Road Trip - Kiddie Style

This past Wednesday, my friend Kelly and I took our kids on a road trip. We had been talking for some time about going to Legoland in Carlsbad near San Diego. Well, this past week, we did it, and it was awesome.

We left on Wednesday around supper time because Kelly had a meeting in the late afternoon. We loaded up the kids, handed out the snacks, and hit the road. Before the trip was over, we stopped 4 times to go pee, once to nurse a baby, and once to move all the carseats around because we couldn't find a rear jack for the dvd player. We arrived at Kelly's grandparents' place around 1:30 in the morning and carried all 5 sleeping children into the house. Once we got everything in, we had some of Grandma's awesome pasta salad before we headed to bed.

We all had a great sleep (though it was a bit short), enjoyed a huge breakfast, and packed up to drive to Legoland. We managed to get out of the house before 11:00 and went to the local Subway because we figured we could get a coupon for free passes there. Nope. So we drove 45 min. to Carlsbad and checked out another Subway. Nope. So we went to Costco and picked up passes for $15 cheaper than at the gate. YES! While were there we figured we'd buy pizzas and feed the kids lunch before we went to Legoland.
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The afternoon at Legoland was AWESOME. There were so many neat things for the kids. Lots of little rides that toured them through a jungle of animals, all made out of lego. And then things to climb on, all made out of lego. There were figures all over the park, singing and dancing, all made out of lego. Joel loved the Volvo Driving School where he got to drive around a track. Kezia and Emma loved the 3 storey tree house, the Hideaways in Castle Hill. There was even a playground called Playtown for Asha and Paige, all made out of lego. Though Kelly and I had to take turns taking the kids on the little rides, the lines were very short and we only had to wait 5 minutes. We also went to a very entertaining little show that all the kids enjoyed. Kelly and I loved the Miniland which was mini replicas of the Las Vegas strip, then there was the Eiffel Tower, The White House, New Orleans, Hollywood, Pier 39 etc....all made out of lego.
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Well, after a long day, we headed to Kelly's cousins house to pick her up. Jenn was a very neat person and we enjoyed the 45 minute drive back with her, especially Joel. Once we got back to Kelly's Grandma and Grandpa's house, there were 15-20 people there for supper, all family. It was like I was back at a Plett gathering! It was wonderful. The food was amazing and it was so nice to meet Kelly's extended family. Her grandparents are very hospitable people. The kids were so wiped that they almost fell asleep in the bathtub. Kelly, some of her cousins, and I watched Grey's Anatomy before we stumbled off to our beds. Oh I slept so soundly that night.

The next morning, Friday, we packed up because we were heading to SeaWorld for the morning. Since we all had been there before, we decided to go to 2 shows and only stay for a few hours. We saw the Shamu show, but unfortunately there wasn't any sound. It wasn't as spectacular as when we saw it with Mom and Dad Heppner in March. And then we saw the Pet's Rule show, which the kids loved. We might have stayed longer at the park, but there were a ton of people and we were all getting tired of elbowing people. So we headed out around 3 p.m. and drove north to Carlsbad, to the amazing and glorious outlet stores.
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Kelly and I really enjoyed shopping and I was surprised at how beautiful the stores were, for being outlets and all. It was like walking through a courtyard with cobblestone paths and fountains. So I don't know if it was the atmosphere or the really well behaved kids, but we did a lot of shopping.

By 5:30 we knew we had to get out of there before we got anymore things for our kids (plus the kids knocked over a rack of jeans at the Gap) and so we drove to Costco to get pizzas for supper. Then we headed to her cousin Jenn's house, fed and changed the kids and loaded back into the van for the trip home to Fresno. The kids were exhausted and slept most of the way, and this time, we didn't have to move carseats around; Grandpa found the carjack for the dvd player in the back of the van!

The kids had such a wonderful time on the trip. Kezia and Emma had a blast, they are best friends, Joel loved being the biggest, the only boy, and our official helper. Paige and Asha were so content and happy on the trip. And I had such a great time with Kelly. Her and I were easy going about the schedule and the kids. We got out the door when we were ready, left places when the kids were tired, and ate when we were hungry. Very low stress and very high fun. And it was nice for us to visit for the 12+ hours we drove in the van. She's an amazing person and I'm sad that we won't have more opportunities to go on road trips with her and the kids.