Sunday, August 15, 2010

Our First Family Vacation!

Joe and I took a week off together to have our first family vacation with River before the new baby comes. We went to Oceanside, CA for the beach and the wonderful breezes, and we took River to Disneyland for the first time. It was a great time! I used an app on my phone to document the experience for us and I have added some photos in for fun. *if you click on the photo it gets larger...

Sunday after Joe got off work we drove to CA. We didn't end up leaving Vegas until 8pm

8/9/10
Monday - Day 1


Notes :
12:00 PM
Got up, looked at the ocean from our room.


Now waiting at ihop for our breakfast


2:40 PM
In room... Way past nap time. river is cranky and my feet haven't hit the sand yet... Can't wait! But tired and need to charge my camera first :)

7:05 PM
Waiting for our table on Oceanside pier diner Rubys. Put Rivers feet in the waves at the beach on the way here. Awesome view :D




9:00 PM
Just got back to room. Now to pack up, drive, and check in to Anaheim for Disneyland tomorrow!

11:40 PM
Giant tub in room with jets :D all 3 (3.5) of us fit in the tub. Trying to get River to calm down so we can all go night night for Disneyland tomorrow! :D


8/10/10
Tuesday - Day 2


Notes :
8:51 AM
Everyone is up and I am about to jump in the shower. Disneyland here we come!

11:03 AM
Waiting for breakfast at ihop. River is seriously hyper ... It's like she knows! Late start cause hey... We are on vacation! :D


11:51 AM
Dapper Dans!

12:24 PM
Appropriately, River's first Disneyland ride was small world :D

3:36 PM
Back in room for nap time. After small world, checked out toon town then got in line for nemo sub. River was a crying mess the entire wait. We think maybe teething is factor.. And heat and hunger. Nemo was fun and River was good on it.
I got a hat and a sunburn. River danced to the music on main street like she did on the way in. :)

In Jail at Toon Town:


Playing the Piano in Goofy's House:


Dancing on Main Street:


5:08 PM
We had pizza delivered and River finally fell asleep. Looks like we will be in the room for a bit. Joe and I are watching bones

11:21 PM
Just got back to room. Dad came out with Katie and Ashley for dinner. They were very nice. Katie made River a beautiful blanket and brought her presents. (Katie - my step-mom, Ashley - my step-sister)
Ate dinner with everyone at IHOP and visited for a bit. Surprisingly, no pictures.

Went back to Disneyland and walked straight on to Pirates and Haunted Mansion. River was cuddled up against me for both rides. I almost lost my hat on pirates. That first drop is a lot longer and steeper than I remember. It may also be because I'm 20 weeks pregnant but it was a little scary. River handled it great, or put on a great face. Same with Haunted Mansion although I tried to make it fun for her by dancing with the music and saying the ghosts were having a party.
Then we went to the tiki room. I got a pineapple whip float. Tiki room was fun :)
Joe and I decided we were tired and would tackle more things tomorrow. This is definitely a different Disney experience :)

8/11/10
Wednesday - Day 3


Notes :
8:30 AM
In bed catching up on twitter and email while River still sleeps. Hopefully today will have a happier River.
I am crispy from yesterday ... Going to start getting ready since the continental breakfast ends at 9:30. I'm sure Riv will be up soon. :)

9:31 AM
Just missed continental breakfast. Will have to grab a snack since lunch is at 11:30 and I want to do some things before hand. Joe is in the shower and River and I are dressed in our Mickey shirts :)

11:38 AM
So far successful day! Went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, walked thru a store, went on jungle cruise, had a snack, and now we are eating at Blue Bayou! :D
We brought Elmo with is today and we are staying out of the sun with lots of breaks. So far so good!

Mommy and River on Jungle Cruise:


River and Elmo:


1:05 PM
Just got back to room for nap time. Just in time too .. River was getting fussy. Lunch was good. Got a glowing tink on my mint julip :) River seemed to have fun.



4:17 PM
Wow I woke up 20 mins ago or so and River and Joe are still out. Gonna have to wake them or we will miss all things CA since they close early

"R" for River!


5:48 PM
Eating bread bowl on paradise pier. River has a kids snack pack and Joe got a salad that comes in a bread bowl. I also got a world of color cupcake. Mmmmm :)




10:13 PM
After we ate we went to talk with crush. That was fun and River shouted "turtle!" she can now say "totally" and "dude".


Next we saw Aladin at the Hyperion theater. It was fun and River paid attention the whole time... Except for the 2 times she dropped Elmo and mommy had to save him.
After that we went on Monsters Inc. River likes monsters.
When we came out, the street had been turned into a dance party. Mommy and River danced a lot. River really liked the dancers. Daddy got us a smoothie at schmoozies :)


We went over to the pier to try to see world of color but there are no good places to view unless you get a fast pass or pay for a prix fix meal and we didn't know about the fast pass. So we went to the shop and a nice lady gave River a first time button. I got a button with 2010 on it and Tink (since River had confiscated my glowy tink from lunch) to signify Rivers first time ;)
River and Daddy went outside and watched fireworks while I finished up in the store.
We could tell River was tired so we called it a day. We stopped at coldstone on the walk back to the hotel and are now winding down in the room. :)

8/12/10
Thursday - Day 4

Notes :
10:51 AM
Waiting for Joe to get back from round 1 of loading the car. Everyone up at 9am.

11:53 AM
Tried to go to Bakers Square for pie but it's gone! Waiting for our food at Cocos.

3:08 PM
Back in Oceanside. Beach view is awesome and I love sitting in bed and watching the ocean.


There was an awesome balloon guy at Cocos and he made River a tinkerbell balloon. Way cool :D


River should probably be napping but hasn't happened yet.

6:50 PM
River fell off the bed and her mouth was bleeding. It was sad.
Watched 2 movies and River napped. Movie 2 just ended and River fell off again. We definitely won't be purchasing any high beds anytime soon. I'm just glad she seems alright.
I now have a crick in my neck though... Already having issues getting comfy. Am 20.5 weeks now so the next 19.5 should be "superfun"

Ruby's at the end of the pier... from our room:


10:36 PM
Walked to Rubys at the end of the pier. Was fun :) have been hanging out in the room having fun with River (I have pics but Joe was in jammies so I'll refrain from posting unless he says okay)

Waiting for our table... Elmo has become Elmo hat! Elmo was a hat for Mommy, Daddy, and River:


Elmo driving River's pink Cadillac:


River also had to feed Elmo at every meal so Mommy will be washing Elmo when we get home.


8/13/10
Friday - Day 5


Notes :
2:14 PM
We all slept in then walked 2 miles to a breakfast place I saw on yelp. It was really good. Joe found a close station for the lite rail and we took that back. At least now we know for next time. Muscles I forgot I had now ache. Tired. But I am determined to go to the beach today. (pics of breakfast place on my camera so will have to add later)


9:56 PM
River took a while to go down for a nap. When she did we watched a movie.
River playing with Mommy's camera:


After River was up we went out to the beach to play for a bit even though it was chilly and late. I had so much fun just being in the ocean. It's like I connect out there and everything melts away. Big giant cleansing energy.

I carried River around through the waves and she had a blast.

Look how happy she is!

I love Joe's black and white setting on his camera:




Joe came down to get his feet wet in the water.


River eventually let us put her feet on the wet sand and let the water wash over her feet. So cute!


When we were getting ready to leave Joe got down on one knee and proposed with a ring and river in the wet sand. I said yes! With some shock but the sincerity for us to work won me over. The ring will be going on a chain around my neck until after baby since the size is my prepreggo size (currently too small for my ring finger and falls off my pinkie) ... and if it doesn't fit then... resize! haha.


We came back to the room to change and walked to a Thai place for dinner. Joe says it tasted authentic. I wouldn't know but it was good. On the way back we walked thru some protesters and got blizzards at dairy queen.
Now Joe is making Rivers baba. River is so happy and excited about everything after having both of us all week long.

12:13 AM
River still up ... Colored on the sheets and dumped my melted blizzard on the floor. Overtired toddler with sugar to keep her going while both parents are exhausted... Superfun. Won't make that mistake again.
Last night in Oceanside... I will miss the cool air and beach. Hopefully my sunburn won't last.

8/14/10
Saturday - Day 6 and trek home


Notes :
9:01 AM
River has been up for an hour or so (how does she do that?!) and has just injured herself again. Poor kid. I believe we are driving home today. Sad. I wish I had another week off. :) or even an extra day. Unfortunately I have a group coming in starting Thursday so I need to be in the office. I wonder what our breakfast plans are for today... :)

12:03 PM
Got out and walked to breakfast. A lot closer than yesterdays adventure. Although we took the long route here it was still only about 20 minutes. I feel like we are finding cute close places on our last day :) contemplating a fun drink from the coffee shop

12:32 PM
Just fed myself coffee and a chocolate muffin! 1 coffee drink should be fine right? Couldn't resist... I love grashoppers! Let's see if we get some kicking action ;)I also cut myself on my hairdryer so I have a hello kitty band aid... yeah I have no idea how one cuts themselves on a hairdryer either but I accomplished it.


River feeding Elmo breakfast


River being cute



6:43 PM
On our way back from breakfast we saw lots of squirrels and Joe fed them River's snacks. My phone now has tons of pictures of squirrels eating goldfish and animal crackers. Here's a squirrel pic from Joe's camera


At Red Robin in Victorville. Traffic sucked so far ... Can't wait to do some actual driving and get home! So tired


10:24 PM
Yeay finally home! Bathroom break and then unload car.

5 comments:

Serena and Mark said...

Looks like you had a great trip! Love the pics and Congrats on everything that is soooo exciting!

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful bunch of memories you guys have made!! Congrats on the proposal! Loved the reading the River ups and downs and fun, yes I think it was very good for her to have both of you all to herself! I send my love and kisses to all...
Auntie Marilyn

Goofy Mike said...

OMG Looks like you had a balst and SUPER BIG CONGRATS on the new engagement! you two were so over due for a vacation, glad you both finally got it ;-)

Casey Duvall said...

The pictures are adorable! I am so happy you guys are happy.....brings back memories of our conversation
at my wedding!!
Congrats to both of you
XOXO

Melody said...

We wish you the best and were so happy for you. When is the big day. Also loved seeing River and hearing about the baby brother. Take care and be well. Enjoy each other to the max. Love, Auntie Mel and Uncle Eric