They stopped by my house on their way out of town and, of course, that meant PHOTO OP. Other than the baby poop yellow wall taking up half the picture, this is my favorite from the day. My nephew was ACTIN' A FOO' and Karis was giving him her best "oh no, nuh-uh" look. I know the look well. I've given it to my brother millions of times. Possibly billions.
Anyway. They moved to Virginia and the assholes had the nerve to take my nephew with them. Jerks. From the moment we knew they were going to move, Eddie and I started talking about a trip to see them. They're close to DC so we could take the kids (and me! I've never been!) on a day trip to see the sights. We even planned to take an overnight to Philadelphia while we were in the area.
We totally had it all planned out.
But. We have, like, vacation ADD or something.
Our friends Kira and Jon are planning on driving to California this summer. They mentioned something to us about it. We got to talking. We got Eddie's bonus check for the year. And -- we're gonna do it! We're shelving the Virginia trip until summer of 2013 (a decision made easier because we'll see my brother and his family when they come through here in April) and we're driving to California this summer!
Yeah, we're probably crazy.
The thought of the drive doesn't thrill me (we're planning to go as far as Albequerque the first leg of the drive -- I MUST eat something smothered in green chili -- then going on into LA). But, other than that, I am really excited! We're making big plans and have so many things we want to see and do:
- Disneyland! (We tossed around this idea for a long time but I'm pretty sure we've committed to doing it. I've never been to Disney and I'm so so so so excited. I mean, ya know, for my kids and all . . . )
- Santa Monica Pier/ the beach
- Hollywood/ Walk of Fame
- San Diego/ La Joila (we may not have time for this one, unfortunately, since we're talking about doing two days at Disney so we can do both Disneyland and California Adventure)
I've been to California a couple times -- Eddie and I went to SoCal a few years ago for a belated "honeymoon" that wasn't much of a honeymoon considering the first night we were there we ditched each other to go hang out with friends! I went to the bay area a couple years ago and, as much as I loved San Francisco, I know the southern part of the state is what I want to introduce my kids to now, when they're so young. And that's really why we're doing this trip -- to give our kids experiences and culture.
Eddie traveled all the time as a child. He's also retired military so he has, quite literally, been EVERYwhere. Sometimes I try to pull out random places just to see if he's been there. Boise? Billings? Bismark? Yup, yup, yup. I, on the other hand, haven't been much of anywhere. Or hadn't been until I met Eddie. My biggest travel claims to fame were a ski trip to Colorado my freshman year of college and a Get-Over-that-Guy Caribbean cruise. Other than that, though, my travels were mostly limited to states that bordered Arkansas. And mainly Texas -- my dad didn't consider it a vacation unless you went to Texas. I have great memories of Six Flags and not-so-great memories of being drug around Trader's Village.
I feel that we're so blessed, so lucky to be able to take our children to so many places; to let them see so much of the country. By the end of the year, my five year old will be able to say he's been in nearly half the states in the country. And I'm nerdy enough to think that's pretty awesome.
We're probably crazy. We're planning on driving 3600 miles, round trip, with four children. Scratch the probably. We ARE crazy! But I can't wait for my kids to dip their toes in the Pacific . . . to take a picture beside Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . . . for their faces to light up when they see Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody.
And I really, really, really cannot wait to sport me a pair of Mickey Mouse ears while I make my way through Disneyland!
P.S. I've only been to southern California once (and we did Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm, a Clippers game, and Santa Monica Pier). If you have any ideas of good places to go, things to do with small children, please let me know!
