Family Road Trip

Every other year we go on a road trip to visit family in Arizona and Utah.  We figured end of April/ beginning of May would be a good time so that Arizona wouldn't be too hot.  Adam had to work extra long hours to get everything in order before we left.  I was swamped with school for the kids, scout blue and gold banquet and prepping for the trip.  The kids were very, very excited when the morning came.  It took a little while to get out the door but we finally did with the tires and gas tank full.  Our kids are pretty good road trippers!  That is a blessing.  We have a good system of listening to an audio book for 1.5 hours or so and then switching to one or two movies, then back to 1.5 hours of audio book and end the day with movies.  We of course have quiet time in there to help the little ones sleep if they need it.  This trip we started listening to the Chronicles of Narnia.  We made it through the Magicians Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the Horse and his Boy.  We've continued since we've been home and finished Prince Caspian and are currently listening to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We drove the southern route through El Paso this time.  Nine hours the first day and six the next and we were in Mesa! It is normally a really ugly route, but the first half day stretch had loads of colorful wild flowers in the median area between the freeways. 

The picture cracks me up.  Elliott was wearing those goggles all morning.

I'm going to miss when they aren't small enough to fit three to a bed.

Arizona

 Luke was very happy to see his blanket again.  The night before he didn't sleep at all at the hotel because the air conditioning was SO loud.  Every 30 minutes it would startle him awake and then he'd cry. Wash, rinse, repeat...  We got maybe 3 hours.  Adam and I took turns napping with him once we arrived.

 Grandma and Grandpa's famous car track set.  It's always a hit.

 Saturday Morning we got up and Lily and Elliott helped Grandma make a few quarts of fresh grapefruit juice.  *my mouth is watering just typing it*

 I thought it was cool that she had an attachment for her bosch for juicing.  Lily really loved helping!

Elliott of course wanted to help when he saw what Lily was doing.  He needed a little more assistance from Grandma.

Alex brought his glove and an adult glove to play catch during our stops on the drive.  This time he got to play with grandpa for a little while.

Note the small leaf hat on Adam's head.  Lily was making elf hats and putting them on everyone and laughing hysterically.  That girl.

Mom with the elf hat!

Lily the leaf hat maker

We even managed to get a picture of wiggly Luke.  LOL

We always watch a movie in the afternoon when the parents (grandparents and parents) need a break.

The pool was cool at first but not bad once you got in. Alex unfortunately swallowed too much water and threw up in a bucket.  It happens once a year.  I was just grateful it was at gma and gpas and not our community pool.  Find the positive right?!  That incident also triggered a HUGE tantrum from Alex.  I was frustrated at first but later realized that Saturday (that day) was day 3 of our trip.  Alex usually has a meltdown on day three of any change (whether it be vacation, people visiting us, or something similar).  That made me feel better that his behavior actually wasn't that far fetched.  We just hadn't experienced a tantrum like that for some time (another blessing!)

Luke milled between the hot tub (not hot) and the baby step.  He did venture farther out and fell in, but I wanted him to do that once to realize the limit and not keep testing it.

Adam, cannonball/can opener champion.

Lily kept making different kinds of boats and floating various toys on them.  That's what kids do when they want to play at the pool, but not in the pool when they are too cold. hee hee.

This mama zonked out holding Lukie.

Grandpa made some hotdogs and burgers for dinner. I loved eating on the porch.  My family frequently ate on our back porch during the spring and summer.  It made me miss it.  We also sampled some yummy drinks. ?Hansens Cherry limeade?  Not sure, but it was goooood.

This little cutie.

We always have to make a stop at the gelato place in Mesa.  I didn't eat any last visit because I was so sick!  I was happy to be able to try some this time.  Luke mooched off of everyone's flavors.

Alex and Elliott enjoying fruity flavors.

We decided to have one last dip after dessert and everyone decided it was way too cold....

...except Luke!  I thought I'd just strip him down expecting him to shy away from the cold water, but I had to pry him back out.  He just loved the pool.

Lukie recovering from me whisking him away from the pool.  How dare I put him in a warm shower and fresh jammies.  Terrible mother.  Thank goodness blankie was there to comfort him.

Grandma was so great to play lots of games with the kids: Chess, checkers, phase ten, and pit!

Because Martie and Carl have afternoon church, we decided to take the kids to the Mesa Temple to walk around the grounds.  They have since closed this temple.  It will be closed for the next three years for major renovations.

I sat with Luke while he ran up and down the stairs, while Adam and the kids explored the grounds.

Pregnant in Arizona heat.

These three look so cute together.

Learning the ins and outs of phase ten.  Grandma was so patient and helpful.

We've started a tradition that we give out awards to our kids every May/June.  It's hard to say when our school year ends and begins so we just picked a time to recognized our kids.  Normally we do it with our homeschool friends, but this time we wanted to present the awards at Grandma and Grandpa's house so they could cheer for the kids too.

Alex: Academics- Excellence in Mathematics  Character Trait: Hard worker.  Alex has always had a nack for math.  He just gobbles it up and loves the challenge.  He really is a hard worker and is learning to push through things that aren't fun.  I'm very proud of him.

Elliott: Academics: Excellence in reading.  This kid amazes me.  He just turned 5 and is a really good reader for his age.  I couldn't read til 7, so he blows me away.  Character Trait: Being flexible.  This is so so valuable.  He just goes with the flow.  We tell him we're doing one thing, and then it changes and he's okay with that.  Such a blessing to have a child like this.  We just love him.

This one was cute of Luke- interrupting in the cutest way

Giving Alex his second award.

Lily: Academic- Excellence in Math- Math is actually really hard for her, but she worked through her frustration and mastered her addition facts (3 seconds or less recall) at 100% accuracy.  I was really proud of her determination and hard work.  Character Trait: Encouraging of Everyone.  Lily is the cheerleader in our house.  When someone is doing great, she cheers for them.  When they are struggling, she encourages them and says how great they are.  She just loves everyone.  I told her if she can continue to cheer for people and not feel envious of others accomplishments that she will continue to be a very happy person.

We were happy we got to spend three full days with Grandma and Grandpa Fowles but we had more places to go and more people to see, so off we went!  California Ho!

Disneyland

Let it be known that we tried to see my brother and his family but he just didn't have any time.  It's so weird to me to have family on your proverbial doorstep and not see them.  Go figure.

Wednesday morning we went to Disneyland!  The kids didn't know.  Ironically it was 50 degrees that day (cold for us Texans).  I didn't pack any jackets, so I had to go fork it out for new ones (boo).

I told Alex and Elliott to smile and this was Alex's chosen pose.  I'm still cracking up.  I wonder what he'll say in 20 years...

On the tram to Disneyland.  The kids figured out where we were at this point.  Very excited! and cold...

Daddy and Lukie

First stop of the day (for the older kids) Matterhorn Bobsleds.  They were closed the last time we came.

Off they go!

They Lived! and loved it!

Luke and I spun around on the teacups

And went on a classic: Dumbo.  It was also closed the last time we came and just opened the weekend prior. Woot!

Waiting in line with Luke was actually really hard.  I always had to hold him otherwise he would try to run away or go 'limp fish'.  We only did a few rides all day because my pregnant back couldn't hold him for forever.

Why are you taking so many pictures mom?

We met up with Adam and the older kids at Big Thunder Mountain.  A favorite.

Adam is in the second to last car, in bright blue.  He saw me and smiled. The other kids were just screaming :)

Happy Boys

King Arthur's Carousel.  Luke was a little leary at first, but once we got moving he really liked it.

Lily on her steed

Alex figuring out the belt.

Cute little Elliott

Waiting to go on Space Mountain.

The boys faces are classic.- stone serious.

Instead of riding loads of rides, Luke and I decided to take a *ahem* culinary tour of Disney.  Featured is the strawberry pastry twist.  Luke wasn't too happy to share with me.

This is my attempt to get a picture of Luke and the Disney Castle. LOL  He's pulling his funny scrunch face.

Daddy and Elliott of the Astro Orbiter.  Pretty much the same thing as Dumbo, just different vehicle.

Alex and Lily!

You can see Lily's hot coral sweatshirt.

Waiting in yet another line.  Though to be fair, the line waits weren't bad.  Most were around 20 minutes.  The kids tried to find things to do while waiting (sometimes annoying things, much to Adam's chagrin)

Right before Alex bonked Lily in the Lip and made her bleed. LOL.  I surprised Lily with some new Minnie ears.  They were so her. 

On the storybook boat ride.  I thought it was underwhelming but the kids loved all the miniature towns.  Go figure.

Daddy, Elliott and Luke

Luke and I broke off again while Daddy took the older kids on fast rides.  We rode the Winnie the Pooh ride.  Kinda weird at the Hephalump part.  LSD anyone?

Another stop on our Culinary tour: The ever wonderful Dole Whip.

I took Luke to Goofy's House in Toon Town (way in the boondocks...) to run around in this 5 and under play area.  I eventually had to peel him away to meet up with Adam and the kids for more treats.  Yes, we did eat lunch and real food at one point as well.

We couldn't decided which icecream sundae to get...so we got all three!  The kids were in heaven.

This picture is blurry but I still love it.  Me and my man being goofs.

And a good one for posterity sake.

We went on the Jungle Cruise together and then broke off again.  This time Adam, Lily and Alex- Me, Elliott Luke.  Elliott wasn't tall enough for Indiana Jones, so he came with me.

The puns on this ride are so good and so bad at the same time.  Alex actually got most of them.

Elliott, Luke and I went on Toad's Wild Ride, Pinnochio's Daring Journey and Snow White's Scary...something.  Anyhoo, they were all the 1950's ride in a jerky cart and see stuff pop out.  Elliott loved it.  Five really is a golden age to take kids to Disney.

We walked all over to find these delicious pretzels.  We got 2 regular mickey shaped ones, and two 'cowboy' pretzels (coated in cinnamon and sugar- yum!)

This was towards the end of the day.  The kids wanted to ride the Matterhorn again and I just needed to sit.  Luke was watching Little Pim on the tablet.  He was pretty worn out by 6:30.  The kids were going to ride Space Mountain one more time as they had fast passes, but the ride was closed. boo.

We got some cotton candy and started the long trek back to our hotel.

Of course we got blue :)

All the sticky, sugary, goodness of cotton candy.

Utah

Our whirlwind day in California was fun but we needed to make it to our next destination: UTAH!  It was on this leg of the trip that we realized that these marathon road trips that we've been taking aren't really the best format for our family anymore.  Our time in Utah was too short.  We weren't able to give any one stop the amount of time, or the people, the attention they deserved or we wanted.  We spent an afternoon with my mom, and an evening with cousins and neither were enough.  Not to mention all the other faces we would love to see.  *sigh*  We will do better by you next time, Utah.

The kids got to see Grandma's new apartment!  We also stopped by to see my Dad, but he was having a bad day.  I saw him the month prior when helping my mom sell her house.  He was pretty good to answer questions when prompted and just gushed over seeing my mom.  This visit he didn't even know who she was and would answer us with random phrases.  Poor Dad. I also promised someone from my home ward growing up, that I would stop by.  And we did!  I got to talk to Sandy South for 2 hours and it was glorious.  We said a tearful goodbye and kept on with our day.

We grabbed burgers for the kids, and I picked up Doner Kebabs for Adam, my mom and I from across the street from her place.  They were so good. Adam needed to work for a little that afternoon and take care of a phone call so I went and visited my friend's mom, Diane Coburn for 2 hours.  The kids just played in their house and their backyard.  Their house was a haven for me growing up.  It was so nice to go somewhere, where the people and surroundings hadn't changed.

We picked Adam back up from my mom's ( he was using her apartment as an office for his call) and said goodbye to her. *sob*

Of course I had to sit down and play on the Mason Hamlin before I left.  That piano just sings. I played most of Clair de Lune.  I think my mom liked it.  That evening was spent with our friend who used to live in Virginia, The Funks.  It was great catching up with them and our kids loved playing with theirs.  We were all sad to leave.

Friday Morning we took the kids up to Utah State. It had been 5 years since we'd stepped on campus.  Weird. It was graduation day for masters students.  It was a clear, crisp, spring day.  The air was fragrant and there were blossoms still on the trees.  Lily was stuffing her pockets with the petals.

This was towards the end of our walk on campus.  We rested on the lawn of 'the quad'.  We walked through the physics and engineering buildings and told the kids stories of our classes and when Adam and I dated. They loved it.  My old counselor was in her office and we said hello to her too.

Adam and Luke in this picture remind me of the cover of Abbey Road.

Lily finally using all her stashed petals.

Alex tried to do the same with grass.  Elliott passed out from all the walking.

Luke, of course, was mister motor legs and was constantly running up and down stairs, or around sidewalks- barefoot, no less.  He refuses to wear shoes.

We picked up Costa Vida for lunch and ate it at 'Adam's Park' near our first apartment together.  It was a picturesque day.  It made me miss Logan.

Me at my post, keeping an eye on Luke.

Note the girl on the slide.  Adam eventually had to go up and rescue her, as she couldn't get down on her own.

Lily running around.- We drove 2.5 hours down to Provo for a quick visit with our friend, Jordan Brimley and his wife.  He was the reason Adam and I met, as he was Adam's roommate and my childhood friend.  He's currently in law school at BYU and considering patent law.  Naturally he grilled Adam with loads of questions.  It was great to see him again.

Elliott playing with Danny

Last stop: Fowles cousins in Provo.  Alex and Lily went to see Sammie and Katie perform in an after school showcase and then came home and played.   Allie made a yummy Indian butter chicken for us. So good.  John was out of town and ironically going to be arriving the following day, when we were leaving. boo.  It was still nice to see everyone else.  Adam spent some time with Marianne and Christine swapping youtube videos and memes. Danny enjoyed chasing Elliott around the house, screaming all the while.  Allie told us about her trip to Japan to see Aaron and Kaori.  We went to bed too late.  *sigh* Never enough time.

The next two days were spent driving home.  It was a long, long trip but so fun.  It was great to see so many people and do so many fun things.  I hope the kids remember some of these trips when they are older.