The Vacation Begins!

We met up with the Holman's in Payson so we could caravan to California together. We were all excited and ready to GO!!!

The drive was nice and pleasant...until Tami texted me close to Cedar City: "I just had a horrible feeling, you got our Disneyland tickets, right?" OH NO! My heart sank, tears came to my eyes, I wanted to throw up. I forgot our tickets. When I got them in the mail I had a thought to put them in the car. But I was busy and thought 'How could I forget Disneyland tickets?' Not once did I put them on my list of things to pack. Ugh! I immediately called my mom. She went to my house to get them and she texted me pictures of all of them. Our travel agent had said he could easily send us a new one if someone lost theirs one day at Disneyland. So I called and emailed him right away to see what we should do. No answer, no immediate reply. My mom offered to get in the car and if we turned around she'd meet us halfway. That would add an extra 3 hours to our 10+ hour trip. We looked up FedEx and UPS and found they could overnight them to us for $66. That sounded better to all of us then having to drive an extra 3 hours. Kevin was bugged and wouldn't talk to me. I was upset and sick and didn't feel like talking. It was a quiet trip for awhile there!

We made a couple stops on the way and did a kid swap part way through...Asher went in the Holman's car and Kaleb came in our car. Asher was in heaven. Mykenna and Brooklyn painted his fingernails and toenails and he was very protective over it, not wanting to wash his hands in case it came off! We traded kids back when it was time to separate. We were going to go to the Keil's and the Holman's were going straight to our D-land hotel.

That last hour our so to the Keil's seemed to take forever! It was dark, we had been in the car all day, and we were all getting sleepy. We easily found their house and received a great welcome! Kyle hadn't gone to sleep yet because he wanted to wait for Rylan. Asher had already fallen asleep. Ben and Heather set up some sleeping bags in the boys room for Ry and Asher and they had a little sleepover together in there. We sent Ry and Kyle to bed right away and there were no complaints. Tyce woke up and was not ready to go back to sleep so he hung out with the adults. Kevin was tired after driving for nearly 12 hours (yeah, it was a LONG drive for us!) so instead of playing games we sat down and watched a comedian for awhile. When Tyce started to get restless I decided to take him to bed and put myself to bed as well.

Monday morning was relaxing. It was perfect. Ben and Kevin made us pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. Delicious--even more so with the husbands cooking :) The kids played non-stop. They were outside on the tramp, shooting baskets, inside with beyblades, and just all over running and playing. They were having fun! The adults talked and got everyone ready for the day. We headed out to a nearby park that had a section called "Train Town". There were lots of real trains the boys could walk (or rather, run) through and climb on. They had multiple races up and down the long lane. The whole "Train Town" was really neat!

Asher wet his pants and felt bad. Rylan was still having fun and wanted to take pictures.

Then we followed Ben and Heather to the hood for a stop at KFC for some lunch. We got some stares with our 6 boys but I think they were good stares :) When we were leaving Andrew had to go to the bathroom. There were no public restrooms so Heather told Ben to just take him outside in the parking lot corner. We cleaned up our mess and Heather and I walked out together. Right there was a guy holding up a little girl who was peeing in the middle of the parking lot. We both just started laughing. The guy looked a bit embarrassed and apologized "but there are no bathrooms". Heather explained we completely understood and we were only laughing because her child just did the same!!

To the beach! Heather had this great beach for us to visit that was absolutely beautiful. It was the beach at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach (I think, but I have to remember so I can go back someday!) There were tide pools where we explored and saw some ocean life. We even saw dolphins swimming nearby! The boys had a great time splashing in the water. It was a bit cold but they didn't mind and just hanging out there was enjoyable for all of us. Ahhhhh, I could have spent a day or two here!

Check out Ry's face. He knew a wave was coming but he was trying to hold still for the picture! Hahaha!

We stayed at the beach to watch the sunset. Oh was it beautiful! And then it got rather chilly so we packed up and headed to dinner. The Keil's requested Cafe Rio since we were close and they don't have one by their house (we were about an hour away from their house). Cafe Rio it was!

Sadly we had to say good bye after dinner. I wish we would have had several more days to play together. They were great hosts and gave us the perfect start to our vacation. Seriously, I don't think the day could have been any better. Thanks Ben and Heather!!!

We were very close to our hotel so that's where we went to get some sleep before our Disneyland fun!