Family Vacation

So we just came back from a 12 day family road trip.  We packed everyone up in our new baby and headed south.  First stop was James' brother's house in Utah.  We spent the weekend there, and James took Coleman and Sam to the Priesthood Session of General Conference, which has become a tradition in our family when the boys turn 12.  But, I guess that our next conference trip like this won't be for another 8 years...and then since it'll just be 4 of us, we might just fly!

Anyway, after Utah, we headed to the land of Mickey Mouse and In N Out Burger.  We spent 5 days in LA...shopping, disney, family, swimming...and then drove home through northern Cali so that we could spend a day with another one of James' brothers.

Fun trip, busy, not much sleep, too much food, lots of sun...perfect.  I'll post some pics when I get around to uploading them.

But for now, here's a funny story/observation.

We went to Disney's California Adventure on a cloudy/rainy day.  Within minutes of being there, we were pretty soaked...but you know, the park was almost empty, so we didn't mind.  And by mid-afternoon we were dry again so we decided to hit the river-rafting ride.  I was sitting in the worst seat, and came out of that ride dripping wet.  I actually had to wring out my shirt. And it was pretty cold.  And the funny part is that when I went to the bathroom a little bit later, it felt so good to pull down my wet pants and sit on a dry place for a change.  So, so good.  That's how I knew that I was really, really wet.  That and the fact that when I stood up, my butt was wet enough still that the toilet seat cover stuck to me.  Yup.  That's wet.

But it was still a fun day.

Except for Will, who may not have enjoyed the disney experience as much as we had hoped for.  Because we were there with too many older kids.  And us.  And we don't want to ride Winnie the Pooh and see Mickey Mouse.  We want to do Space Mountain and Star Tours.  So then Will has to as well...but we did hit some rides that he liked.  We knew it was time to hit a kid ride when Will would start saying "I want to go home" over and over in an increasingly hysterical voice.

One more story...so at Halloween time the Haunted Mansion is done up as The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Later in the day, after we had ridden the ride in the morning, Will was talking to James' Aunt Nancy, who had joined us at the park.  The conversation went like this:

Will:  Do you know the Nightmare Before Christmas ride?

Nancy:  Yes.  I love it.  Do you?

Will:  I like it too [HUGE lie, just succumbing to peer pressure I guess...trying to be agreeable].

Will:  [after remembering his experience on the ride]  I like it, but I close my eyes and my ears and I hold onto Alex the whole time.