Funny title I know, but it will all make sense in the end!
We were trying to decide where to go from our spring break this year. Tamarack sounded like fun, Sacramento and San Fransisco would be new and Arizona/So Cal sounded warm! So one night Ty and I were looking it all up on Google Maps. It couldn't have been more than 10 seconds after we typed in Yuma, AZ (where Ty's grandparents live) we got a call from them. Ty mentioned we were wanting to visit and they invited us to their 70th Wedding Anniversary Party the very same weekend we were planning on going.
Inspiration, I tell you and you can't ignore that!
Well we had 10 days to plan the trip! Since I only work 3 days a week I didn't have any trouble taking the time off.
We left here after I got off early from work on Thursday afternoon. We were all packed and drove to the daycare to pick up the girls. Josie had been talking about going to Grandma's house for a week straight so she was excited! The funny thing was the last time she saw them, she was 6 weeks old, as seen here!
We stopped by the store to grab some benadryl in case the girls had a hard time sleeping during any of the trip. About 20 miles into the trip Josie told us her tummy hurt, and we didn't think anything of it. This sounds horrible, but she says this when she full, hungry, a little stopped up, had too many sweets, etc, etc. She nibbled on a few crackers, but this didn't help. So I gave her a little benadryl hoping she might be able to get some rest and feel better after that. Well, not only did the benadryl not help her sleep I think it was the catalyst to the next 85 miles of fun! I guess her tummy really did hurt this time! Projectile vomiting all over her blanket (only there, luckily). I reached back to try to "catch" some of it and got it all over my arm as well. Ty wasn't able to stop as we were on the highway without any pullouts, so we all just froze where we were and waited for the next stop. It wasn't too far up the road.
We cleaned off as best we could with the package of babywipes we had and rolled the blanket up and stuffed it into the back until we could rinse it off. We had brought along a small empty cocoa tin that I had filled with a few mini sugar cookies. Those quickly found another home and Josie got to hold this tin for a while.
We stopped in Rogerson, but a water pipe in town had burst that day and the water was shut off...go figure!
I don't think that's Edamame there in that box! LOL!
Josie threw up once more before we made it the 20 miles to Jackpot, but luckily it all made it in the tin.
We used the hose at the gas station to spray off her blanket and got a few garbage sacks to put it in and got all washed up.
So we were off again with tin in hand headed for Wells. She said she was feeling better and wanted to eat the cookies we dumped out, but we said she would have to wait. Thinking she was all finished, now 80 miles down the road, 5 mins from Wells and she said, "I think I'm going to puke." I whipped around and pushed the tin closer to her mouth and successfully caught it all. She pushed it away just enough for the 2nd unexpected round to get on her clothes, but missed the car seat and her toys and everything else...again lucky! This was not a great way to start the trip and I wanted to cry! :( Ty said it could be worse, which was very true, but I didn't even want to think about that possibility.
We pulled into the first gas station we could find and changed Josie's clothes and got all washed up again. She immediately wanted a cup of fruit from the gas station! Haha! Well, she kept that tin with her the rest of the trip. She did great after that and fell asleep after a light dinner.
After 9 hours, we pulled into Vegas around midnight. Josie woke up and wanted to see the lights. Ty took her on the auto tour down the strip. She was so excited about all of it! She loved the Excalibur and kept asking about the princesses. (We had tried to get a room there, but it was full!) We checked into our room at Circus Circus and went straight to bed. We didn't bring Kate's pack and play in from the car, so Ty packed her bed with pillows and slept with her, while I slept with Josie.
Of course, the next day would be no less eventful, but still mostly fun! Josie was wide away at 6:30am, so I figured a bath would keep her occupied, since we only have showers at our house. I filled the tub with 1-2" of water and she hopped in while I went to lay back down. With the noise from the tub, Kate woke up and wanted to walk around. Ty and I were talking when she sneakily grabbed my phone off the nightstand and wandered into the bathroom. The next thing I here is "Kate, you're not supposed to have your clothes on in the tub!" I got up and went to go see what was going on. There in the water was a naked Josie, a fully clothed Kate and my cell phone, having a bath. I grabbed my phone and stripped off Kate's clothes. Even after Ty tried blow drying it, the phone would turn on, but the backlighting for the screen was shot! Sigh. So we were really unplugged during this trip.
Hoping for a better morning, we packed up all our stuff and headed to the breakfast buffet. It was pretty good. Josie loved the fresh waffles and I enjoyed the bagels and lox, something I never have, but really do like.
Afterwards, we cancelled our horse riding reservation since we figured Josie wouldn't really enjoy it since she had been sick. We stuck around the hotel for a bit and watched the circus acts, played a few carnival games and went on a few rides. It was a lot of fun! A nice lady even stopped and asked if Josie and Kate wanted their stuffed toys from the games. They were through the moon excited!
After that, we headed north to find some yummy food, but struck out after 3 different restaurants were closed. It ended up being Subway, but at least it was fresh-er!
We hadn't originally planned to stay in Vegas for 2 night, but we didn't want to be too much of a burden on Ty's 90 year old grandparents. This was a very good decision, as it would have been hard to have the girls go for another long drive in the car the very next day. Since the rooms at Circus Circus were quite a bit more money the following night, we booked a great deal on a room at Las Vegas Hotel.
Ty dropped me off to check in and I had to wait over an hour!!! He came to check on me a few times and expected me to be done. The girls were happy to play outside in the courtyard, but it was frustrating.
Once we got up to our room, which happened to be #2014, at around 5pm we headed straight to the pool. I got a fun new swimming suit for the trip and we were all needing a little relaxation. Well the outdoor jacuzzi was closed and the pool was...shall we say...a tid bit nipply! Josie and Kate didn't mind. It was a great setup with several different levels for wading and such, even for Kate's short little legs. So for the next 30 mins or so we played alligator and splashed each other. Then we hurried back to our room to warm up a bit. We got Kate in her jammies and went to see a few sites and get some dinner.
As we were standing in line for the tickets to the monorail, a couple walked by and gave us both of their 24 hour passes, since they were done with them. People have been so nice this trip!! We rode the monorail from our hotel up to the MGM and got some delicious crepes for dinner. Unfortunately, the lion habitat was no longer there. Bummer. They were however hosting the PAC 12 tourey, so we got to see a lot of fun mascots and other crazy fans!
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We headed over the Excalibur and snapped a few pics.
Kate slept snuggly in the backpack while we pushed Josie in the umbrella stroller. Next stop was the M and M store and the Bellagio fountains.
After a long fun day we headed back to the hotel and gave our passes to another couple. :) Pay it forward.
Josie's conked out in her Princess size bed.
We woke up early the next morning and headed toward Yuma! I have never been on a more wavy section of highway than 95 from Vegas to Blythe.
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They don't grade the road they just pave the "dips". I took some Dramamine and asked Josie to as well, but she didn't want to, even after Ty tried to force her to.
We were about 20 miles outside of Yuma, when I stupidly said, "Whew, I'm glad Josie didn't throw up, I think I was about to!"...to which Ty replied, "A lot can happen in 20 miles." Curse you! Well, guess what happened? Josie's all too familiar phrase..."I think I'm going to puke!" Ty said he's never seen me move so fast. I grabbed her tin and held it up to her face for 3 rounds this time. Sigh! I guess I have puking child skills! Ha.
Once we got to Grant and Nelda's place in Yuma, our first thought was not to unload since we would need to stay in a hotel with Josie being sick. But after she was out of the car for about 5 minutes I realized she now just fine and maybe she was getting car sick! Whew! Why didn't I think of that earlier? And what do you give a child that has a tendency to get car sick? Benadryl.
After enjoying the sun for a bit and catching up with family, we headed over to The Sleight's 70th Anniversary Party. There were sooo many people there! I couldn't believe it. The news station even showed up to do a little interview!
I forgot my camera and these next pictures are from Karen, Ty's aunt.
I love how her unicorn necklace matches his stallion bolo! I guess that's what you get when you've been married for that long! :)
Here is Ty and a friend named Kenna in the black and white shirt.
The girls and I must have been somewhere else.
That night Karen and John, Ken and Kenna, Grant and Nelda and our family all went out to Golden Corral, Grant's choice, for a nice dinner. Ty and I don't typically eat at buffets so this makes it twice in 2 days!
Josie was tuckered out on the ride back to their house.
She actually ended up sleeping out on the porch swing that night with Ty nearby as it was a little too warm for her cough in the house. :)
The next day we headed to church, which was the quietest meeting I've ever heard. Our 2 girls were the only kids there and at one point Kate started crying a little bit because she bonked her head and it literally echoed through the chapel. Since there is no primary, we came home early and got lunch ready for everyone else.
That afternoon Uncle John and Great Grandpa Sleight took Ty and I and the girls to the local playground. It was literally the most amazing playground I had ever seen! WOW!
Josie and Kate loved it. There were all kinds of places to crawl around in, especially inside the dragon's dungeon! We got some fun pics there!
After that Uncle John took us all on a scenic tour of the Yuma Valley. We got to see the Date Farms, the Rivers, the beautiful green lettuce fields and all kinds of other things! It was a fun ride!
Again that night, Josie conked out on the swing. Often, she doesn't want to go to sleep, but says that she is relaxing...and she falls right to sleep. We scooped her up and took her in the house. (As you can her blanket is as good as new after a nice wash!)
I could kick myself for not getting a picture with at least the girls and Great G and G Sleight! But each time I remembered we were doing something or either one was asleep so it was harder than it seemed! I guess we'll just have to come back soon! :)
We left about 7am the next morning to head to Death Valley. It was a long ways, but we got there about 3:30pm with a very welcomed uneventful ride...Josie got some "tummy medicine" before we left town. We got to stop in San Bernadino for a little more sunshine and some good eats at In and Out Burger. Ty says that In and Out Burger tastes better in California and I'm inclined to agree!
We had a "tent" cabin booked for that night at Panamint Springs. Our tent cabin cost us $35 where our room at Circus Circus cost us $28. Haha...the irony.
The hippie gal, Maggie, at the front desk told us about an awesome hike to do with the girls. Josie doesn't like to hike on a "plain" trail - the first 3/4 mile of the hike - but once we got to the scrambling, she wanted out of the backpack (intended for Kate) and headed off in front!
Josie would have climbed clear to the top if I had let her. Although she's a lot like me and doesn't really like to climb back down.
After we got back we headed into the Sand Dunes to listen to the Star Stories, but they were cancelled due to winds over 20 mph, unlike the 60 mph winds we were avoiding back home...yeah!
The road into and out of the park held a familiar sign once again!
We ate dinner and headed to bed on our cute cots, but it was chilly that night!
The next day was a LONG one. We were out of there by 7am and drove and drove and drove. We decided to go on highway 395 through the Sierra Nevadas and it was a beautiful drive!
According to the local authorities, this is Mt Tom, the highest in the Sierra Nevadas.
We want to move to Bishop, CA someday! It was nearly 45 degrees when we drove through at 10 am, but will be 70 degrees this afternoon...and most of the snow ends up at Mammoth Mountain, not on the valley floor.
Our only tunnel of the whole trip.
The beautiful Jarbidge Mountains...coming home! It was so cold when we got back at 10 pm Tuesday night...no 70 degree nights here!
Here are a few of the stats from our trip!
Almost exactly 2014 miles, same year, same room number as our hotel.
There were sooo many more things we could have done, but all in all, what a great "quick" trip with a few surprises, but without those we couldn't call it a
SLEIGHT ADVENTURE!
Going on a road trip? Boy, do we know how! Or maybe our kids are just rockstars! Stock up on cheap stuff from the dollar store. I got 15 things, everything from crafty stuff to paddle balls and glow wands for $15 and both girls were completely entertained the ENTIRE trip! Forget the crayons and markers that can melt or stain things, colored pencils are the way to go. Josie was only on the Kindle once for less than 2 hours (no DVD player/smart phone or any other eDevices) during the nearly 38 hours of driving! We packed great healthy snacks and books, magazines and music for Mom and Dad. I think we only ended up with 1 thing that we could have left home...Kate's Bumbo and tray.
Oh...and from now on we're not taking a trip without a few emesis bags and the benadryl! :)
sounds like a "Snarfin-Barfin" good time!!!
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