San Diego

Borrowed from Trina.....

San Diego (or the trip there)

 I was able to go to California with Ashley and the kids for Graham's baby blessing. Russ and Ben were working and would drive down later but since the kids just got out of school, we decided to go a few days earlier. It was so much fun and I'm glad I went but I wanted to document the trip down there because that in and of itself was an adventure!

** Warning: No pictures, lots and lots of reading!!

Ashley came and picked me up around 11 am. We packed everything up and headed out. The trip from Provo to San Diego is about 12 hours.... and of course, not even 2 hours into the trip, we get pulled over for speeding. There goes our trip to Sea World! haha :)We were making really good time too! So that was our first stop...literally.

The plan was to drive non-stop to Las Vegas which would get us there around dinner time... we ended up stopping in St George to use the bathroom and stretch the kid's legs out. When we were ready to head out again, Peyton got that look on her face and so we had to wait for her to finish her business. 30 minutes later (!!!!) she STILL hadn't pooped and I was feeling pretty bad that everyone had to wait on us (but lets be honest... you don't want to drive in a car with a poopy diaper and nowhere to put it so that's why we kept waiting). Finally we decided that no poop would be making any appearances so we loaded up the van and headed out. 

When we got to the city of sin, we decided that it might be better to eat somewhere on the outskirts of the city so we got off the exit and pulled up to a McDonalds. Oh. My. Dirty. The kids were hungry and wanted to play on the play structure but I'm pretty sure that someone(s) could have died in the slide and the employees just shrugged it off and hid the body in the bathroom... it was so dirty and just... icky feeling so we didn't let the kids out, locked our doors again, and wanted to put on hand sanitizer. So we kept driving... We decided to go to the M&M factory right on the strip and go to the McDonald's right there. When we finally found the place, it took us another HOUR to find a parking spot where we didn't have to pay and the car would still have its stereo when we returned... But alas, that parking spot could only be found in the safe confines of Utah and since we were definitely not in Happy Valley, no parking spots could be found. (PS. I was laughing the whole time about our situation... Ashley, on the other hand, was not.) So after driving around in circles for a LONG time, we decided to give up that plan (sorry kids!) and just eat at the next place we could find OUTSIDE of the strip. 

I can't remember if we found another McDonald's before we headed out or not... If we did, it probably had a couple cop cars parked outside of it, lights flashing, and a few drunks/prostitutes/dead guys in the cars....Just kidding! There was no such thing but I wouldn't put it past them... Either way, we headed out of Vegas and kept going. By now, all the kids are pretty cranky because they are starving and the grownups are frustrated because the kids are starving and there are dead people everywhere (ok, seriously with the dead people?! there weren't any....I'm done with that now). We finally found an exit that had a Jack in the Box at it. I love that place and Ashley doesn't but we went there anyways... That's how hungry the kids were. We get there (and by the way, it is super out of the way) and park. Finally happy that the kids will stop screaming and crying and Ashley makes the comment, "Wouldn't that be funny if this place was closed?" Well, thanks for jinxing us because IT WAS!! I guess the power was cut off or something but either way, it was closed. Luckily there was a gas station right next to it so we decided to go in and just let the kids pick something to eat for dinner there. We get in and then realize that this building's power is also turned off so you can't pay for anything since the cash registers run off of .... power. Just our luck.

We get back in the car and keep driving. Thirty minutes later, we find an exit that looks promising so we pull off. There's a Burger King we pull into with their lights on. Yay! But then Ashley spotted a Carl's Jr. with a play area right around the corner so we go there instead. We park, go in, and the kids are so excited to play on the slides and things when we read the sign that says the Play Area is closed for maintenance issues. Seriously?! Too bad for the kids but we were too hungry to care. 

Our next stop was to fill up the van for gas and get the kids ready for bed... But of course, the gas station's water line was broken so there wasn't any water for going to the bathroom or filling up bottles so we had to leave again. There was another gas station across the freeway that we went to. Power? Check. Flushing toilets? Check. Drinkable water? Sorta check... They didn't have any drinking fountains but they did have water from the coffee maker so you had to fill a cup up with ice and then put the steaming hot water over it and hopefully it'll balance it out so that it was the right temperature to drink it.... haha, really?

There weren't any other issues the rest of the way but it did give for an exciting trip!! Luckily, the kids were really good the whole time and it was awesome to spend more time with Ashley :) We joked that everyone probably thought we were a couple because of all our kids and the way we were dressed... Ashley thought that I would be wearing sweats, shorts or something comfortable so that's the way she dressed for the trip. I thought that she would probably be in jeans and dressed up a little so that's the way I dressed! haha :)

Oh man, good times.

PS. Ben and Russ's trip? They got lost right outside of Vegas because of some construction signs or something... that was about how exciting their trip got. "Lost".... haha