Take Your Family On An Adventure

Several months ago we planned a ten day trip to California with our friends the Elliotts. A few days before we left, Owen & Brad were watching TV and saw a commercial for a cruise line that said "Don't take your family on a vacation, take them on an adventure!" Owen adopted this slogan and told everyone he encountered about our upcoming adventure. Little did we know what adventures lie ahead of us! We started our 12 hour car trip on the afternoon of the 10th and headed for St. George to spend the night before continuing on to Palm Springs. Everything went great the entire way down. The kids watched movies and slept and we thought to ourselves, "Hey that was easy! We'll have to do this more often!" Famous last words! Anyway, we stayed in Staci Elliott's parents condo which was awesome and the first few days were so much fun. We went to the Palm Springs Air Museum. Brad was like a kid in the candy store! He has incredible love of WWII history and especially of WWII aircraft. The majority of the men working at the museum were veterans and actually flew many of the planes in the war that were on display. All of the planes, with one exception, are still in working, flying condition. There were signs everywhere asking patrons to not touch the planes. This was almost more than our Owen could bear. After hearing us get after him several times in the first few minutes, a nice old man came up to Owen and asked if he would like to touch one of the planes. He took him to the plane he actually flew and showed him where he could touch the propeller with just one finger. Owen was so proud of himself and told me it was because he is "three years old and so big." It really was an awe inspiring afternoon. The planes were made of thin metal and plywood. The crew sat on small stool with just a simple lap belt to hold them in. The co-pilot of a B25 told us that they would have to take a thermos of coffee on their missions because it was the best way to keep their bodies from going into shock from the cold at such high elevations. It made me again so grateful for the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought and continue to fight for the freedoms we so readily enjoy.

The next day we spent relaxing at the pool. It was so much fun to watch the boys. Owen is such a little fish! He would jump off the side and kept asking to be pushed to the bottom to retrieve the dive toys. We could barely steal him away from the water slide when it was time to go. He kept running up the stairs calling back to us, "Just one more time!" And off he would go to stand in line with kids more than twice his age! Sam loves the water also and had fun just splashing and playing with Daddy. He wore himself out and took a great poolside nap!

Tuesday we drove an hour and a half to the "happiest place on earth." For weeks Owen has woken up the morning and asked "Is it Disneyland Day?" It was so much fun to see his excitement when we were finally able to tell him the day had come and to see their faces when we went through the gates. Soon we began to see that our little Owen had grown up more than we had realized. The first ride he wanted to go on was the Pirates of the Caribbean. (He had specifically picked out his pirate underpants for the occasion!) Sam danced to the music the whole way through and Owen kept saying things like, "Look at all those scurvy pirates!" Next we headed for Splash Mountain, thinking it would be a ride just for the Daddies. When we got there, Owen discovered that he was "so big to ride this one." And ride he did, not once, but twice! It was his favorite and after that he rode everything he could from Star Tours to the Haunted Mansion to the Matterhorn. He was fearless! Brad and I took turns taking him on the big rides and not once did say he was afraid! We always knew he was a little daredevil but this was more than we expected. Both he and Sam loved the kiddie rides. Sam loved Winnie the Pooh and Peterpan. Brad's sister AnneMichelle and her three boys met us for the day and we were able see them for awhile. We ended the day in Toon Town where we met Mickey. It was a perfect end to a great day. Owen fell asleep on the train back to the car with mouse ears on and Buzz Laser in hand. We stopped at the gift shop on our way out where the Elliotts' boys fell asleep stacked in the same stroller. A strange man with a strong southern accent approached us saying "I don't mean to be rude, but is that one child or two?" I thought I would die laughing! We made it back to Palm Springs at about one in the morning. This is where the real adventure starts! Owen woke up at 2:30 a.m. throwing up everywhere. At first I thought it was just a little too much Disneyland or a few too many treats. Then the other end started working overtime. Neither end seemed willing to ease up over the course of the next eighteen hours and we started to get really worried. He wasn't keeping even the smallest sips of pedialite down and was throwing up at least every fifteen minutes. He was pretty lethargic and dehydrated. Heaven bless our pediatrician who called in some medicine for us at a local pharmacy which helped but didn't resolve the problem. By Friday, he was doing a little better and as planned, we drove to San Diego to spend more time with Brad's sister AnneMichelle and her family. We miss them so much and it was so good to see them. Her boys are such good boys and Owen loves to play with his cousins. Emma had Baby Ty last summer, just a few months after Sam was born. Ty and Sam were so cute together! Saturday morning we went to our nephew Jack's baseball game (he played awesome!) and Owen was better but still not himself. When we got back to AnneMichelle's, the Owen's poor little system started up all over again. We took him to a doctor who thought he had an intestinal virus or giardia and had lost at least 7 pounds. We got the output under control and decided to make a break for St. George that night. Emma & Jer were so great to us and we wished we could have spent more time with them. The trip home was a trip indeed. From giving Owen medicine in a parking lot in Bartsow and panhandlers knocking on our windows asking for money to me giving Sam bottle after bottle to keep him quiet from Vegas to St. George at midnight and him throwing up all over the parking lot of the hotel to the dust storm we drove through to three hours, it was definitely an adventure! I'm happy to say that Owen almost completely better now. I took him to our pediatrician and he has an intestinal virus most likely contracted from the swimming pool. (Much like the virus that went around Utah last summer.) It's run its' course and all involved are much happier! Despite all the craziness, we still had a great trip. We've never spent ten uninterrupted days as a family with the exceptions of the birth of our children and I can't wait to do it again. Only next time, maybe we'll stay a little closer to home! Ten days was along time for two little boys to be a way from their beds!

The saying goes what doesn't kill you makes you stronger but COME ON! Do they really have to try that hard! I'm sure I'll feel stronger when my laundry's done.....