Christmas presents for 2016 was museums. We got a 2 museum annual passes and told the kids we are going to give you experiences because experiences are better than things according to our family motto. We gave them no presents other than the promise that they'll have a great time. Our kids consider themselves to be the luckiest 4. They've been to the Bahamas, Disneyland, Disneyworld, Legoland, and many resorts. I don't know how you would not consider yourself lucky if you're given those experiences. We love the joy we see in their eyes when we give them experiences. It's almost addicting!
Zillow gave Dan 8 weeks of paternity leave that he could spread out over the course of a year and we took advantage of it! We decided since we just flew across the States and even did a cruise that this round we would just drive. We had great weather going down. We took our time and stayed at hotels along the coast. One hotel had an amazing complimentary breakfast.
Our first hotel
Ronin was very friendly to the server and kept running up to chat with her, asking her her name and who knows whatever else
Driving is exhausting. Flying is a bit nicer but 4 kids and flying gets pricey. Have you seen a lot of families with more than 4 kids flying? Hardly! Another reason I think we might just settle with 4 kids even though at one point I want to have a tons of kids. I also want to see the world and travel and so are the kiddos that were sent to me. They are so happy when we get to spend time together as a family doing exciting new things and having more means sacrificing time with each one so this might be it for us. 4 is doable when you're adventurous and want to venture out! Here goes our trip itinerary
Sacramento Children's museum
Our first stop was the Sacramento museum. It was fun for the kids but the Seattle children's museum is much cooler. One thing Seattle does really well is having places to entertain kids on a rainy day
Indian Wells Resort
Our second stop we got in really late at night. The kids were already asleep and we had to carry them in. When they woke up they couldn't believe their eyes! Reena and Debrie thought we were inside a house! The place was huge! And Palm Springs is beautiful and so cheap, especially for a NW income
This was the living room. The bathroom was also huge and clean and the details were amazing. The tub was 8 ft long and the first thing Ronin and Darion wanted to do was take a bath. They couldn't wait for after breakfast or swimming. The girls couldn't wait to go swimming
The breakfast was fancy with menus you could order from, all inclusive in the price of the resort
I forgot to bring swimming suits, duh. Major failed on my part. So I had to make a run to the store and got everyone new swimming suits! So I guess we didn't go Christmas presents free all the way
But everyone was happy with their swimming suits and we got out and swam until our bodies were tired
Everything was really nice, even the changing room. The kids felt like they had a good treat.
We drove some more and ended up in Tucson, with a quick stop in Queen Creek to bring the kids' cousin her Christmas gift. They had a lot of Dan's sister's in laws over so we only stayed long enough for a little chit chat and gift exchange
My sister and brother in law awaited us and we had some yummy tamales her friend made
The next day we prepared the real big Christmas meal. I was in charge of the rolls. We opened presents and boy their aunt and uncle spoiled each kid with so much toys and treats. I feel like I never have to spend on my kids. My siblings don't have that many kids and so they spoil my kids rotten. Clothes, shoes, toys...even my sister Thao who has 2 kids and swear she's done also spoil them on birthdays and Christmas and every special occasion the kids pull out on them
We had church at the most Southwestern looking church I've ever been to and went out and explored her neighborhood a bit. She was trying really hard to convince me to move to Tucson. She was showing me big and cheap houses and it was very tempting. We could literally sell our house and go buy 2-3 houses in her neighborhood. But there is more to an area than cheap big houses. Though the weather in December there was very tempting.
Then the day after Christmas my sister treated me and the girls to a dinner theater. We saw elfed and had some delicious dinner
We swam until dark at her community pool. Dan and Alex get along really really really well and they talked and talked and talked. I love seeing my husband so happy. He and Alex text each other all the time. I would say I come in first and Alex second on the texting :)
The next day we took them to another museum. This time it was the University of Arizona Mineral museum a.k.a Flandrau Science Center
We also took the kids a bit further out from Tucson to Kitt Peak Observatory. Dan said he went here as a kid. Huge telescopes and each hill had an observatory structure
We repaid the kindness my sister and brother in law showed us by treating them to lunch before leaving. The kids adored their aunt and uncle. They love playing with them and babysat for us so we could go see Rogue One. They took them to the park and just overall did this voluntarily. They didn't want to say goodbye so they told us they'd follow us out to California
Our next stop was the Applegates. We got to see them before they headed up to Utah and going back to school. I asked Dan if he had been in touch with his sisters so we could visit them and he said no. I was like Wah?? It always come down to the wifey. He needed that last kick in the bum to get stuff set up. Long story short, we got to see everyone and had a good time. It's so fun to have their grown kids joining in our adult conversations now that they are older. They are all taller than me and when I came into the family I was holding some of them in my arms.
After the Applegates we went to the Blair. The kids had a blast seeing their cousins and they played together really well...until Brie had a bit of headache and we found out why. She hasn't been drinking. We knew Arizona water wasn't much to brag about but seriously Brie???? Our kids don't know what to do when it comes to heat.
After Krista's we went to Cali and made our trek home. We walked the walk of fame and ate a huge pizza, went to the Chiradelli factory for some chocolate for us and our friends the Harvey
We had lobster at a very good restaurant in downtown LA but way too expensive. That lobster plate was $28 and it was very savory, but for that price their ought to be 2 lobster tails...just saying. And yes, I told the owner and left my review. His portions are simply just too small.
The kids spent the night at the aerospace hotel with their aunt Thanh and uncle Alex and Dan and I spent the night with our friends the Harveys. They gave us their master bedroom and it was so sweet of them. We told them we could've slept in the smaller bedroom but they insisted. Folks, this is why they are our besties. We sure love those Harvey's. Chris Harvey is the technical director at Dreamworks and his recent movie that we absolutely love is Trolls.
Happy New Year~
No comments:
Post a Comment