Friday March 18th we started our road trip to our biggest vacation of the year. We decided to get the boys excused that day from school but we had a snow storm roll in which closed the schools anyway.
But that meant we “hit the road” in a little snow storm. The roads were slippery, the snow piled high and the flakes continued to fall from the sky.
We said a prayer for safety and with thanksgiving for the opportunity to take this trip. We left our home at 8:30am. Drove carefully and realized as we went on that this was no trip to the store like we usually do when the weather is bad. Normally we don’t let the weather stop us from getting to where we need to go. But with the distance we planned to cover that day we were concerned about the other drivers out on the roads. We can drive safely all we want but our safety also relies on the wisdom of all the other people driving their own cars.
Our hope was to get far enough West to find clear roads and no snow fall as soon as cautiously possible.
Within the first hour and a half we spotted about ten vehicles that had not been cautious and were now abandoned in the snow pretty far off the road. That was not our biggest concern though. Our fear came when we found the highway turned into a two lane two way strip. So the oncoming traffic was only a painted line away from us going 40 mph! Luckily we got through it without accident.
Then, we made it out of the snow! And it was smooth driving from there.
We made it to Kelly and Denise’s house around 9:30pm. The snow had added about two hours to our drive. It could have been worse!
Saturday
Mom made a big delicious breakfast for all of her available children and their families. We had a fun morning eating and socializing. It was St. Patrick’s day! I had brought festive outfits for my children to wear that day. And Mom supplied little buttons for all to wear to add festiveness.
We left the Roundy home around 11:30am to make a late lunch date with Alissa in Cedar City. We were meeting at the Mcdonald’s so the kids could play together; her James and Jasmine with our three. We arrived before she did and I this strange feeling I was going to run into more people I know there. I saw two men I thought I recognized but soon decided they were not the people I thought. Then, out of nowhere, a family I had walked past but not even noticed stopped Ster and I to say hello.
A couple we knew in Italy over four years ago! The Ence family. Christopher, Emily and their son Aaron. Now they have two more little ones.
Crazier than simply running into them was that they lived in Cedar City for about 6 months now and that was their first time taking their kids to the mcdonalds. We just happened to be there the same time!
They are no longer military and they were inspired by the spirit to settle in Cedar for now.
It was fun to run into them!
We ate and visited with my sister a little while. Ty and James played together but Jasmine didn’t want to play with Athena. She stayed close to her mom.
When we left Tiberias said “James is so cool! I wish he was my brother so I could hang out with him more.” It was cute.
We drove two more hours to my parents house in Logandale. My brother Aaron and his wife live with my parents. The last time my boys and their boys got together they didn’t click and have much fun together. But this time they bonded! This time they had a lot of fun. Ty was sad to not get a lot more time with them.
They did have all of Sunday to play. William, the baby, was really sick. And Mom was really sick. So we decided that we would have a family day at home.
With the severe illness in the house we were worried of catching it before going to Disneyland. Mom and William have the same thing. A deep horrible cough that causes coughing fits, fevers, weakness. And William got pneumonia from it.
Grandpa took the boys to the reservoir! Kayaking for the first time.
Athena did not go to the reservoir...
Sunday Ster and Tiffany walking around the reservoir...
We felt bad taking Mom to Disneyland being sick. But we had planned it for months and we already had the ticket for the theme parks. So we took her in hopes that she would quickly recover enough for a fun week with us.
Monday morning we hit the road.
In California we went first to a beach. We played in the sand and the ocean. We collected sea shells and made a sand castle. Burried our legs in the sand and took lots of pictures.
Tiberias had a great time but near the end he started to let the sand bother him. He decided in the end that the beach was not so great and all because of the sand. It is normal for him to let one thing ruin an event or experience.
Athena enjoyed her first ever beach experience! She didn’t really go in the water but loved it all anyway.
We washed off and got back in the car. About 30 minutes drive to our hotel from there. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It shares a parking lot with the Holiday Inn that we stayed at nine years ago when we went to Disneyland last.
We settled the kids and grandma into the room then left them there. Sterling and I went to Walmart and then brought pizza back to the hotel.
Tuesday
We got up early and hit the free breakfast at the hotel. It was delicious!
Then we got dressed and walked to the theme parks. I had a plan: Go to Disneyland and start the kids off with the fear free rides. The rides for babies. And slowly work them up to scarier rides to see how well they like them.
But on the walk to the parks I thought “Which park will be busier later in the week? I doubt they are too busy on a Tuesday.” I decided that California Adventures would get more crowded as the week went on and that it was the best choice to take on so early in the week. So we went there on day 1.
Inside the park we hopped onto the Monsters Inc ride. A fun and fearless first choice. Then we saw it…the tall and attractive tower. We walked towards it as if drawn by an alien force. Once we reached it we knew it was a Guardians of the Galaxy attraction. The height requirement was 40” and Athena is taller than that. So we assumed it was a young child friend enough ride.
We got in line and it seemed friendly enough. Rocket was a fun attraction in this experience. Made me think it was even more kid friendly. There were no warning signs of how scary the ride would be or what was to come.
Mom, Ster and I were naive and unaware of what trauma we were about to inflict upon our innocent children.
It wasn’t until we were buckled in on the ride and falling to what felt like our fast and frightening deaths that we realized what the ride was all about.
Sterling was sitting by Athena and I was by Luke and Ty. We quickly turned our attention to assuring the children that this was a ride and we were just fine.
After thrusting us toward the ground it came to an abrupt stop and shot us back up just as fast. Every time it shot us down we lifted out of our seats. Not as fun as it might sound.
I thought I was going to die from fear. I hate fear.
I wished I could stop the ride. I wished I could scream and the ride would stop. But I knew that was not how this works. Even when the ride stopped and the doors opened and a man spoke to us a moment before torturing us again, I knew I couldn’t beg him to stop the ride. But I was very tempted.
I never screamed. It wouldn’t help. But it seemed it was the longest ride of all the rides we would experience that week.
I felt so much sorrow for having taken my kids on that ride. “I’m a bad mom!”
“We will survive this! Please, stop the ride!”
Eventually it did stop. We all came out of the building quiet and shaking. Traumatized! But nobody cried. None of my children even screamed.
They are brave but they had just experienced the most traumatizing experience of my entire life. Up until that point it had been my difficult 1st labor and delivery. But now…it’s this ride.
After that the kids didn’t want to try anything else. We searched for baby rides at California Adventures but they are hard to find. We went to the Bugs Life area which is the easiest rides to do, Ty was scared. He went on the boxes that you sit in and it goes slowly around and up and down a little bit. Ty was scared on that. But he would not have been if he had done that first.
We were very happy that most lines were short. Up to a 5 minute wait. We did wait 10 minutes for the Guardians of the Galaxy and 35 minutes for the Toy Story ride.
Tiberias quickly proved he is a theme park person. More than any of his family.
He decided he liked rides that are exciting with a little fear. He became bored with any ride that was easy.
Luke and Ty enjoyed the water rafting ride. We got very wet.
There is this amazing kid playground as well. With a high rope bridge covered by a rope net. Luke was very nervous about walking it. It took a while for him to get up the courage. But he conquered that fear.
The playground also had mini zipline swings. Athena was too small to do the zipline.
For lunch we walked to the hotel and made sandwiches. We rested a little bit but had to hurry back because we had a Fast Pass for the Race Track cars themed ride we wanted to try.
Luke did not want to go back and Mom was still very sick. So we left those two at the hotel.
Ster and I took Ty and Athena to the cars ride. They wanted to go on it.
Unfortunately, the car sidings were too tall that a child Athena’s size couldn’t see over them. That meant she could only see the sky, which was beautiful blue with white fluffy clouds. But this ride was really fast. And after a fast and traumatizing ride you don’t want to be stuck in a box where you only see the sky and the speed is high.
Another mistake we made was not having Athena sit in the front. She might have been able to see more if she had. Instead Ty and I were in front where we had the best view. The speed was even scary for me a little bit after the experience we had. Athena did not like that ride!
We did a few more rides and then went back to the hotel. We let the kids go swimming in the hotel pool. They were very excited about that. The pool was heated and outdoors.
For dinner we ate Mimi’s Café food. Mom picked some up for the kids to eat in the hotel. Then Ster and I walked to the café and enjoyed a romantic meal together.
Wednesday
The kids did not want to do another day of theme park. They didn’t even want to try Disneyland! They wanted to stay at the hotel to relax and play in the pool. However, Sterling and I knew that Disneyland would be an entirely different experience.
Disneyland is definitely a better park. Especially for first timers.
What a great day we had! Making up for the previous day.
We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride on Thursday and that ride has two falls. One in the dark which is scary then a small one with light. After the falls it’s easy going and Ty decided the ride was too boring. Lol
We went to the Haunted Mansion and Athena was scared. At Halloween she loved the scary stuff. But telling her this was a Halloween house wasn’t enough to make her happy. She closed her eyes when she saw ghosts. And she claimed skeletons scare her the most.
However, the next day she said “I want to go in the Haunted House!” She is brave.
The kids loved Tom Sawyer’s Island (a playground in Disneyland). Sterling and I enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean without the kids while Mom watched them at the playground.
I loved riding the ride before the kids to know where the falls were and how scary it is. I was able to then warn the kids there would be a small water fall in the dark before it happened.
My mother actually liked the Guardians of the Galaxy (ride from Hell). She went back alone to ride it again on Thursday! Crazy grandma.
Wednesday we got a little bit of rain but it didn’t dampen our fun.
For dinner we went to Denny’s across the street from the theme parks before going back to the hotel. Ster took the kids to swim that evening as well.
Sterling and Tiberias:
Athena was most excited to meet...Chip and Dale!
Meeting Ariel
Cinderella
Snow White
Ty showing us how he complains even at Disneyland
Thursday we got more rain. We knew the weather forecast but hoped it would not ruin our fun.
We rode rides all morning and ate a packed lunch in the park. Then we rode a few indoor rides to get out of the rain. We left early because of the rain but we felt we had gotten our money’s worth. We rode as many rides as we would have being there all day, all three days, during the summer. Because the lines were so short we rode way more rides than anyone who attends the park in the summer with the crowds.
We left by 1pm and went to Walmart before going home. We let the kids pick a souvenir from their grandparents’ Roundy using money they had given us at Christmas. Luke chose a Kilo Ren mug after not having anything stick out to him. He takes a long time to decide on what he wants.
Tiberias chose a Disney notebook and pen and a pack of Disney pencils.
Athena chose a cuddly Stitch doll which went perfect with the souvenir she got from her mom and dad…a Stitch t-shirt.
Ty’s shirt is a Disney one of Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto I think.
Luke’s t-shirt also has Mickey and friends.
Ster’s Tshirt has Grumpy and looks so cute on him! And my shirt is Mickey kissing Minnie.
We also gave my mom a Disney shirt that says Grandma. All the shirts we got at the beginning of the week and the extra souvenirs were at the end.
Grandma also gave the kids a California keychain souvenir consisting of a surfboard, dolphin and flower.
We drove back to Vegas where we stopped for dinner at Applebee’s.
Then we drove to Logandale.
Friday Dad and Mom left to Arizona. Nicole was on a trip to NY. And Aaron took his kids and left town too. Athena started to feel sick. But we went to Vegas to meet some of my friends after school. At the Aliente park Kevin brought his family Jules, Richard and Violet. And Zack came too, although Marissa couldn’t make it. We ate fresh fruit and chips. Athena started to feel more sick, drained of energy.
From there we drove to the Las Vegas temple but Athena was pretty sick by that point. We walked around the temple grounds of my childhood and the place Sterling and I vowed to love each other for the rest of eternity.
Kevin:
We drove back to Logandale and had a rough night. Athena was so sick. She had caught what Mom and William had. She got the deep cough and fevers. She was delirious all night…talking about things we had just done (Disneyland). She felt better for a little bit after she threw up and was in the bath.
Saturday we stayed for a relaxing sick day at the grandparents’ house. Athena was doing much better during the day. So we decided to head up to Cedar City for a pizza party with Alissa’s family for dinner.
That was a fun and delicious visit. Tiberias was so happy to hang out with James again.
We drove to Provo that night and got to the grandparents’ house around 9:30pm. We found Trevor and Simone, Travis and Aubrey, Hannah and Stewart and their kids. Having a game night with tons of snacks. So we let our kids have an ice cream or candy bar then get ready for bed.
Sterling stayed up partying but I went to bed.
Sunday Athena accepted an orange flavored liquid medicine and it made her feel so much better! It’s amazing because it is the first time in her life that she has accepted a liquid medicine! She would never be fooled by placing it in juice, even strong juices. But this is the first time we ever tried an orange flavored one.
Sterling stayed home with a sick Athena on Sunday while the rest went to church. Luke and Ty had missed church the week prior and they seemed to want to go. Next week they won’t get to go because it will be General Conference and we will be driving home from vacation. So it was nice to go today and not miss three weeks in a row.
Sunday evening it snowed. We had enjoyed the nice weather in NV and CA but here in UT it’s cold. Atleast we will be able to go play at playgrounds this week before we go back to the snowy SD.
Monday evening a bunch of the group came over and we played board games.
