California trip--Beach and other stuff

The only time my kids have ever been to a beach was on our New England trip a couple of years ago.  Squeezing in time for a beach while in California was a must.  The first chance we had was after our first day at Legoland, since they close at 6 pm.  We walked back to our hotel and microwaved some Easy Mac (breaking some pieces of real cheese to add to it to make it edible) and washed some grapes for a quick and cheap dinner.  Then we drove less than 5 minutes to the beach.  We were just planning on having the kids "see" the ocean and walk along the beach for a few minutes.  Nearly an hour later we were brushing off as much sand as possible before letting the kids get back into the van.

Clara didn't like the feel of the sand on her hands or legs.  She also didn't like the cold ocean water when I lowered her enough for her feet to go in as the wave came up on us.  So I held her the whole time.

Spencer and Tessa were both soooo excited to see the ocean and the sand.  They loved running around on the sand exploring and looking for sea shells.  But they were both too scared to go to the ocean.  Tessa got over the fear first and went in with Brodie.  She was a bit surprised when the wave got her!

After seeing his little sister, Spencer decided he would go in just enough for the wave to come up and cover his toes.  Of course he made me hold his hand.  Gradually he got more courage and his shorts were completely soaked by the time we left the beach.

The kids were begging to go back and play with sand toys in their swimming suits.  But they were exhausted after the next day of Legoland and we didn't get back to the hotel until after dark on our Sea World day.  Checkout at our hotel wasn't until noon so on our last day we hit the beach around 9:00 a.m.  It was very cold but we let them play in the sand and the ocean in their swimming suits.  This time Clara actually enjoyed playing in the sand, although it was quite a chore to try to keep her from rubbing her eyes or putting her hands in her mouth.

The bigger kids collected more shells.  Spencer mainly wanted to just play in the sand, occasionally having me escort him into the water.  Tessa mainly wanted to play in the ocean until she was shaking so much her lips were blue.  We put on her rain coat so she would be warmer while she played in the sand a bit.  Then she was too cold so Brodie took her into the van with a blanket and the heater on while Spencer and Clara got a little more sand time.

 


They really had a lot of fun.  We headed back to the hotel around 10 to get everyone bathed, showered, and packed to go.  We stayed in Vegas this night.  We got a good deal at the Luxor for $39 a night and thought the kids would get a kick out of staying in a pyramid.  But our room was only on the 2nd floor so they didn't really get the feeling of it.  And the room was dark and dingy.  Actually I can't think of anything positive to say about that hotel.  Won't be staying there again.  Not to mention the $15 "resort fee" they charged when we checked in on top of the room charge.  We'll stay off the strip next time.

We got in kind of late and needed to eat.  We didn't want to go driving around and the kids really wanted to do something fun.  I remembered there was a Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grande and thought it would be great for the kids to see the lions inside and eat at a fun place.  After the tram ride to Excalibur and the ups and downs and bridges to get there the lion exhibit was closed.  Rainforest Cafe had half an hour wait.  By the time we sat down we were hungry and tired and then saw the prices of the menu.  I haven't actually eaten at the Rainforest Cafe at MGM since spring break in college but I don't remember $25 entrees that didn't even sound that great.  Then they had a "storm" that really freaked out my skiddish kids.  So we left and went to the buffet instead.  It was $30 for an adult and $20 for a kid.  If I'm not going to get quality food for that price, I might as well go with quantity and variety, eh?

The buffet was okay.  That's better than bad.  Spencer ate two whole plates of food, the second one was all the fresh fruit they had at the buffet.  Tessa's eyes about popped out of her head when she saw the desserts.  I limited the kids to one dessert plus an ice cream cone.  Then we made our way back to our dark, dingy hotel room to sleep in a very uncomfortable bed.  The next morning we were up at 7 to get ready and packed and head out.  Then we couldn't find the Leapster for Tessa to play in the car (Spencer brought his DS).  We stopped at the hotel we had stayed at earlier to see if we had left it.  While I was inside, Brodie checked under the seats of the van (don't ask why we didn't look there first) and found it.  Then we headed out again.  After lunch in St. George, many potty stops, some traffic & construction, and the hour time difference, we didn't pull into our driveway until 6:10 p.m.  Tessa's dress rehearsal for her dance recital started at 6.

Brodie, Spencer, and Clara headed inside while I quickly threw Tessa's costume and some makeup and hair stuff in a bag and ran back out to the van.  We hurried inside Jordan High School to the bathroom to quickly get her ready.  Then we sat down by her class to find out they were still rehearsing the earlier show.  Brodie called to ask where a diaper was as I had brought the whole bag we had on our trip and all our stuff was still in the van.  Luckily he found a lone diaper floating around somewhere (which really surprised me as I don't leave diapers floating around the house).  Tessa and I got home with some Del Taco around 8:30 that night.  After eating tacos and getting the kids to bed we unpacked the van.  During the night and the next day I plowed through all the laundry and unpacking process before leaving at 4 to get Tessa to her performance.  She absolutely LOVED dancing on the stage in a costume with make up!  She was dang cute too.  Here's a picture of her as a Flower Fairy.

It was a fun trip.  The kids got along great and had a good time.  Spencer woke up around 6:30-7:00 every morning but was really good about quietly reading until closer to 7:30 when the rest of us were getting up.  My sister lent us her awesome Phil & Ted's stroller, which was so much better than the cheap Graco I have, and that really made the parks much smoother.  Here's the girls in the stroller at Legoland.

Back home we have some awesome neighbors who took care of our dog, Pace, and our garden while my parents hamster-sitted.  Although we've been back a couple weeks, I'm reminding myself how much fun we had as I blog and upload pictures.  I sure do love my family and all the time we get to spend together.