We're ba-aaack!

We finally made it home about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night. Man! That was ALOT of time trapped in the car with three children!!!!!!!

We had so much fun though! Here's the abbreviated version (pictures to come tomorrow!)

Thursday, July 17 - packed ALL day and left at 3 p.m. Drove to Amarillo the LONG way and got in about 11 p.m. Tried to wake the kids up to get them into the hotel room - 20 minutes later they finally did. Seriously!

Friday, July 18 - Drove ALL day across New Mexico and into Arizona. Broke up lots of fights in the backseat between bossy girl and crazy boy. Cash screamed "Car!" and "Truck!" and "Want!" all day. Stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park. Took lots of pictures. Drove to Flagstaff, AZ, and got hotel room around 11 p.m. Again tried to wake the kids up to get them into the hotel room. . . 20 minutes later. . . .

Saturday, July 19 - Woke up early and headed off to the Grand Canyon. WOW!!! Got out and walked around in the desert heat and tried to keep Ryley from jumping off the ledges. Seriously. He wanted to test all the rocks jutting out over the HUGE canyon to see if they would hold him. Not the brightest bulb in the pack. . . Left Grand Canyon around 1 p.m. and headed out across the rest of Arizona and into California. MOST BORING DRIVE EVER!!!! Desert. The whole way. Finally found Dave's dad's house near LA and visited with everyone for a while before crashing around 10 p.m. Tried to keep the kids from screaming bloody murder at the sight of the family dog, Sandy.

Sunday, July 20 - Slept in!!! Spent the day hanging out and enjoying the amazing California weather. Took Sandy (Reid family dog) for a walk and tried to get our terrified children used to her. She is the SWEETEST dog and never even barked but you know Ryley! He finally did pet her a few times but was still pretty much terrified the entire time we were there. Maddie really warmed up to her though and followed her everywhere. Had dinner with the family on Sunday night and really enjoyed getting to know everyone.

Monday, July 21 - Up early and headed off to DISNEYLAND! Got to Disneyland and waited in lines ALL day. Came home around 10 p.m. and CRASHED! I have never been so exhausted in all my life!

Tuesday, July 22 - Slept in and headed off to Disney's California Adventure. Got there and waited in lines ALL day. Caitlin and Dave joined us so we had lots of fun hanging out with them and pawning the kids off on them so Josh and I could ride a few rides together. Thanks Caitlin and Dave! Came home around 10 or 11 p.m. and crashed again after doing multiple loads of laundry and getting packed up for leaving the next day!

Wednesday, July 23 - Got up early and finished packing and doing laundry and cleaning up after ourselves. Josh spent the morning on the phone with Orbitz who messed up BIG time on our hotel reservations in San Diego. More about that at another time. Headed off to Disneyland one last time to meet some princesses. Waited in line and finally met some princesses (and a prince!) Left around 5 p.m. and headed back to Tustin to pack the car. Headed off to San Diego (Escondido really). Got in around 10 p.m. and tried to wake up the kids to get them into the hotel room. . . . again.

Thursday, July 24 - Took the day off from theme parks and went to a Children's Museum in Escondido and then investigated the beach in San Diego. Very cold and we didn't have bathing suits. Ryley totally got knocked over by a wave (because he wouldn't listen to his parents!) Ryley rode back to the hotel in his cold wet underwear because he was soaking wet and covered in sand. Went back to the hotel and called Grandma Hopewell to wish her a happy birthday!

Friday, July 25 - Got up early and headed down to Sea World San Diego. Woo hoo! Waited in line ALL day long and saw lots of fun shows. Cash learned quite a few new words like: "tadpole" and "Sham-bu." Left around 9 p.m. and headed back to the hotel. CRASHED.

Saturday, July 26 - Slept in and then drove down to San Diego and took a trolley tour around the city. VERY COOL! Spent the day down there and then met John and Diane for dinner. Headed back to the hotel to do lots of laundry until 2 a.m. Fun. CRASHED.

Sunday, July 27 - Got up early, finished packing and headed out of California. Drove to Tucson.
Kids actually stayed awake long enough to get into the hotel room this time!

Monday, July 28 - Got up and drove to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Daddy got the bright idea that "since it's on the way" we should go to Carlsbad Caverns too! We got there around 4 p.m., checked into the hotel and went off to find a McDonald's so the kids could eat and then PLAY! Playgrounds were closed due to rain so we had to go search for a playground. Found a VERY cool one on the Pecos River. PLAYED!!! Went back to the hotel and had to switch rooms because of the HORRIBLE smell. Got moved and CRASHED!

Tuesday, July 29 - Got up, packed up, checked out, and headed off to Carlsbad Caverns. Cash screamed and wanted me to carry him the WHOLE time. Two-year-old screaming inside a cavern with no way out is NOT FUN!!!!! Got out of there as quickly as possible (at least it was cheap!) and headed home. Drove home to Dallas. I read "The Bridge to Teribithia" aloud to Josh as we drove. Holy cow that book is SAD!! I was sobbing and had to take breaks from reading to compose myself. Good thing I read it first, I was going to read it to Maddie. Not anymore! Finally got home around 10:30 p.m. and the kids were totally wired about being home. We finally managed to get the car unpacked and the kids into bed around 11:30 p.m. Ahhhh. Peace - finally! Josh crashed downstairs and I sat on the couch and enjoyed no one being around me!!! I love my family dearly but almost 2 weeks of constant contact is a little much for me.

Well that's our trip in a nutshell. I'll try and do a more detailed post for each day with pictures, but I'm not promising anything. I will DEFINITELY scrap some pages about this so maybe that's all you'll get. As I tell my kids, "You get what you get and you don't fuss a bit!"