The Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad

 The hotel was awesome.  Our room was smaller than we had anticipated, but for the price we got from our internet deal, it was still pretty amazing.  Our room was on the first floor, which I was disappointed about at first because usually that means it is noisier.  However, when we looked out on our balcony and saw that it not only opened up to a lovely little courtyard, but that the courtyard had BUNNIES we felt better about the ground floor placement!  The bunnies were all over and were super cute.  We loved having somewhere for the kids to run around that wasn't in the hotel room.  We had an ocean view as well as a view of the flower fields.  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of those things.  Must have had something to do with exhaustion.

 Despite their weary parents, the kids were insistent on us hitting the pool.  They had a fun family pool with a splash pad, and the kids loved it although it was a little cold that first night.  They spent time there every day of the trip.

 Sara is such a good big sister!

 Emma likes to find the pens and stationary in every hotel we stay in so she can write notes and draw pictures.

Wendy's, Bass Pro-Shop, and Auto Zone

 We stopped next at Rancho Cucumongo for a late lunch.  There weren't many people there, but the ones who were there gave us lots of dirty looks because I let my kids each have their own table and let them bounce to their hearts' content.  They all got their own little Frostys which made their whole day.  They deserved it.  They were so good!

 Emma and Sara started pretending the spoons were people and the scoops of frosty were hair.  "Wow, my hair is getting super long!  Time for a hair cut." *eats the scoop* "Oh man!  They cut off way too much.  Better go back for s better hair do." *Gets another big scoop*  They are so creative.  It was very cute.

When we got back in the car after Wendy's, we barely got the car started again with the jumper, and we knew it was time for a new battery.  

 Our friends had suggested we stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Vegas because they had a lot of fun there.  We missed the one in Vegas, but there just happened to be one right by the Wendy's, so we headed over there and Ross went in with the older kids to explore while I sat in the running car and fed the baby.

 While there, Ross got some directions to the nearest auto parts store so we could get a new battery.

We headed over to the Auto Zone, got a new battery installed, and headed on our way after an unexpected 2 hour stop.  It wasn't the way we wanted to spend that day, but it could have been a lot worse.  The kids were very good, and we were lucky to have something as exciting as the Bass Pro Shop to let them wander around in for a bit.  Be that as it may, we were VERY happy to get to the hotel later that night after a long detour due to construction and Google Maps (which is now a swear word in our household).

Heading Out and The Tallest Thermometer in the World

Our vacation was awesome.  There are lots of pictures.  I don't feel like loading them all at once and doing a marathon blog post, so I will be putting up a few at a time as my schedule permits.

The first day was a little stressful.  Ross and I got the car all packed and ready while Emma was at school.  When we picked up her and Sara from school, we headed out.  We dropped Molly off with my parents and hit the road.  For a couple of hours, at least.  When we stopped for a potty break and to find some jerky (since we had neglected to purchase that road trip essential before) we found that our car wouldn't start.  Awesome.  Fortunately, he have a handy jumper set that my parents got us for Christmas a few years back.  This happened the next time we stopped for gas.  From then on, we just left the car running whenever we had to make a stop, which was every couple of hours because of Mr. Luke and the tiny bladders in the back seat.  We finally got into Vegas and our hotel around 10:00 pm, which was really 11:00 for us due to gaining an hour at the time zone border.  

When everyone else was sleeping, I spent my night doing a load of laundry at the hotel's laundry facilities because Jack had a horrible poopsplosion at one point during the trip.  Poor little dude was covered, and my arsenal of wipes just couldn't cut it.  We bathed him good, and I washed everyone's clothes from that day to fill out the load.  It's a good thing we did too, because it turned out that Luke's bag of clothes never made it into the car, so all he had for the trip was the onesie he wore, and the extra onesie in his diaper bag.  Good job, Mom!  Oh well.  Luckily, some of my friends were up late, and they kept me entertained on facebook until all the clothes were dried and re-packed.

The next day started out early as we hit the road for San Diego.  The funniest part of the morning was that our hotel was just off the strip, so we could see all kinds of fun things from our hotel room like a pyramid, palm trees, flashing lights, a statue of liberty, roller coasters, and more.  Despite all of those amazing things, the item that caught Emma's attention most while gazing out our window was, "Mom, look!  That is a real Taxi with people getting in!"  I guess she thought that only happened in movies.  Funny girl!

 We stopped in Baker to get some gas, and drove through the main street to get back on the freeway when Ross read a sign that said, 'World's Tallest Thermometer'.  When he said that, I stopped and turned the van around.  He asked what I was doing, and I said "I am getting a picture in front of the tallest thermometer in the world!"  And we did.  The kids were sleeping or I would have let them join in on the fun as well.

 It was pretty spectacular, I'm not gonna lie!  You should be super jealous.

First Day With Miss Corky

 Miss Corky is a sister from our ward who I really admire.  Remember when I was begging people to donate for an awesome couple in our ward to adopt some Ukranian orphans?  Yup, that's the amazing woman Sara gets to spend 4 hours with every week now.  When I found out she was holding preschool from her home, I JUMPED at the chance to get Sara in with her.  I am so glad I did.  Sara just loves her, and Miss Corky (Ross wants me to add that Corky is NOT her real name) has a special connection with her.  I was silly and didn't get a picture of Sara with her teacher, but she still looks pretty cute.

Every day the kids get to bring home a book from her library.  On the first day Sara came home with a book for Jack as well.  I thought that was such a sweet thing for her to do for her brother.