Best Vacation...EVER (Part Two)

After our practice RV trip over Mother’s Day weekend ended up as a big success, we decided to go ahead and plan the big trip for June. We reserved a slightly larger RV (30 feet instead of 25 feet) and started planning our itinerary. The plan was to make our way to Henderson, to visit my parent’s vacation house there and see my grandma and uncle who live there. After Henderson we would head to San Diego for the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, make our way to Carlsbad to see Legoland and then surprise the kids with two days at Disneyland in Anaheim before heading back home to Pacifica.

Friday, June 3, 2011
After I got off work we went to San Mateo to pick up our RV. I dropped Lynda and Dylan off to take the RV home and I took Sophie home separately. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing the RV. This was made more interesting by all the rain.  Hello Summer Vacation!

Saturday, June 4, 2011
We finished getting things ready for our housesitters at the house and hit the road by about 11am. Our first stop was the Ventura Ranch KOA outside of Santa Barbara. The drive was supposed to take about 5 hours. It ended up taking about 10 hours to get there. We stopped at Anderson’s Pea Soup for dinner on the way which was a lot of fun as I don’t think I had ever been there and Lynda hadn’t been there since she was a kid. Dylan enjoyed the place and posed for some pictures out front. We discovered Sophie really likes pea soup.

We didn’t make it to the campground until after 9pm, we put the kids straight to bed to get some rest for the trip to Henderson in the morning. We didn’t really have the opportunity to explore the campground, but there was a peacock and some interesting plastic animals as we drove in. The bathrooms closest to us were in process of renovation and not very nice and didn’t have showers, so we opted to just wait until we got to my parent’s house to shower. We just woke up packed up and started driving.

Sunday, June 5, 2011
We were on the road by 7:45 am. At this point we figured out that the RV had some air conditioning issues. The main issue being that if you went over about 40 miles an hour the AC shut off and very hot air shot out at the front seat passengers feet. The dash and door also heated up so you pretty much could brew tea if you placed a cup of water in the cup holder. Given the four plus hours it took us to pack the RV and the relatively cooler than expected SoCal weather, we decided to tough it out and make the best of it rather than disrupt our vacation by trying to get a replacement RV on the road. This resulted in some sweaty feet but a lot of laughs as we drove with windows open trying to shout at each other to talk while the wind whipped through the front cab.

We stopped at a Wienerschnitzel for lunch on the way so Dylan was able to get his favorite hot dog lunch. We made it to my parent’s house in Henderson around 4pm and were ready for showers and my mom’s cooking. We discovered that my parent’s hot water wasn’t working in their guest bathroom so we had to take turns with the one shower that did have hot water, but we were still excited at the prospect of their comfortable air conditioned house. They had toys and an inflatable backyard pool waiting for the kids who were thrilled!

Monday, June 6, 2011
Dylan was up early and the morning and he and I started a Monopoly game. There is just something about Monopoly at 5:45 AM to really jumpstart your day. Grandma Carol was up pretty early too and she and Dylan explored the back yard and the golf course behind the house. They didn’t find any stray golf balls but we did manage to see a bunny rabbit and meet the neighbor’s dog.

We packed everyone up in two cars and drove out to look at Hoover Dam and walk across the Mike O’Callaghan/Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. There were some great views and we were able to take some nice pictures. Dylan enjoyed seeing the dam and talking to Papa about how electricity works.

After the visit to the dam we headed back to Henderson and lunch at Lucille’s. Yum.

That evening Grandma Juanita and Uncle David came over for dinner. We had a nice visit and my mom cooked some great food and my dad barbequed steak. We also had cake to celebrate Sophie’s first birthday, since June 8 was her due date and Grandma Juanita and Uncle David had missed her party in February. Both Dylan and Sophie enjoyed her cake and Sophie liked the Sesame Street cars that came on top.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011
We played around the house and went on a shopping trip to Walmart on Tuesday to get the rest of the food and supplies we would need for our trip. We had a fun lunch at Red Robin and found it amusing when the waitress apologized for seating us next to teenagers. In the evening Grandma and Papa babysat so Lynda and I could go out to a nice dinner at the M Resort and meet Uncle David and Bill for some gambling and cocktails.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Happy Anniversary Grandma and Papa!  Happy (adjusted) Birthday Sophie!

We packed up and headed out of Henderson by about 9 am on Wednesday. We made good time to our next destination, the San Diego Metro KOA and arrived by about 3pm. We were really impressed with how nice this campground was. It had a pool, laundry, a store, a new playground and bike rentals. Dylan made friends with a boy named Jason at the playground and spent the afternoon playing and riding the scooter he brought with him from Grandma and Papa’s house. We had a nice evening at the campground and everyone was able to get some rest.

Thursday, June 9, 2011
On Thursday we went to the San Diego Zoo. We were really impressed with how nice it was, it had been a long time since Lynda or I had been there. We laughed at first because it seemed like all the animals were missing from their cages or sleeping. We wondered if really they had just built a bunch of empty cages with nice signs. As the day went on we were able to see quite a few animals including the pandas which are Grandma Carol’s favorite so Dylan insisted we record a video “panda cam” and send to her. The polar bear exhibit was also really neat. We went to see the flamingo exhibit and the sign explained that some of the local birds (ducks) had voluntarily also joined the exhibit. I said to Dylan that the ducks had crashed the flamingos' party and then had to explain what “crashing the party” meant. He got a kick out of that and kept talking about those party crashing ducks all day. The zoo had lots of nice play areas for kids with cool things to climb on and Dylan enjoyed exploring it all. At the end of the day we took a ride on the top of the double decker zoo tour bus which was what Dylan really wanted to do, it was a great way to see everything at the zoo that we had explored during the day. We did a little shopping in the zoo store and headed back to the campground. Dylan’s buddies were waiting for him and he got some playtime in before dinner.

Friday, June 10, 2011
Sea World!

On Friday we went to Sea World and Lynda also bought us tickets for lunch with Shamu. This was a really cool lunch with really limited attendance where we got to be up close with one of the Orcas while we had lunch. There was a trainer who talked about the whale while having her do some tricks for the audience. Lynda and Dylan also rode up in the sky tower and saw a view of the whole park. They were able to go to the dolphin show and the sea lion show (Sophie and I did some hanging out on benches). Dylan really enjoyed the Sesame Street kids play area, so we spent a good amount of time there before heading back to the campground at the end of the day.

Saturday, June 11,2011This was our play day at the campground. I worked on some laundry and Sophie did some napping. Dylan was able to rent one of the bikes that looked like a car and drove it around the campground. Dylan also spent a good amount of time playing in the playground and swimming in the pool. We had a nice family dinner and got organized for heading out the next day.

Sunday, June 12, 2011
We left the campground early in the morning so that we would make it to Legoland when it opened. We got a really terrific parking spot (one benefit to RV parking) pretty much at the front gate of Legoland. This park was AMAZING. We had never been there and really didn’t know what to expect, but we all (especially Dylan) loved it. There were some great rides for younger kids and lots of educational and interesting elements to the park. One of Dylan’s favorite parts were the very realistic city models of San Francisco, New York, LA and Las Vegas. There were even moving cars and boats. He was fascinated and spent quite a bit of time checking out every detail. There was also a cool water play area that he liked. They had cars the kids could drive themselves and Dylan got his very own Legoland driver’s license. On one ride the kids sat in chairs and pulled themselves up a pole with a rope, Dylan bravely did this on his own and was really strong and able to pull himself up the pole quite well compared to much older kids who were also doing it. One of the highlights was getting Dylan’s cartoon drawn. He chose to be a lego rockstar and the artist did a really great job on the drawing. Dylan was super excited about it and we now have it framed in his room at home.

After a full day at Legoland we headed out to our camper in the parking lot. Before driving off Lynda and I told Dylan we had a surprise for him and Sophie. We handed them each wrapped presents. Inside Dylan had a Mickey Mouse and Sophie had a Minnie Mouse. Dylan also had a lanyard with Disneyland pins on it. We had Dylan read the tag it said “We are going to Disneyland”. He got very excited and we got the whole thing on video. We headed to Anaheim to check in to the RV park and get ready for our big day at Disneyland.

We arrived at the Anaheim Harbor Resort RV park at dinner time. Conveniently it was located next door to a Shakey’s pizza so we checked in and went next door for a pizza dinner. Dylan thought the restaurant was great and asked if we could have every dinner on our vacation there. We got everyone showered and ready for bed and put Sophie down for the night. Lynda, Dylan and I were able to sit in our camp chairs at our RV site and watch the Disneyland fireworks before going to bed.

Monday, June 13, 2011

We got ready early and took the shuttle to Disneyland. Dylan was very excited about his first ride on a bus. Once in the park we headed straight for the rockets which Dylan and I road together and then to Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblasters which we were all able to ride. I am not sure what Sophie thought of the ride, but she definitely seemed fascinated. Dylan and I did the Tarzan Tree House which I remembered as the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House when I was a kid. He had a great time exploring it and there was some very fun stuff to play with at the end. We hit the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted House and It’s a Small World. We went to the Mad Hatter and got everyone hats. At this point it was really getting hot and crowded so we headed over to California Adventure. We got some food and explored It’s A Bug’s Land. We made it to the Disney Junior show, which the kids both LOVED before calling it a day and heading back to the RV park. We had another dinner at Shakey’s and Dylan got to play lots of games and win lots of tickets, so all and all a very successful day. We had another great night of fireworks with commentary by Dylan before calling it a night.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The plan for the day was to drive to Disneyland so we could hit the road from there getting outside of LA before finding an RV park to stay the night for the drive home the next day. When we woke up we noticed a much nicer, newer CruiseAmerica RV had pulled in next to us during the night. I wonder if they had air conditioning?

We were happy to find the RV parking at Disneyland was almost as good as Legoland and we were right next to the tram stop to take us to the Disneyland entrance. When we arrived Dylan and Lynda rode the double decker bus while Sophie and I walked down Main Street. We got our picture taken in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle before making our way to Toon Town. Dylan and I rode the roller coaster and Lynda and Dylan rode the Roger Rabbit ride before making our way out of Toon Town to another ride on It’s a Small World before going to the Tea Cups in Fantasyland. Dylan and I rode the Tea Cups and I was reminded why that ride never has a line. We had lunch at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ and it was great. Nice shaded spacious tables, all you can eat BBQ, good service and fun entertainment. Dylan even got to go up on stage and perform with the show! After lunch we found the little petting zoo and Miss Chris’Cabin where Dylan was able to sit and draw for a bit. Dylan wanted to ride the Mark Twain ferry boat so we all hopped on board for a ride around Tom Sawyer island. We then made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean and Buzz Lightyear before doing some shopping and going to Downtown Disney. We got some ice cream and then took the tram back to the RV to start making our way home around 5:30.

We had planned just to get out of the LA area to avoid some of the traffic for our drive the next day, but once we were on the road for a couple of hours Lynda said she thought she could pull a late drive and make it home that night. The drive was long and hot and poor Lynda’s hat blew out the window, but we were able to make it back to Pacifica by 2 am. We got the kids in their beds (they slept most of the drive) and were able to get some showers and get ourselves in bed to dream about the best vacation ever!

We feel so lucky to get to take this great trip this summer, to have Sophie enjoying it with us and to let Dylan have this big adventure his last summer before heading off to Kindergarten!

Best Vacation...EVER! (Part One)

We decided that we wanted to take a 2 week RV vacation this summer which would include going to Henderson, NV to see my Grandma and Uncle and visit my parents vacation home there.  We did think it might be wise to "practice" with the RV first before embarking on a 2 week trip in one with a 5 year old and a 1 year old.

So for Mother's Day weekend we rented an RV and headed to the Gold Country Campground in Pine Grove, CA  http://www.goldcountrycampground.com/.  The plan was to pick the RV up in San Mateo (pick up time was 1pm), pack it up and then head to the campground and make it there before dinner.  It is about a 3 hour drive from Pacifica to the campground.  The reality is that packing an RV while tending to two small children takes longer than one might think.  As it turned out we didn't get back to Pacifica until about 2pm and didn't finish packing the RV until around 6pm.  This may have had a little bit to do with our elated five year old bouncing around the RV "helping" us and giving tours to the neighborhood of "his" RV.

I have to say that RV was worth every penny.  I have never seen my kid so happy and he is a generally happy kid.  Better than Disneyland, better than Christmas, he was just thrilled to be in that RV.

So, we finally managed to pull out of Pacifica a little after 6pm and didn't make it to the campground until about 10 pm.  First lesson learned, spring for the extra day and pack your RV the night before the trip.

It was hard to see in the dark, but by the morning we found that the campground was fantastic.  We opted for a "deluxe" RV spot which meant we had a longer spot with a table and fire pit.  We were located near the bathrooms, which were the nicest bathrooms I have ever seen pretty much anywhere, but especially for a campground.  The campground had a pool, water park, mini golf, an arcade and a playground.  Dylan was beyond thrilled. On our first day in the campground we tried all of it.  They even opened the pool just for us, they weren't scheduled to open it until the start of June.  The staff was super nice and accommodating, better than many of the high end hotels we have stayed in.

Sophie got to try out a swimming pool for the first time and she loved it just as much as she loves baths.  Dylan and Sophie enjoyed having me spin them around in the pool, at the same time.  My back didn't enjoy it as much but their constant giggling kept me going. Sophie and I followed along behind Dylan and Lynda as they played mini-golf and Dylan adopted an interpretive scoring system.  Dylan really enjoyed the arcade which was a nice, big, air conditioned room with 80's style video games, air hockey, pool and ping pong.  It also had a baby play area that Sophie tried out and an area for crafts.

We cooked dinner outside at the campsite on our camp stove.  We discovered something about the RV section of the campground, no one leaves their RVs.  So we were nestled in our "deluxe" spot in our small rental RV surrounded by giant uber RVs and we had lots of privacy and pretty much no competition for the fancy bathroom.  We had Dylan's favorite, hot dogs for dinner, had a campfire with s'mores and some poorly orchestrated camp songs and had both kids in bed and asleep by 8.  We were able to have some quiet time by the campfire by ourselves before calling it a night.

Both kids slept pretty well, it was a little less than perfect for us, but still better than anytime we have tried to stay in a hotel with kids.  The next morning we got organized, packed up the RV and headed to Lake Camanche for some fishing.  Lynda got the license/permit and then we found a picturesque spot that didn't have other people to try our luck.  It seems the spot may have been so free of people because it was filled with geese and the "evidence" of geese, but Dylan and Lynda got their camp chairs and gave it a good go.  Lynda's fishing pole met an unpleasant fate as she was trying to get everything set up, so they ended up sharing Dylan's Cars' pole, which may have not been the ideal tool for the task at hand.  Sophie and I hung out in the camper while they fished and made lunch.  The bad news was, they caught no fish.  The good news was, they caught no fish.

When we got back to the campground, we did a little time in the arcade and then headed back to the campsite for some down time.  Dylan and I had some of the most excellent talks hanging out in our camp chairs.  We also got in some checkers and Go Fish (with interpretive rules).

On our last day, we packed up and headed out to Sutter Creek for some Gold Panning.  Dylan ended up getting a little bit of gold that he got to take home in a souvenier bottle.  We headed out of town by lunch time and made it back to Pacifica in time to unload the RV, give a few more tours to the neighbors and then return it before dinner.

Overall, it was a really terrific vacation.  I can not really put words to how great it feels to watch your kids so excited and so happy.   We feel so much gratitude that we were able to all be together this year having fun.  This was really the best vacation and the best Mother's Day I can remember.

So, the lessons learned from our "practice" RV vacation:

1) Pick-up and pack the RV the day BEFORE you depart on the trip
2) LESS is more, pack less stuff, use all the cabinets
3) ORGANIZATION is key- things are much easier if you have less stuff in organized places
4) PLANNING pays off, have a basic plan of activities in advance
5) Buy SMALL (small food, small paper products, etc.), this is not the time for Costco bulking up
6) Most RVers don't leave their RV's so you get more privacy than you would think in the RV park
7) Clean bathrooms can make or break a trip
8) Box wine is really underappreciated
9) You really can't put a price on memories with your family
10) Kids LOVE RVs

Stay tuned for the "Best Vacation...EVER! (Part Two) when we embark on our two week RV vacation in June.

Show and Tell

Dylan brought Sophie as his "Show and Tell" to Mid-Year Kindergarten.  She was a big hit.

Papa

5.2.11 

Sunday Funday

March for Babies

This past Saturday we participated in the March for Babies to support the March of Dimes with the San Francisco Kaiser NICU.  It was great to see the nurses who took such good care of Sophie during her 90 day stay in the NICU.  I hadn't really anticipated how overcome I would feel seeing them again, but it was really wonderful seeing them and even more wonderful seeing them in a non-hospital setting.  The weather was fantastic and it made for a terrific family outing.

Celebration

We just finished celebrating Sophie's first birthday with all of the exuberance I had imagined we would as I watched Sophie’s isolette a year ago and planned the future celebration in my head. Back then I was treading a fine line between trying to be positive and not wanting to hope for too much. Thinking about this big celebration with my beautiful, happy, healthy baby girl having the time of her life crawling and squirming all over the place didn’t really seem possible back then. We are truly in a better place that I ever could have imagined. I can say I am so much wiser, so much more grateful than ever before, that I see things with a deeper richness than I ever could have before I came so close to losing so much. But then, I am also changed in that I have lost the ability to blindly expect things to be ok. The realization that the harmony of life is so precarious, that at any moment things can change so dramatically, that is always with me now. I am acutely aware of so many others who haven't had the good fortune we have had, who are facing much bigger challenges with so much more grace than I ever could have gathered.

So I would say now our family motto is “CELEBRATE!”   Celebrate every day and every moment.  Laugh often and give lots of hugs.

Happy Birthday Sophie.