Gulliver's Travels

Minus Gulliver, it mostly involved Mommy, Daddy, Sissy and Baby. :D

I'm sure many have been wondering why my blog has not been updated in a while. Well I'm here to tell you.

Daddy had business meetings in SoCal last week so we took the opportunity to accompany him, for several reasons. First, the kids really miss Daddy when he's away, the less they are away from him, the better it is for them and me. Second, his hotel was a mile from the beach. Third, free hotel.

Monday morning the 27th we loaded up both vehicles and departed for SoCal. Along the way I discovered Red Bulls & Rockstar energy drinks, I have been missing out. For whatever reason, I was sure they would taste like poo and was never brave enough to try one. Then I saw that pretty pink can. Oh yes that one right there.....

And here you thought you'd see some amazing pictures from our trip, not so, grasshopper. I mostly took pictures of drinks and feet. 

The trip down was pretty uneventful, we stopped for lunch along the way. An interesting little tidbit we found out is that since my phone is set as priority one on the blue tooth in both vehicles, if I'm too close to Daddy while following him my phone will take over his blue tooth so I can have a conversation with myself for him to listen in on. Good times.

Upon arriving at the hotel Daddy went straight to work and didn't get back to our room until well after the kids were asleep. While Daddy was busy doing his work stuff the kids and I went to the nearest grocery store for some necessities (milk, yogurt, red bull, bread, cereal, etc). Then we headed down to the pool and splash pad for some good fun. The kids loved it, Mr N has no fear and has figured out how to hold his breath and go underwater. It scares Mommy every time since he does it without warning and does not come back up on his own. Relaxing would not describe our time spent at the pool.

Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early and hit the beach, but not before hitting the lobby for some coffee. 

The beach was beautiful and amazing, as you would expect. We built sand castles and played in the water until we were all tuckered out. We headed back to the hotel for showers, naps, and some TV. The kids do not really understand what TV is since we haven't had it for quite a long time, they did not grasp the concept of commercials or that I couldn't just make Dora be on for hours at a time. 

Tuesday evening Daddy had a break from work and joined us for dinner, then watched the sunset on the beach. 

As it started to get dark we headed back to our car.....

Wednesday we checked out the mall and got to know the area a little better. After Daddy got back to the room that night at 10:30 I joined my friend (whom Daddy works with) for drinks in the bar. It was nice getting a little grown up time, I'm sure Daddy didn't mind getting a little sleep. 

We decided the beach was much more fun than shopping so Thursday we hit the beach again. 

After a long, exhausting day at the beach we headed back to the hotel and watched the sunset from there.

Thursday night my cousin came to visit and we took the kids out for ice cream. We had planned to spend all day Friday with my cousin then head to her place for the night before heading back home on Saturday. But after sending Daddy on his way to Utah on Friday morning E decided she just wanted to go home. So we had more ice cream with my cousin then journeyed back home.

While the trip down was uneventful and took about 7 hours with stops, the way back didn't go quite so smooth. There was a ton of traffic and the trip took a little over 9 hours. The highlights from our return trip....

~ the GPS had me drive through an orchard

~ the GPS routed me down what I can only guess is a very scenic route if it is during the day and you can see

~ the "cutoff" it sent me down was an unmarked very narrow, windy road

~ E announced that she needed to pee while we were a thousand miles from nowhere and then couldn't pee alongside the road, upon donning a diaper she said "look how cute I am", five miles later she insisted "get this diaper off of me, I'll wait until we get home"

~ after many windy miles up and down the mountains E announced "I'm gonna puke" I hurriedly pulled off and started to take her out when she calmly said "I'm not gonna puke right now, I just feel like it"

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were pretty uneventful, we relaxed, played outside, did some laundry, ran some errands and eagerly awaited Daddy's return. He made it home last night quite tired but excited to see us. 

Mr N certainly missed his Daddy while he was gone the four days, he called him a few times and chatted him up. E only called once to say "come home now" when she was tired of him being gone. They both enjoyed having some time with him last night before bed. 

We recently got "The Adventures of Milo & Otis" since E loves cats so much. At first, it seemed that Mr N wasn't that interested in the movie, but in the last few days it is the only movie he wants to watch. E has an imaginary cat named Milo (since we refused to take Elephant back to the pet store and buy Milo) that goes everywhere with us. Buckling a cat into a carseat with E is not quite as easy as one might think, although imaginary, it is easy to pinch his legs in the buckles. Today Milo's wife Joyce joined our family, so far she fits in well, I barely notice her.

PS. I was serious about the pictures being of feet and drinks.