Really.. we are brave people. If I've learned anything in the last 24 years being with Kris.. it's that you just go with the flow. And things generally work out. But it does require being brave.
Stepping in an old vehicle with seven people and traversing hundreds of miles.. with multiple potty stops, various moods, assorted cell phones, computers, hair styling tools, duffle bags... Really anything could go wrong. But amazingly it didn't.
We even stayed within our budget. Thanks to the record low gas prices and some meals we ate at Maverick.
We left Sunday evening and made it as far as Fallon, Nevada. Then Monday we spent all day on the road and arrived tired but alive in Anaheim.
We didn't scimp on hotel rooms. We enjoyed every night on the road in a suite with enough beds for all of our bodies to lay in comfortable repose. This has not always been the case in years past. (Think sleeping bags on the floor or waking up in a panic because you had multiple bodies next to you). All of our hotel rooms were so nice and the beds were comfortable. (Maybe we were so exhausted they seemed comfortable).
Tuesday we walked to Disneyland (saving more money!!!)). We enjoyed our day waiting in lines to go on our old favorite rides like: Small World (I did almost break into tears) Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean and others. Surprisingly the child that was most excited to see the princesses was Shelby. She would chase them around trying to get pictures. We let the kids take the boat ride in the pirate area. This thrilled them to no end as we had told them last Disney trip that it was too expensive. (lie lie lie... it was free). We met up with my nephew Brandon who is a favorite. He had a park hopper pass and snuck off in the afternoon with Hailey and Brooke to see California Adventure. We watched a parade and then waited in line for 1.5 hours to see Star Tours. I mastered the art of not throwing up in the ride simulators by closing my eyes when the attractions got too nauseating.
Wednesday we drove the hour to Universal Studios. It was Christmas Eve and people were all feeling the holiday spirit. We never encountered anyone that was rude. Universal had less people and was very fun. We took the tour of the studio lot. We also rode many rides. Jurassic Park was our favorite and we were excited that there were no lines. We rode Jurassic Park three times in a row, giggling hysterically when we were dropped into the water as the dinosaur head tried to eat us. We watched a stunt show called Waterworld with hunky stunt actors that Stefani really appreciated. After this full day we all collapsed in exhaustion while Kris found us dinner that we were then too tired to eat. Although Hailey did say she ate it while sleeping. By then we were all sneezing from a holiday cold that we had passed around to each other during the 3 million hours in the car.
Christmas day we slept in and then began the long journey home. We read the Christmas story together and enjoyed a festive lunch at a Subway outside of Sacramento. We pulled into Winnemucca almost at midnight.
Friday we finished the final leg of our journey and got home around lunch. I ran the washing machine through about 10 loads and we all compared phone pictures of our fun vacation.
Today we drove more miles to a basketball game in Nyssa and caught a blizzard on the way home.
From 75 degree weather to 28 degrees. Holidays here in 2014. Maybe our last family vacation with all the kiddos.
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