After we were sufficiently heated up from the warm temperatures at the Grand Canyon, we gassed up and had a quick bite to eat before we headed back on the road. Our next big trek was to be this one, Arizona to California. The only place we had a specific date we had to be there was our hotel reservations for Disneyland.
During our long hauls, the kids were really very good. Hayden figured out if he slept, it made the time go by faster, consequently he took a few good naps. When he wasn’t sleeping, he’d be playing games on his Ipod touch or Hang Man with anyone who would play.
Specifically for this trip I put together an activity box for each of the kids. I included their gaming systems, puzzle books, snacks, paper and markers. I also included a new travel journal for each of them and brought adhesive so that they could put postcards from each place they visited into their scrapbook. This was a fun project for us to work on also, while we were traveling. Both kids did a great job on them and just have a few finishing touches to add now that we are home. The idea is for them to add to it whenever we travel.
We got into Anaheim pretty late that night. Lemme just tell you, “it ain’t no fun, driving a big RV down the California highways!” SERIOUSLY I was terrified and I felt for my poor dad. These crazy people would get so impatient that we were going the speed limit that they would speed past us ON THE SHOULDER!!! I was so happy when we found a place to call home for that night. We found a lovely RV park not too far from Disney and as we parked in our spot, we were greeted with the amazing firework show that Disney shoots off every night. I cannot tell you or begin to explain the magic and awe of that moment. The kids, my mom and sister and I just sat and watched, it was a very memorable moment. What a great way to end the long trip of that day and stir up the excitement for the next day’s event.
With the wonder of Disney dancing in H & G’s head, I was surprised that they could actually fall asleep once we got our beds made. It was a blessing that we could all fall asleep so easily that night. The next day, we showered, had breakfast and drove to our hotel. We were not able to check in right away, but our biggest concern was finding a place to park the house on wheels. We were going to have to find 6-9 free spaces to the back of the property to park the rig in. We circled the property two to three times, with no luck. We all began to hedge our guess as to how many times we would have to circle before we found a spot. Hayden, the optimist guessed the closest. It was truly a God thing, we saw an area that would work but there was ONE car parked right in the middle of several empty spots, “If only that car would leave soon, or we knew who owned that car” Our third time driving around and out of several hundred guests, we spot the owner of the car. My dad got out and chatted with the guy and asked if he would be willing to move to another spot, and God Bless that man, he did.
We were able to pick up our Disney packages and plan out our first day at the park. Dad spoiled us and reserved a nice Penthouse room for all of us as part of our package. The grounds were so pretty, I love the plants and foliage in California.
In the Lobby
Dad & Mom
One very excited little girl
A beautiful flower at our hotel
THE day is finally here!
Saturday, June 12th 2010
It is 5:00 am and Hayden has been up since 4:30, dressed and ready to go. I scramble to get my last shower at home, Kip tries to wrap up a few work issues and Gillian stumbles downstairs wrapped up in her soft blankie ready to sleep once we load ourselves into the Motor home (ya right). Excitement is definately in the air, Kip and I are trying to think if there is anything that we could have forgotten to pack- don’t you just love how we do that? We are all packed and practically out the door, seriously….that is not the time when you are going to suddenly remember that one important thing you forgot. That does not happen until you are at least 10-20 miles away from home.
5:15 AM Mom, Dad, and Nicole (w/ Shaney in toe to spend the week with her cousins Zippy, Bennett and Piper) arrive. The Hustle and Bustle begins, loading those last few things into the RV and making sure everything is ready for our house/dog sitter.
5:30 AM We are leaving Anasazi Court and headed South on I-25 to New Mexico. Everyone is a bit sleepy, but the buzz is all about our destination for that day.
We make a few stops for gas and lunch along the way.
~ 7:30 PM we pull into the nice KOA Park that we had reserved, it was somewhere between Williams, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ. It was a very nice facility, pool, gift shop, camp fire, cafe. The kids really enjoyed it. We were all very tired, once we found our spot we pulled in and hunkered down the homestead. We got all of our beds ready, had a bite to eat, enjoyed the campfire for a bit and went to bed. Awwww……I have to say I was really surprised at how well I slept. Kip and I had the bunk and it was very comfy.
Hayden on his bed, winding down for the night.
Sunday, June 13th
Mom, Dad & Hayden are the early risers and this morning was no exception. They were up and had a good warm breakfast before any of the rest of us were awake. Leaving the late rises to have cereal, I usually trade more sleep for less breakfast…it is worth it. Once we were all up, we packed up our beds and converted the bedroom back to our family room (I think it is so cool how RV’s can transform so easily). We showered, changed and were back on the road for about and hour and a half. Our first stop was to the amazingly beautiful Grand Canyon.
The Grand Canyon
We spent a good part of the morning walking along the South Rim of the canyon, taking lots of pictures. We saw a few people being pretty foolish out on the exposed parts of the rim and it made us all wonder, but it was Hayden to ask, “Has anyone fallen down and died?” We were sure that there had been many such cases and in one of the gift shops, there was a book all about death in the canyon, called “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon” . Of course we were all intrigued and Kip decided he had to read it. It is a book worth reading if you are interested in stuff like that, it is truly amazing some of the things that have happened in the Grand Canyon.
Dad, Gillian, Hayden, Nicole, Mom and Kip
One of the other big topics of conversation spurred by the kids was “how was the canyon formed “ and “how long did it take” . Luckily we had a long trip ahead of us to share with them the different theories on those topics.
Not too far from where we posed for a few pictures a little critter caught our attention and the attention of many others around us. This little squirrel (we named Oreo) had apparently scored a treat. As with most National parks the animals are not that afraid of people and he just sat right in front of us on the wall to eat his Golden Oreo. The funny thing is that Oreo, like most people pulled apart his Oreo cookie and at the cream center first and then ate the cookie. Ha! You can tell this squirrel is not starving, he was so cute and plump.
Oreo
Oreo begging Gillian for a handout
Oreo savoring his treat
“Given enough time, nothing is more changeable than rock.” Enos Mills
For the past couple of years we have tried to plan a couple of different family vacations and for a variety of reasons they didn’t work out. Hayden and Gillian were so gracious and understanding when we didn’t make it to Mount Rushmore last Summer but they continued to talk about going somewhere out of Colorado. We have created many wonderful family memories around our beautiful state; camping trips, fishing trips and day trips. But, the itch to explore the world around us was growing.
Many conversations with my family had taken place, every one had “a dream” or an idea of the perfect Family Vacation. I knew that somehow , some way we were going to take a trip, but I really did not think it would happen the way we as a family had dreamed it.
Even three weeks before we were on the road, I did not think our plan was going to happen. However, the following week, my sweet daddy flew out to purchase The Motor Home. When the kids found out…they celebrated and started to get very excited.
When Papa arrived home we hurried over to check out this new beauty. Wide-eyed, Hayden and Gillian simultaneously say “oh wow!”
I couldn’t believe it….we are one step closer. This trip may happen!!!!!!
Next tasks:
- Get everyone’s schedule to work for the same 10 day period. Check
- Map out & agree on our route. Check
- Shop for and stock RV. Check
- Pack & load. Check
- Buckle up and we are OFF!!!!!! Wooohooooooooo!
While trying to figure out how to pack for our family vacation (7 days x 7 people), we had to be creative and think outside the suitcase. Although the RV has lots of great storage, we needed to make things easy and not create a lot of extra weight.
Our solution? Space Bags and Ziplock Bags. 
These clear (on one side) bags make it easy to see what each bag contains, The other obvious benefit is allowing more storage and less space. Since I didn’t have a huge, heavy suitcase to lug around, I packed one bag each for the four of us- I was able to pack clothes for 7 days including swim suits and towels. Additionally for the kids, I used a Space Bag for each of them and I also packed a Ziplock bag for each day to include the fresh clothes for that day. If you need to label which days they are to wear what clothes you can do that on the bag. I really only needed to do that on our Disney days, because I wanted to color coordinate us in bright colors so that they would be easier to find, if I needed to.
We also used the space bags to pack our bedding each day, with the big blankets, sheets and comforters, it was really important to make those as small as possible. Once in the bag, just use something with a vacuum and suck the air out and plop in storage.
All in all, I was pleased with method of packing, and I personally would do this again.
Love her lil 'tinkies' too.
It seems whenever my little girl gets bored she gets creative. I really should to look into sewing classes or something for her so she can really create something on her own.
My lil Gilli goes through my clothes, old and new, and gets inspired to create something fresh with them.
My Girl
Yesterday she put together this outfit, I seriously was shocked at our lovely it was.
The hat was the perfect finishing touch adding a classic look to this almost modern ‘dress’. The final bling was a necklace she created from some old wine glass charm…and here she is.
Seriously!
I have heard of kids (mine included) playing with big boxes and having hours of fun with their cardboard creations. It often causes parents to scratch their head and wonder, “Why exactly do we buy toys?”
Last night my super talented and loving husband installed a new dishwasher for us and from the old one he took out the top rack and handed it to Gillian and said, “Here sweetie, here is a go-cart for you” – half joking of course!
Well my precious little girl has had so much fun with it. She puts everything and anything in it and drives it all over the house. It is quite a sight, this thing is wide and bulky and she just pushes it along like it is truly all that!
I wish I could be in her brain right now and understand why this is so cool. Kids are so imaginative, cute and funny!!!
It is amazing what a little hard work, hanging flowers and colorful mulch can do to spruce up your house.
This project has been on our list for years , this weekend we finally checked it off the list! Woohoo! It is amazing how it adds so much to the front of our house. The color contrast alone is huge but getting the runaway grass out of our planter area was a big deal too.
It feels so good to work on our house again.
A fresh new look
