Sunday, April 4, 2010

We Did It!!


Walker Family Vacation- Part 1

So I was very skeptical about making a 10 day, 2,000 mile, 40+ hour trip, with a 2 1/2 year old and 2- 3 month old twins. However I have to say I'm so glad we did it! It was so much fun and my kids are CHAMPS! They were so good in the car, in fact I think they were probably better than Jake and I. Granted we had alot of help from fam, without which, it literally would have been impossible. But I can count the total number of meltdowns on one hand. After this trip we feel like we can do just about anything! (: I wanted to break down the trip into different parts because I have lots of fun pictures and stories and I will get overwhelmed if I try to do it all at once.

We left on a Friday afternoon and drove as far as Ogden where we stayed at our friends house. Got up the next morning to cold, wet rain and hit the road again. Things were going well until it started to get really windy and then we hit a full blown snow storm. We had really bad wipers so it was pretty scary and I know we recieved lots of help through our prayers. We saw a HUGE wreck in the opposite lane with several semi's and at least 15-20 cars. It's the kind of thing that makes you sick to your stomach. We finally get to Cedar City where we are able to buy new wiper blades and of course didn't see another speck of rain or snow for the rest of the trip. We got to Vegas later that night, it was pretty cool to be driving in the dark through the middle of nowhere and then come around a bend and suddenly see all the lights of Vegas. We were very happy to be there!

We stayed in some condos that Jake's Dad has through his timeshare. We got in and got settled. Every night of our trip looked like this, Owen passed out in the middle of our bed, legs and arms sprawled everywhere and one or both of Jake and I taking an elbow or leg to the face at some point in the night. Ali and Avery are squished into one pack 'n play. Yes they were probably too big but we didn't have room to bring two beds. Their pack 'n play is pushed right up to my side of the bed so that when they stir I can lean over, give them their binki, and pray they will go back to sleep so I don't have to wake up and feed them. Sounds nuts but it was actually kind of fun to have all of us together like that. (:


The chickies in their bed.

 

Our stay in Vegas was pretty short but lots of fun. The best part was the pool! Owen was in heaven. It was a little chilly but we decided we could tough it out. There were several different pools, we mostly stuck to the heated ones. My fave was the lazy river. Owen just curled up on me and we floated around and around. So fun!

Chillin in the lazy river.






On Monday we did some great shopping and got some killer deals. I'm loving the outlet mall there. In the afternoon the boys all went golfing while the girls watched the kiddos. And then we switched that night and the girls all got to go to Phantom!! Due to some construction that we were unaware of we missed the first part of the show. But Aubrey was our Nascar driver and manuevered in and out of traffic to get us there asap. We only got dirty looks and honked at a few times! When we finally got to the Venetian we were at a dead sprint with some of the girls in heels (seriously don't know how we made it down the stairs without someone breaking their ankle)! Anyway, we got there just in time for my favorite song and the rest of the show was awesome! It was such a great night and we made some really fun memories. I still don't know how you missed that construction barrel Aubrey (:





The next morning we packed up and headed out to California! So this kind of what it looked like in our van. Yes I am a minivan mom at 24, it's kind of sad but after that trip the van is part of the family and I'm so glad we have it!
As long as O had his movie player he was good to go!



Ali and Avery catching a snooze in the car.


Stopping to burp and change the girls. Jake would pull over hop in the back and take one of the girls.



This is where I spent the majority of my vacation. Squished between the girls making dumb faces, singing annoying songs, and just trying to entertain the troops.