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The purpose of this blog is to share our family's daily experiences with four boys under the age of five. We hope we can make friends and family smile.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Our California Road Trip






Yes. Many think we were crazy to venture out on a road trip with four little boys under the age of five, but overall I think it was worth it. My guys, Ross included, did very well with the challenge and persevered during the 12 hour drive on the way to the San Jose area and 10 hours on the way back home. We planned this adventure after finding out that my Uncle Bob on my mom's side had passed away. My cousins were planning a family get together in July to honor his memory, and after missing the last reunion, I didn't want to miss this one. Luckily, Ross quickly agreed to this road trip, even though he is usually reluctant to travel further than a couple of hours.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous with how the kids would do, but now that it is done, I can say it was worth it and with only a few minor obstacles, things went very well. We were scared in the beginning after Luke threw up all over himself only five minutes into the trip! The thought crossed my mind that we should turn around and go home, but since he had no other symptoms of illness, we figured it was car sickness. (We had made the mistake of feeding them breakfast in the car while we loaded the last few items.) We decided to continue on with our trip and I'm glad we did, because Luke had no other issues and was the best rider out of all of them! Actually, they all did great with very little complaining. I did have to laugh though, when Jace asked how much longer after only one hour in the car.

As I said above, it took 12 hours to get there, not the 8.5 hours that Mapquest had estimated. I guess they don't account for the necessary stops when traveling with 2 year old triplets and a four year old. We were amazed at the cool weather when we stopped in Gilroy for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. It was so refreshing after the last few weeks of heat in Vegas.

We stayed at a Motel 6 to save money and were lucky to have a very large room with a refrigerator and microwave. The three pack n plays fit easily, with a large area left for the boys to play. Of course THEIR favorite part of the room was the beds. My question for all you moms out there: How do you effectively stop four little boys from jumping on the bed? The motel had a nice pool, with the exception that it wasn't heated and no one would go in, especially since it was only in the 70s outside. It ended up being a waste bringing their life jackets on the trip, since it was also too cold to go in the water at the beach the next day.
We picked my mom up at the Oakland airport on Friday and that night we had pizza with our family. It was so great to see my cousins, aunts, and uncles. The following day, we all met up for dinner at my cousin Robin's home in Felton. The boy's had a blast playing on their cousin's swing set and running around the property. Family members also got a chance to share favorite memories of my Uncle Bob. My cousin Dana even read a memorial about Uncle Bob that her sister Robin had written...a real tear jerker. Old photo albums/scrapbooks of my uncles were shared and it was fun to see pictures of my mom that I had never seen before. My mom was especially happy to see her sister Clarice pictured below.


My Mom with her sister Clarice

Jace with cousins Aaron and Kylie




Jace and Luke getting a guitar lesson from their cousin Aaron.
The following day, we met my cousin Robin and her son Aaron at Happy Hollow Zoo and Park in San Jose. What a great place for little kids. The zoo part was great, but they also have amusement park rides and a roller coaster suited for little kids. It was nice to visit a place that was tailored to our kids' ages. I would highly recommend Happy Hollow to anyone with little kids. I hear they also have puppet shows and other events, but we didn't make it to any since our guys needed naps badly! After Happy Hollow the kids took a nap in the car while we spontaneously decided to drive to San Francisco. (Note: We found that the only way they would take naps on our trip was if they were in their car seats. We planned nap time in between events and built in traveling time.) We ate clam chowder and crab at Fisherman's Wharf and took in a few sights before heading back to Sunnyvale. Jace liked seeing the skyscrapers, especially since he had just watched a Bob the Builder video on skyscrapers.

First time on a Ferris Wheel

We decided to stay a day longer so that we could spend some time at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Jace loved it as he could ride many more rides than Brady, Luke, and Joel. They did get to ride on some cute little beep beep cars and if they had their way, they wouldn't have gotten off. Check out the pictures below.




The drive home was pretty uneventful. We shorted our stops, so the trip home only took 10 hours. We were hoping to have a picnic dinner at the rest stop just outside of Barstow, but when we got out of the car we were blasted with Vegas like heat. Our picnic dinner ended up in the car while they watched Toy Story 2 on the DVD player! We're back in the heat now....no cool refreshing ocean air for us. It's nice to be home though...At least we don't have to share a bedroom with four little boys. :)










1 comment:

  1. Very nice pictures and information...looks and sounds like everyone had a great time. California road trips can be fun. I loved the one we took to the beach and the Aquarium. The boys are growing up soo fast!

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