Mud Pies & Minivans: Vacation Summary

DAY #1:

We set off early Tuesday morning, caravaning with Jay's family. The girls did extremely well considering how early it was. I am telling you when its early in the morning, a sippy & cereal in a cup does the trick. It was a long, but fun ride. It is extremely interesting to travel with a potty trained toddler & 2 others in diapers. You do find yourself having to stop a lot, otherwise the car becomes consumed by the sweet smells of "Ewww yucky" as Aidann likes to
call #2 or wet panties.

Aidann was amazed by all of the mountains, but was very concerned when it
came to how "dirty" they are. "Mommy, they are so dirty. Their
mommy needs to give them a bath. Maybe the rain will help wash them".

Right when we got to California it was check into the hotel & head straight
to Santa Monica beach to play in the ocean & eat a nice lunch. This was the
1st time Asher (in the tummy last time) & Austin had been to the ocean.
Aidann went & checked it out for a second, but was way more interested in
staying dry & building & burying things with the sand. Asher was the
exact opposite. You had to have the death grip on her skinny lil' body to
ensure she didn't get swept away by a wave. She absolutely loved collecting
shells & sitting really close to the water where she could pile the wet
sand into her bucket, dump it out, & do it all over again. Austin, my
extremely joyful & tolerant 1, would show in her face how shocked she was
by the freezing cold ocean & interesting feeling sand but did not complain
once. Tried laying her on a towel in the more dry part of the beach, but she
continuous would pull herself forward until she would face plant right into the
dry sand. SO silly that lil' 1.
After playing on the actual beach for awhile,
we changed & went up on the pier (SO COLD). The girls loved riding the old
fashioned carousel. "Mommy, horses go UP & DOWN". They also
enjoyed the aquarium under the pier. They let the girls touch starfish &
all sorts of other sea life. I was shocked that Aidann (who does not
particularly like slimy & smelly things enjoyed that so much. Very glad.

Once we were finished checking out the rest of the pier, we went to the
Chinese Theater & the stars walk. Let me just state that the last time I checked
out this area was when I was....8 years old maybe. This area has changed A LOT
& I would definitely not recommend bringing kids there because you will
always feel on EXTRA defensive mode. We did have fun checking out the stars
though. I especially enjoyed the Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen star. Don't hate,
I was around the same age as them & absolutely loved Full House & all
that. After all of this, the girls were done & to bed we all went.

DAY #2:

Woke up early for baths & the whole routine & then enjoyed a
wonderful breakfast before taking on Universal Studios. I was super excited for this day because I had never
experienced it before. Right from the get go we were consumed by Frankenstein,
Dora, Hop, Marilyn Monroe, Shrek, & all sorts of other characters. Once
again, the difference between my kids was interesting to see. Aidann preferred
to completely avoid these over sized characters, while Asher was kind of
intrigued by them & didn't mind shaking a paw/hand or 2 & posing for a
few pictures. Aidann fell asleep almost right away (Probably from having her
eyes closed so much to avoid seeing characters), but once 1 of her uncles made
a sugary & usually frowned upon purchase of cotton candy, she was wide
awake (not hyper though, thank goodness).
The first attraction everyone hit up
was "House of Horrors". I immediately stepped up because of my
responsibilities as a mommy to out on this attraction (...darn.) But despite my
efforts to stay as far away from there as possible, after everyone got out my
husband literally picked me up & dragged me inside. Less then 1 minute in
some horrible looking guy popped out of nowhere & scared the you know what
out of me & I literally took off like a light out back out of the
entrance. Maybe next time I will brave this attraction, but I was so not in
the mood this time, lol.

After avoiding the 1st attraction, I felt obligated to take on the next
which was Shrek 4D luckily for me. We decided to try & take the 2 older
ones into this attraction despite them having absolutely no clue what Shrek is.
They really liked it, had to cover their eyes through the not so good middle
part, but they liked it. Asher looked hilarious trying to grab the objects
& people popping out at her from the screen.

The rest of our adventures included playing in the Curious George kids area
which they loved. I got to enjoy the new King Kong 3D adventure & Jurassic
park ride. All in all it was a super fantastic 1st trip to Universal. The girls
were falling asleep during dinner & slept like a rock through the night.

DAY #3:

After yet another super fantastic breakfast, we set off for San Diego. So
funny, in California they have a lot of auto malls, "otter malls"
according to Aidann. Anyway, 1 auto mall in particular has mannequin standing all
around it making it look like they have a lot of customers & its quite eye
catching. Aidann noticed these people & started freaking out, "Mommy,
those people are stuck? Frozen? Go help them, Daddy. I will help you make them
move again". She is so silly. The wax museum also had her freaking out a bit, lol.It was like a 2 1/2 hour drive to Sea World but well worth it. Elmo+ Aidann
& Asher+ Sea Life= Pure joy! They absolutely loved it! Asher quickly became
obsessed with dolphins & whales. The girls rode the sky lift that flies
over the bay. We went to the new circus type water show attraction (Green men
in water suits & goggles getting a little too close for Aidann's comfort,
but she did well). We enjoyed all the Elmo rides & water play area &
ended it with the Shamu show of course. So mean of me to say, but it was much
better before when they got in the water with the whales. It was great fun!
After a pizza party back in our hotel room, we were all out in no time!