So I have slacked at blogging... yet again! I am really good at not blogging very often :) Oh well... not feeling it too much lately! But I do really want to try and keep this thing updated. So here we go again! And here's the warning to you all.... this is going to be a SUPER long post! I am going to split this trip up into a couple posts because we did so much and I have so many pictures.
So, my family started planning a trip to California to go to Disneyland about a year ago. My parents and both of my older brothers and their families were planning on going. They had invited us to go as well. Ryan didn't want to go and said that the boys were too young and he would rather wait until they were older to go. So, he basically said No, we are not going. End of story. I was bummed. But... I didn't want to go and do it alone with the boys either. Fast forward to the end of September. My family had the whole thing planned basically and knew that we weren't planning on going. The kids were all so excited and I was still SO bummed. Ryan called me one day from work and asked if it was okay that he was going to be gone for my birthday... (Nov. 7). He was going white tail hunting in Missouri. I joked by telling him "Ya, why not! Go right ahead. Everyone else is going to be in Disneyland for my birthday!" and he took that as "Ok! Perfect! I will go hunting then!". My family had been planning to go the first week in November the whole time, and figured it was no big deal because they were hoping that we would come with them. They planned on going to Disneyland on my birthday. So when we said we weren't going, they were bummed that they weren't going to be home for my birthday. Oh well... I am 27, no big deal, right? Well.... when Ryan told me he wasn't going to be home, I decided there was no reason that I should stay home by myself on my birthday while everyone in my family, including Ryan, would be playing and having fun. So, I decided last minute that I was going to go and take my boys to California. The only bad thing about this decision was Ryan wasn't coming with us and I hadn't been planning on going, so therefore I hadn't been saving money to go. :) I really have to give a HUGE shout-out to my parents and my brothers. Especially my parents. I stayed with them in their condo, and they were so awesome to help me with my boys the whole entire trip. They were so happy that we were able to come and they were SOOOO much help. We left the morning of November 5. I was excited to get out the snowy day we were having here! First snowfall of the year and Hazen was sad were leaving! Silly boy! Me and the boys and my parents flew out that day. My brothers both drove with their families and another family friend that was going on the trip with us. It's safe to say that I was more than a little nervous to fly by myself with the boys. I have only flown (is that a word?!) a couple times myself, so I was so nervous to have to deal with both boys by myself on the flight. My parents and I were on the same flight, but they had bought their seats months before, so we weren't sitting anywhere near each other. Luckily for us, when we got the the airport that morning we told them our situation, and they helped us the best they could by moving some seats around and my parents ended up sitting in the row right behind me. Awesome! I had brought a backpack full of things for Hazen to do and I had given Rhett some Benedryl :) hoping that he would sleep the whole entire time. The flight there wasn't too bad. Hazen was pretty good, other than he didn't understand why he couldn't have the Ipad on the whole time... and Rhett slept most of the way there. He woke up probably about 20 minutes before we were going to be landing and he was screaming.... I couldn't just get up and leave Hazen, and we weren't supposed to be up anyways. There was a sweet older guy sitting next to us and he was awesome to help me with the boys however he could. So, as Rhett was screaming for like 5-10 minutes... and yes I mean SCREAMING... I was starting to panic about what I was going to do. My dad was on the aisle seat behind me, so I handed Rhett back to him hoping that he would be able to stand up and calm him down. Success! Rhett fell back to sleep as soon as I handed him back to Papa. My dad has the magic touch! We landed in Long Beach to nice sunny skies and warm weather. Perfect! We got our bags and headed over to the rental car place at the airport. I had booked our rental car online to pick it up at the airport. I had even called and confirmed it was the airport location before I booked it. When we got there, they told me "Oh your reservation is for the downtown location. You will have to go there." Seriously!!!?? I explained to them that I had called and confirmed it was this location... not the downtown one. Sure enough, the guy behind the counter looks at my paperwork and says the phone number matches the airport location, but the reservation is still for the downtown location. Luckily for us, he says he will get us a car. But... unfortunately, they don't have a full size car available. So, long story short, they gave us a nice minivan for the same price, which ended being awesome and better for us anyways. So, we headed out towards our Condo in our minivan. Hazen was so excited and thought we were going to Disneyland right then. Ha ha! He didn't quite understand that we weren't going for a couple days. :) We headed to McDonalds for lunch while we were waiting for my brothers and their families to get there. They had stayed in Vegas the night before and were on their way, but were a couple hours behind us. Well, we met up with them and got checked into our condo, which was amazing. I should have taken pics of it. It was so nice. That night we didn't do much other than go shopping and get a bunch of food for the week ahead of us. Our condo's had kitchens in them, so it was kind of nice to not have to eat out 3 meals a day the entire week. The day after we got there (sunday) it was raining and cold all day. Rhett wasn't feeling well at all that day either, so I was so glad we hadn't planned on going to Disneyland that day. But the kids were SOOOO wound up. They needed to get out and do something. Our condo's had a staff that entertained the kids and planned activities for them everyday. So we headed to the clubhouse and let them play in the arcade and then they colored a really cute Thanksgiving craft thing. Here are a couple pics of the kids playing in the arcade room. They had a blast playing air hockey and the other games in there.
Playing the shooting game with Grandpa Cory :) He is one happy kid!
We were trying to find a bowling alley or something else around us that we could take the kids to do to get rid of some of their energy, but no such luck for us. There was a little outdoor shopping mall that was a couple miles away from us, so I wanted to go over there and look around. JC and Kendall kept Hazen for me, so he could stay and play with them while me and my parents took Rhett and went shopping. All I really wanted to do for my birthday was to go to H&M and go shopping. So that is what we did! I think I was in H&M for at least an hour and my parents just let me shop and try on things while they kept Rhett outside and did other stuff with him. Thanks mom and dad!!!! I loved every minute of it! After we had been shopping for a few hours, we decided to take the kids and head over to Huntington Beach. It was SOOOOO cold!!! I seriously think it was only like 40 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. But it was gorgeous. We got there just in time for the sunset. We didn't stay very long at all. We were probably there for about 20 minutes and the kids had had enough and were freezing by then.
All the kids at the beach right before we left to head back. Burr!!!!! I want to go back to the beach on a warm day!
Off to Disneyland the next day!!!!
So, my family started planning a trip to California to go to Disneyland about a year ago. My parents and both of my older brothers and their families were planning on going. They had invited us to go as well. Ryan didn't want to go and said that the boys were too young and he would rather wait until they were older to go. So, he basically said No, we are not going. End of story. I was bummed. But... I didn't want to go and do it alone with the boys either. Fast forward to the end of September. My family had the whole thing planned basically and knew that we weren't planning on going. The kids were all so excited and I was still SO bummed. Ryan called me one day from work and asked if it was okay that he was going to be gone for my birthday... (Nov. 7). He was going white tail hunting in Missouri. I joked by telling him "Ya, why not! Go right ahead. Everyone else is going to be in Disneyland for my birthday!" and he took that as "Ok! Perfect! I will go hunting then!". My family had been planning to go the first week in November the whole time, and figured it was no big deal because they were hoping that we would come with them. They planned on going to Disneyland on my birthday. So when we said we weren't going, they were bummed that they weren't going to be home for my birthday. Oh well... I am 27, no big deal, right? Well.... when Ryan told me he wasn't going to be home, I decided there was no reason that I should stay home by myself on my birthday while everyone in my family, including Ryan, would be playing and having fun. So, I decided last minute that I was going to go and take my boys to California. The only bad thing about this decision was Ryan wasn't coming with us and I hadn't been planning on going, so therefore I hadn't been saving money to go. :) I really have to give a HUGE shout-out to my parents and my brothers. Especially my parents. I stayed with them in their condo, and they were so awesome to help me with my boys the whole entire trip. They were so happy that we were able to come and they were SOOOO much help. We left the morning of November 5. I was excited to get out the snowy day we were having here! First snowfall of the year and Hazen was sad were leaving! Silly boy! Me and the boys and my parents flew out that day. My brothers both drove with their families and another family friend that was going on the trip with us. It's safe to say that I was more than a little nervous to fly by myself with the boys. I have only flown (is that a word?!) a couple times myself, so I was so nervous to have to deal with both boys by myself on the flight. My parents and I were on the same flight, but they had bought their seats months before, so we weren't sitting anywhere near each other. Luckily for us, when we got the the airport that morning we told them our situation, and they helped us the best they could by moving some seats around and my parents ended up sitting in the row right behind me. Awesome! I had brought a backpack full of things for Hazen to do and I had given Rhett some Benedryl :) hoping that he would sleep the whole entire time. The flight there wasn't too bad. Hazen was pretty good, other than he didn't understand why he couldn't have the Ipad on the whole time... and Rhett slept most of the way there. He woke up probably about 20 minutes before we were going to be landing and he was screaming.... I couldn't just get up and leave Hazen, and we weren't supposed to be up anyways. There was a sweet older guy sitting next to us and he was awesome to help me with the boys however he could. So, as Rhett was screaming for like 5-10 minutes... and yes I mean SCREAMING... I was starting to panic about what I was going to do. My dad was on the aisle seat behind me, so I handed Rhett back to him hoping that he would be able to stand up and calm him down. Success! Rhett fell back to sleep as soon as I handed him back to Papa. My dad has the magic touch! We landed in Long Beach to nice sunny skies and warm weather. Perfect! We got our bags and headed over to the rental car place at the airport. I had booked our rental car online to pick it up at the airport. I had even called and confirmed it was the airport location before I booked it. When we got there, they told me "Oh your reservation is for the downtown location. You will have to go there." Seriously!!!?? I explained to them that I had called and confirmed it was this location... not the downtown one. Sure enough, the guy behind the counter looks at my paperwork and says the phone number matches the airport location, but the reservation is still for the downtown location. Luckily for us, he says he will get us a car. But... unfortunately, they don't have a full size car available. So, long story short, they gave us a nice minivan for the same price, which ended being awesome and better for us anyways. So, we headed out towards our Condo in our minivan. Hazen was so excited and thought we were going to Disneyland right then. Ha ha! He didn't quite understand that we weren't going for a couple days. :) We headed to McDonalds for lunch while we were waiting for my brothers and their families to get there. They had stayed in Vegas the night before and were on their way, but were a couple hours behind us. Well, we met up with them and got checked into our condo, which was amazing. I should have taken pics of it. It was so nice. That night we didn't do much other than go shopping and get a bunch of food for the week ahead of us. Our condo's had kitchens in them, so it was kind of nice to not have to eat out 3 meals a day the entire week. The day after we got there (sunday) it was raining and cold all day. Rhett wasn't feeling well at all that day either, so I was so glad we hadn't planned on going to Disneyland that day. But the kids were SOOOO wound up. They needed to get out and do something. Our condo's had a staff that entertained the kids and planned activities for them everyday. So we headed to the clubhouse and let them play in the arcade and then they colored a really cute Thanksgiving craft thing. Here are a couple pics of the kids playing in the arcade room. They had a blast playing air hockey and the other games in there.
Playing the shooting game with Grandpa Cory :) He is one happy kid!We were trying to find a bowling alley or something else around us that we could take the kids to do to get rid of some of their energy, but no such luck for us. There was a little outdoor shopping mall that was a couple miles away from us, so I wanted to go over there and look around. JC and Kendall kept Hazen for me, so he could stay and play with them while me and my parents took Rhett and went shopping. All I really wanted to do for my birthday was to go to H&M and go shopping. So that is what we did! I think I was in H&M for at least an hour and my parents just let me shop and try on things while they kept Rhett outside and did other stuff with him. Thanks mom and dad!!!! I loved every minute of it! After we had been shopping for a few hours, we decided to take the kids and head over to Huntington Beach. It was SOOOOO cold!!! I seriously think it was only like 40 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. But it was gorgeous. We got there just in time for the sunset. We didn't stay very long at all. We were probably there for about 20 minutes and the kids had had enough and were freezing by then.
All the kids at the beach right before we left to head back. Burr!!!!! I want to go back to the beach on a warm day! Off to Disneyland the next day!!!!
