Big Trip Part 1: California

It is hard when writing about vacations to not make it sound like a log of what we did and where we went. I have a feeling I am going to get a little bit of that over the next couple of posts. Please Forgive me.

We started our big trip in LA. We weren't necessarily itching to go to LA, but because we booked on frequent flyer miles, we had a 4 day layover. The trip there was the easiest trip I ever did with my kids. They were a little antsy because of the age, but because the flight was at a civilized hour, we were all well rested and not stressed. I know that I will think about this flight next time I book at 5:30 flight. I will have to determine how much more getting a later flight is worth.

I did a few things different this go around with the kids. 1. each adult got one kid. 2. instead of packing jackets or blankets on the plane, I just brought long sleeve shirts. It saved me a TON of space on my carry on luggage. 3. Instead of bringing tons of books and snacks, I brought a few snacks and zero books. Instead, I brought stickers markers and blank paper. It was cheap and all they really needed. I did bring a klutz book for each kid. Peanut had paper dolls, and BabyP had a book called totally Tape. Also each kid got a video player with adult headphones so they could hear over the roar of the aircraft.

When we got to LA, my uncle met us at the car rental place with car seats for the kids. My aunt has been through grandkids already and is started on great grandchildren, so carseats are plentiful. In fact, we were able to make this whole trip without bringing any car seats along! The first stop was to meet my cousin's son who is close to Peanut's age. I was so happy with how well they got along. He was even a little sweety to BabyP.

We spent the first evening in Moreno Valley with my other aunt on my mom's side. She was married a number of years back, and I had never met her husband. He is a super sweet guy. She seems to have done really well for herself. My aunt is a teacher, so she asked me to come to her class to talk about what I do and about college. It was a pretty painful conversation where I ran through the types of engineers there were in the world and got laughed at because my pits were sweaty. My pits are always sweaty. On the campus as whole, I was a little shocked by what the kids wore. There were a lot of short tight skirts and boobs showing. I felt a little bit like I was in a rap video. There were also a lot of tattoos. I have nothing against all of that in general, but I sure as hell don't want my kid wearing those outfits or getting tattoos. It makes me wonder if those kid's parents see them before they leave for school in the morning. Or if the outfit they didn't wear was worse than the one they actually did. It makes me sad for a whole generation of women who are growing up incredibly sexualized. That being said, the kids in my aunt's class didn't dress like that. They also all planned to go to college. I was really impressed by the drive in these students. I am glad people like my aunt are there to forge the way with them.

The next stop was to see my mom's aunt. I don't really know how old she is, but it seems that she doesn't really age. My grandfather was the middle child, and he died a number of years ago in his eighties. My great unle's name is LJ. When he introduced himself to peanut, she spelled out her name too! She thought he was just spelling his name for good measure!

My aunt and her husband were showing us the projects they had going on around the house and talked about the trips they had done in their RV. It made me want an RV. Sometimes I wonder if we just need to buy a big spot of land and keep all of our toys on it. The problem with big spots of land are that they are rarely in the city.

We shacked up in Anheim because the next day we were going to DISNEYLAND. Anytime you asked one of the kids about where we were going, DISNEYLAND was always at the top of the conversation. We stayed at a hotel with a shuttle service to the park, but in hindsite, we should have just stayed at a hotel that is across the street from the park. Unlike Disneyworld, DISNEYLAND has cheap hotels all around it. We payed about 60 bucks for our hotel that night. The downside of the shuttle was that we had to leave the park in a hurry to catch the last shuttle for a number of hours. Poor Peanut did not get to buy her Mickey mouse ears or other toy that she wanted.

DISNEYLAND was a lot of fun. We got there just before 8 and the park opened at 8. For about an hour and half we rode rides like crazy. We were there at an offpeak time, so lines weren't really that bad. The longest we were in line was about 10 minutes. We brought out own snacks in, but we bought a 40 dollar lunch there. Mind you, the lunch was salmon on salad, so it wasn't bad, but still, something cheaper would have been nice. We didn't hit all of the rides, but we hit the big ones I wanted to. The kids were exhausted at the end of the day, but for the most part they were happy.

Peanut rode "Big Thunder", a roller coaster that mimics a wild west trainride.  She went on it with her father first.  Her dad got off looking a little green, but she bounded off wanting to go again.  The whole time she had her hands in the air and was screaming.  I think we have a little girl who loves roller coasters.

BabyP wore a goofy shirt to Disneyland.  The only character we really saw was goofy.  It seems that the princesses and the mickey have their own little cottage that they stay in.  I think that sucks.  I understand that the princesses may be mobbed by little girls, but whose fault is that?  Disney is the one that pimps them out. Anyway, BabyP kept lifting his shirt in his excitement to show goofy his shirt.  Goofy was great and played along with the kids for a couple of minutes.  We didn't feel rushed at all.  

Mr. Toads wild ride.  I guess I never really realized how samey the rides are at Disneyland.  I guess it never really mattered to me before.  It seemed that a lot of rides were built on the same type of platform.  Mr. T. felt like the rides were really dated.  They made me feel nostalgic as I grew up going to these rides.

That evening we met up with all the cousins and family from the area. I have some cousins and second cousins that are college age. They all showed up, which made me feel really good. We ate El Pollo Loco. YUMMY!

The next day we went to the Santa Anita Racetrack. We went because my aunt's Elk's Club had a thing there. I had never been to a track before, but I have a hard time thinking any other track could be so beautiful. You can really tell that the horse races are becoming a thing of the past. The stand was only about a fifth full. Sure there were a lot of people, but I am sure at one time, that whole place was packed for every weekend. Horse racing is funny because it is something that tries to be so grand, but in reality, it is still gambling, which has a pretty seedy element to it. We wrapped up the day with a big salad at my aunt's house and got ready to board a plane to Australia. The plane left on time and minus BabyP having to be woken up to get through security, getting on the plane was a breeze.