First, I love roadtrips. There is so much to see along the way that you totally miss when flying places. Roadtrips are, however, significantly more difficult with children. Most especially with a 4 month old.
Second, I actually thought to myself before I left "I wonder what is going to happen this year" because something always happens to or at our house on our vacations. Three years ago our house flooded while we were in CA, two years ago God had a little mercy on me because Paul was out of town working the Phoenix mission from May to August, last year we had a smoke detector/house alarm problem (it wasn't that bad, just annoying for our house-sitter and us once we got home and couldn't turn it off).
I had no idea that this year's problem would join us on our trip. So, here's the story of this year's vacation . . .
CHAPTER 1
We left our house on June 29 in the most wonderful car for families ever invented: the Honda Odyssey. We packed stuff and more stuff and then some stuff that we really didn't need and STILL had room! It was awesome. We headed for our first stop: Mesa, AZ. We drove 2 half days and one full day to get there, but it was a much needed leisurely drive since the addition of little Zoe. We arrived in Mesa and stayed for a couple days with my brother, sister-in-law and 2 nieces. The kids had tons of fun together and we visited an olive oil mill and the museum I used to work at. It's easy to forget how dry it is there. Sophia's head was itching a bit, and I assumed it was from the dryness. Then we headed for California.
We got to Paul's parents house just in time for July 4. We went to the Pacific Palisades parade and then off to Paul's Aunt's house in Malibu to enjoy some yummy BBQ and fireworks with friends and family. The kids were EXHAUSTED!!!! Then my brother and his family came for a couple of days and we went and showed them all the wonderful LA/Hollywood sights. We even saw Pharrel Williams (a rapper, apparently none of our friends know who he is . . . ) pull out in front of us while driving along Sunset Blvd. Well, at least Lindsay (my sis-in-law) and I are 98% sure it was him . . . It it always fun to enjoy LaLa Land. Sophia is still itching at this point and we all thought it was dry scalp. I even commented that I wanted to get some head and shoulders for her.
No time for shampoo shopping, though, we were off to Anaheim for my cousin's vow renewal ceremony. We got there just in time to get ready and head on to the party bus to the ceremony and dinner. We had a great time with family we hadn't seen in a long time, and they even ended the evening with marshmallow roasting and s'mores on the beach! We went back on the party bus, and Thomas talked to one of his cousins for the ENTIRE one hour drive!! I mean he did not stop talking the whole time! He was a total hit!
The next day was Disneyland!!! We got all the kids (my kids and my nieces) ready (Zoe was staying with Paul's Mom during this time) and headed over on the shuttlebus! It was also my birthday so I got a little button that said it was my birthday so people could wish me well all day long. But, as it turns out, Disneyland is NOT the happiest place on Earth for toddlers. I think they had fun, but it was a bit overwhelming. There were SOOO many people, long lines and many of the rides were pretty scary for 3 and 4 year olds. But, they found a few they liked and we did the best we could.
CHAPTER 2: LICE
Sophia had really been itching her head pretty bad all day, and as we stood in line for the Autopia ride it just came to me that she might have lice. I've never had any kind of experience at all with lice, so I didn't know anything about it. But, I did see a bug in her hair earlier, but just thought it was a little gnat or something. We rode the ride, hooked back up with my brother, bought a couple things and headed back around 5:30pm. Paul immediately went to the store to get some lice shampoo, and the rest of us sat at the hotel's free happy hour and researched lice on the ipad. Ugh.
Paul got back and I treated Sophia's hair and tons of little dead bugs came out of her hair. It was sooooo gross, and I had to have housekeeping come and change the bedding and clean the bathroom because they were everywhere. I then spent the rest of my birthday sitting with my brother and sis-in-law eating Bucca take-out, drinking wine and being frustrated. Paul put the kids to bed and then had to drive to San Diego for work. He left at 11pm instead of the planned 6 or 7pm.
The next day I went to pick up Zoe from my mother-in-law's house and then headed to my Grandmother's in Stockton. I kept checking Sophia's hair and I didn't think I washed it good enough, so I did another treatment the following day after we got to my Grandmother's. The next day after that I was checking my own hair and found a bug. I almost had a nervous breakdown!!! We had already been washing everything like crazy, and now I was worried about the baby and my 95 year old Grandmother. I treated my hair and combed it out for 2 hours, and thankfully it was no where near as bad as Sophia's. Everyone knew Sophia had it, but I had to let Lindsay know that I now had them too and she should check the girls.
I should note that I don't know where she got the lice. Both kids had been at the YMCA kid area almost daily for 2 weeks and a drop off daycare for 1 day a few days before we left. I'm thinking it was the drop off daycare place, but I have no way of knowing. They've been there before lots of times. Apparently lice is VERY common because everyone has been telling me their lice stories, and the pharmacist told my sister-in-law that the lice shampoo just flies off the shelves. That made me feel a little better. But only a little. It still sucks.
She checked the girls the next day and they BOTH had them!! What a nightmare! She was already home in AZ, so treated the girls and washed everything too. We continued to wash, wash and wash some more. I thought the washing machine was going to die.
The same day I discovered my lice (Thursday), my cousin fell at Costco and broke her foot really bad. She was about to have a wedding reception for 110 people on Saturday and now she had to visit the orthopedic doctor, who put her in a non-walking cast for 4 weeks!!! So, she wheeled around her party like a champion and we all had tons of fun!
On Friday, Thomas got stung by a wasp. Super awesome.
Monday after the party (Paul joined us Saturday for the party), the Niles clan packed up the swagger wagon for the more than 2000 mile drive home. We stopped in LA for a day and a half, AZ for a night, and then headed home. We took a slight detour to White Sands Nat'l Monument in NM where Paul got pulled over for speeding and thankfully did not get a ticket(!!!), and Carlsbad Caverns. Both were awesome, although the kids were a bit scared of the cave. I've always wanted to go there, so I'm really glad we made the trip. We made it home on July 24 just in time. Zoe cried for the last 2 hours of the trip or so - she was totally done with sitting in her carseat!
Overall, we had alot of fun spending time with family and taking some scenic drives. I am now a scholar on lice and certainly have added a many more stress-caused gray hairs. But, I hear that lice don't like color treated hair . . .
View my photos here: http://ani.smugmug.com/
Amazingly we did not get a picture of the 5 of us together, so I"m still waiting to replace the blog photo with a a pic of all of us. Soon I hope!!!
