arrived, we were all so excited! Just for the sake of looking back and remembering things, I have to share our crazy schedule of arriving in CA. All at different times! First, my mom and Jim took our van and left on Tuesday morning. I had to have everything packed basically 3 days in advance. My type-A personality was slightly stressing about this... how do I pack for a whole vacation, and send everything in the van 3 days early? I had about a million lists, and I just made sure to leave things we would need and send the things we didn't. We managed!
Slightly excited! The plane arrived!
The next crazy part is, Craig and I also flew at different times. He had a tight work schedule so he couldn't stay for quite as long, or leave as early as us. So the kids and I flew out on Friday night to meet Ga Ga and Papa in San Diego. I know, I was brave flying alone with both kids. But it was worth it to me to get there a day early, plus fly at night. Our plan was to fly out and drive back with mom and Jim. Craig flew out of SD as we headed out on our road trip home! But we won't talk about coming home yet!
The kids were actually really good. The hardest part was just manuevering everything by myself, especially a baby who couldn't walk on her own. I thought ahead and packed a dinner for them, so we ate that while we were waiting for the plane, which worked great.
Andrew took this picture of the wing, which he is very proud of! I thought it was pretty good too!
I only took things on the plane that were essential- mainly Kerigan's bottle, snacks and our portable DVD player with movies! I did bring a change of clothes for the kids and some other small things. Everything went in one manageable bag.
I thought this was so good! Andrew took this on the plane, too! My son, the photographer! Ha! I only brought my phone to take pictures with. No way was I dragging my big camera on the plane with two kids... although it did cross my mind! I hate going anywhere without it! Ha!
Kerigan was cracking me up. I was worried about how she would do, but overall she was pretty easy. She was really happy early on and wanted to stand up and walk all over the seats, etc. She and Andrew fit pretty well in one seat, but I had to hold her in my lap for take off and landing. She wasn't very happy being in my lap. This is what I worried about the most.
Luckily I had just planned the flight for a time that I knew was her bottle and bedtime. When the plane took off I fed her, although she was very distracted. I was hoping it would help her ears from popping and it didn't seem to bother either of them at all.
She was a little fussy for a while after her bottle when she was trying to settle down and fall asleep. She is used to being laid down in her crib right away so she was a little thrown off! But eventually she settled down and fell asleep the rest of the flight.
Andrew stayed awake for the first flight and did really well with his snacks and movies. Unfortunately we had to change planes in Denver. Everything would have been fine had we flown straight into San Diego nonstop. When we got to Denver, it was about 10pm our time. Kerigan woke up and Andrew was super tired (tired=grouchy). He insisted I take him on all the walking sidewalks in the stroller. I was starved so I was thrilled when I saw Quiznos on the way to our gate! This is where everything just started getting long and annoying! Ha!
We found our gate and got settled, and no one else was there. I began to question us being in the right place. We only had about 20 minutes so I went up and asked someone behind the counter. He informed me the gate had changed. Um.... seriously? So I am hauling two kids in a double stroller with all our gear and I am supposed to know that the gate changed? Ack! So we practically ran to the correct gate only to sit there and wait probably another hour. Kerigan would not go back to sleep, and Andrew asked me about 1,245 times if the plane was there yet. I'm not sure what the delay was but by the time we boarded the kids were cranky. Kerigan had a hard time settling down on my lap again, but she eventually fell back to sleep and so did Andrew.
It was funny, I thought I was going to get some quiet/alone time with the kids sleeping so I ordered myself a coke and settled into The Hunger Games. I got about 3 pages read the whole time! Ha! I ended up spilling the coke all over Andrew and woke him up. What a struggle. He was crying when we landed because he was wet. Kerigan woke up again. I had never been so happy to see my mom and Jim in my life! Ha!
I got a kick out of mom taking our picture coming off the plane. Ha! You can see Andrew crying, Kerigan is just out of it and I can't believe I was smiling! Looking back I would say it wasn't so bad, but at the time I remember saying that I probably wouldn't fly alone with them again! I sort of felt like I deserved a medal after this! Ha! And my husband definitely owed me big time, coming off his peaceful flight all by himself the next afternoon.
That evening was very rough. It was about 1:00am our time, and we settled into the hotel but Kerigan would not sleep. She was totally confused and out of sorts. Andrew got settled down and fell asleep, thank goodness, but my mom, Jim and I were pretty much awake with Kerigan most of the night as she took turns in both our beds. She would not lay in her pack and play. Finally she crashed with mom and Jim and we slept for a few short hours.
I will say that this sight the next morning out of our hotel window was totally worth it! Right away Andrew called them "Jungle Trees." I loved that. I never want to forget him saying that.
We all just needed to relax so we headed to Mission Beach! Somehow, the ocean just sweeps all your troubles away!
There was nothing quite like getting out of the car and smelling the sea filled air and catching our first glimpse of this beautiful water. Definitely my happy place.
Kerigan was mesmerized as well! We were all so happy to be at the beach...finally!
Andrew was in his element. He just beamed the whole time. He loved Papa getting in the water with him and chasing the tide!
Getting pulled in by the tide!
Having so much fun with Papa!
This was the neatest little beachy setting- they had lights hanging, and there were little carnival rides, places to shop and eat. We loved it!
We had pizza and burgers at the best little place. Kerigan says "This is the life!" Ha!
This was a view of only part of our hotel, the Town and Country Resort. There were many different buildings all spread out. We stayed in these towers overlooking one of many pools. It was beautiful.
Taken from our hotel balcony
Daddy arrived! Yay! We were so happy to see him!
We had one more full day of R & R before heading to Disney!
More to come soon!
