Does looking at Emily's face make you want to take a long car ride with her? Damien has been talking for the past few months about taking a road trip to San Diego. As much as I love San Diego (and I really do)- the idea of a nine hour drive in a car with all four kids made me a little nervous. Could we do it? Of course. Might it be a total disaster? It's very probable. Might it be a great trip and worth every minute? I was hoping so.
Early in the morning, we went to Claire's 2 week post-op with her ENT. We got great news that she was completely healed! Claire's clearance was all we needed in order to take this crazy trip and we got it! The car was already packed and my mind was stabilized for take off. There was no turning back now. Our neighbor had given us a great hint on how to drive south without hitting any of the Los Angeles traffic. This was great for us because we were scheduled to go right through it at rush hour if we didn't have his secret route! If we kept driving and didn't have to sit in traffic- I was all for it! I rode in the backseat with Emily for most of the ride. Her car temperament is directly proportional to the exciting mini Ringling Brother's Circus I am performing before her. My strategy for her was to have a big bag full of toys, interesting little items, and books that she could look at to occupy her time. I would only show her a new toy if she really needed to be distracted. I also packed a plethora of food (i.e. junk) to help pacify the kids (okay, me too).
We had movies playing, junk food consuming, circus performing, and all was going well. The only thing Matthew objected to was the foul smell the cow farms produced. We call this one farm off of I-5
Cow Heaven. You can just not imagine how many cows are on this ranch! Seriously- you can't! When we went by farms, he always put his hand in front of his face and whined, which of course cracked everyone else in the car up! We stopped a few times on the way to San Diego to eat and stretch and we
might have stopped at a Marshall's for Mommy to get a bathing suit since she forgot hers. Hmmm. Forgetting your swimsuit for a four day trip at the beach? Not good. After a few stops and only a couple of minor meltdowns in the car, we made it. I think it took us a little over nine hours to get to our hotel or motel, or place that wasn't what we thought it was going to be! But nonetheless, we made it!
This picture was taken somewhere on our journey. The Mojave Desert! Isn't it so pretty! We stopped for a pee break and snapped a few shots! It looked just like many of the scenes from Pixar's movie,
Cars. Okay, back to the nasty hotel. We booked our hotel late and wouldn't you know that
Comicon (comic covention) was in town? Great! There were literally two rooms left in the city and we managed to snag one of them. The woman at San Diego's city center said it was a nice hotel but when we got there, it was terrible. So here is the scenario. It was now 9:30 p.m. at night. Kids were exhausted and were all wiped from a long drive. It was completely dark and nighttime had surely set it. Did we try and find a new hotel at this hour knowing that the city was so ridiculously overbooked or just try it out? We tried it out and in the morning, Damien was able to get us out of our reservation and get us a room at the Holiday Inn Express. Thank goodness! It was a rough night and we were so happy to be changing hotels!
(Keyword=plunger.) Once the morning hit, we were all encouraged that this trip was going to be awesome! Let the fun begin . . . but in a different hotel!
Does looking at Emily's face make you want to take a long car ride with her? Damien has been talking for the past few months about taking a road trip to San Diego. As much as I love San Diego (and I really do)- the idea of a nine hour drive in a car with all four kids made me a little nervous. Could we do it? Of course. Might it be a total disaster? It's very probable. Might it be a great trip and worth every minute? I was hoping so. 
Early in the morning, we went to Claire's 2 week post-op with her ENT. We got great news that she was completely healed! Claire's clearance was all we needed in order to take this crazy trip and we got it! The car was already packed and my mind was stabilized for take off. There was no turning back now. Our neighbor had given us a great hint on how to drive south without hitting any of the Los Angeles traffic. This was great for us because we were scheduled to go right through it at rush hour if we didn't have his secret route! If we kept driving and didn't have to sit in traffic- I was all for it! I rode in the backseat with Emily for most of the ride. Her car temperament is directly proportional to the exciting mini Ringling Brother's Circus I am performing before her. My strategy for her was to have a big bag full of toys, interesting little items, and books that she could look at to occupy her time. I would only show her a new toy if she really needed to be distracted. I also packed a plethora of food (i.e. junk) to help pacify the kids (okay, me too). 
We had movies playing, junk food consuming, circus performing, and all was going well. The only thing Matthew objected to was the foul smell the cow farms produced. We call this one farm off of I-5 Cow Heaven. You can just not imagine how many cows are on this ranch! Seriously- you can't! When we went by farms, he always put his hand in front of his face and whined, which of course cracked everyone else in the car up! We stopped a few times on the way to San Diego to eat and stretch and we might have stopped at a Marshall's for Mommy to get a bathing suit since she forgot hers. Hmmm. Forgetting your swimsuit for a four day trip at the beach? Not good. After a few stops and only a couple of minor meltdowns in the car, we made it. I think it took us a little over nine hours to get to our hotel or motel, or place that wasn't what we thought it was going to be! But nonetheless, we made it!
This picture was taken somewhere on our journey. The Mojave Desert! Isn't it so pretty! We stopped for a pee break and snapped a few shots! It looked just like many of the scenes from Pixar's movie, Cars. Okay, back to the nasty hotel. We booked our hotel late and wouldn't you know that Comicon (comic covention) was in town? Great! There were literally two rooms left in the city and we managed to snag one of them. The woman at San Diego's city center said it was a nice hotel but when we got there, it was terrible. So here is the scenario. It was now 9:30 p.m. at night. Kids were exhausted and were all wiped from a long drive. It was completely dark and nighttime had surely set it. Did we try and find a new hotel at this hour knowing that the city was so ridiculously overbooked or just try it out? We tried it out and in the morning, Damien was able to get us out of our reservation and get us a room at the Holiday Inn Express. Thank goodness! It was a rough night and we were so happy to be changing hotels! (Keyword=plunger.) Once the morning hit, we were all encouraged that this trip was going to be awesome! Let the fun begin . . . but in a different hotel!
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