Nate's brother
Roger got married this past weekend in San Diego. We decided to incorporate our vacation with the wedding. Things were a bit tight as Jack had a baseball game on Wednesday and another the following Monday. Thus, we decided to fly. We have never flown as a family because we actually really like road trips, but there just wasn't enough time to drive. Bella hasn't flown since 2004, so she was pretty excited. She ended up being okay with the flying, but thought it was way too loud.
We went straight from the airport to the San Diego Zoo. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time. Jack was very interested in the reptiles and Sophie loved the polar bears. Bella would not commit to a favorite animal, but she bought a stuffed lioness, so we will call the lions her favorite. We were pretty tired when the zoo closed, but our hotel was in Anaheim, so we hopped in our rental car, which just barely fit us all, and drove up.
Earlier in the year we participated in the
Give a Day, Get a Day program that Disney had going on so we had vouchers for some free tickets. Despite her slightly worried face, Sophie had a lot of fun. She was a little nervous, but after each ride, she would want to go again. We spent the morning going on rides she could ride. Then she fell asleep in the afternoon and we did a lot of parent swapping.
We decided to eat at places we hadn't eaten before and ride on a few things we hadn't before. Bella really wanted to go on the Canoes, so we did. It ended up being pretty funny. The girl behind me hit my paddle no matter what I did. Bella managed to get all of us wet from her seat in the front. Sophie was really mad at her, which made it more amusing. While Bella and Nate were on Splash Mountain, Jack, Sophie and I went on the Pooh Bear ride. At the end of the ride you can meet Winnie to Pooh and some of his friends. Sophie ran and hugged him and was very excited. But when we went up to see Tigger, she didn't want anything to do with him.
Bella drove the car on Autopia for the first time, she is a pretty crazy driver, and Jack drove a car all by himself. I think he has passed all height requirements and can ride, drive, and do everything. He was pretty excited.
Bella still really loves the FantasyLand rides, especially the Alice in Wonderland ones. Sophie didn't mind the spinning tea cups at all, she was pretty much on board with everything. She even went on the Matterhorn and clapped at the end.
By around 9 o'clock Sophie crashed. We did a few more ride swaps, then the kids and Nate watched Fantasmic while I found some t-shirts. When I sat down I about fell asleep myself. We ended up staying at the park until midnight, so it was a sixteen hour day of fun. Bella fell asleep in the few blocks back to our hotel, and we all crashed and slept really soundly.
Saturday, we drove back down to San Diego to the wedding. We got to the
San Diego Temple to find the wedding party had arrived in a stretch Hummer. The kids thought that was pretty cool and loved sitting in it for a while. The temple is undergoing some cosmetic renovations, so most of the pictures are off to the side. The ceremony was really great. We are so happy to have Cassie as an official aunt now. She automatically get 18 nieces and nephews in one fell swoop. Also, she is the most recent daughter-in-law since me, almost thirteen years ago. We drove up to the reception in Temecula, where apparently I didn't take any pictures. That night we stayed in Lake Elsinore. After so many late nights we were pretty tired and slept really hard that night. Sophie had fallen asleep at the reception and woke early as ever, so we all got up, got ready and headed over to Dana Point. Nate's
two older
sisters,
mother, and
younger brother were at at the same place as we were, so we went to the beach together.
My mother-in-law hadn't been to the ocean in 42 years! It was so fun to be with so many of the family and hang out together. The time went by too quickly and we didn't get to visit enough. We spent about an hour at the beach then headed out to the airport. Our flight was a bit delayed and the kids were going nuts in the airport waiting. Finally when we boarded and got all situated everyone calmed down. As the plane began to taxi Sophie pointed out the window to show Nate something and fell asleep mid-point.
She was so tired she slept until we landed in Salt Lake and plane was pulling into the gate. We had a hard time convincing her that she flew anywhere at all. She thought she had just sat on the runway then got back off. I don't think she was really convinced until we found our van in the parking lot. We came home to a relatively clean house (yay!) and lots of laundry (boo!). I love vacation, the anticipation, the going. The coming home is always my least favorite part. I need another trip to look forward to. I am glad we will be seeing everyone again soon at the reunion next month!
