California Trip

About a month ago, we loaded the kids and all of our stuff, into the van and headed to California for the weekend. We were going for the Carpenter Family Reunion that was to be held at DisneyLand and the beach. I was really, really apprehensive about spending 7-8 hours in the car with my almost four year old, two year old, and ten month old. The drive there wasn't as good as the drive back home proved to be, but considering their ages and that we don't have a DVD player in our van, I thought it went pretty well. We caravan-ed with my in-laws and made it to our hotel around 8:30 or 9:00 pm. The next morning, Friday, we headed to DisneyLand with our double stroller and three kids, bracing ourselves for tantrums, exhausted outbursts, and sibling squabbles...BUT, to my utter and complete amazement, we went the entire TWELVE hours we were there with not so much as a disagreeable peep from ANY of them. Parker was AMAZING. He vacillated back and forth between me and Matthew (and the grandparents) holding him in his snuggly to hanging out in the stroller. He napped when he was tired, and was in a happy mood all day. Aidan and Emma got a long great and listened to everything we said. Emma caught a nap too, unlike Aidan who was the energizer bunny--with no desire to slow down at all. We rode everything we could that was kid friendly. Aidan even went on splash mountain with his uncle, just barely meeting the height requirement. We spent time with other family members and by ourselves, and it was so far, the best family outing we've had to date. Needless to say the kids passed right out when we got back to the hotel.

The next day we spent at the beach and the church for some more family reunion fun. Aidan and Parker loved the ocean. Emma, not so much. She was content to play with her uncle Benjamin in the sand. We had such a great time as a family in California and I am still in shock, a month later, how well our kids did. And those of you who know my kids well (especially my oldest) a weekend without discipline or a time out is a miracle :)