Our first vacation photo was supposed to be one of us having the time of our lives with cousins at Sea World, not a sick baby neck deep in stuffed animals. No vacation ever turns out exactly as planned, but this bug hit Ryder hard, and our Las Vegas cousins, and totally cramped our vacation style. Our big Young family reunion ended without us even seeing our Vegas Youngin's. On the upside, I did enjoy a quiet hotel room and little Ryder all to myself while Jason took the other kids to Sea World with the Howard cousins. I hate saying there is a bonus to him being sick, but it is the only time he'll ever sit and snuggle, I'm just sayin.
No matter how sick he is, he still dances to the theme song on every Disney show.
So after breathing treatments every 4hrs, lots of sleep and lots of drugs he was improving enough that we could all enjoy a day at Knotts Berry Farm. But man, we did not catch any breaks this trip because Knott's made me want to poke my eyeballs out. The average wait time was 1 1/2 hr for a 3 minute ride. The older kids went off with their cousins and after the existential breakdown in the Merry-Go-Round line, we worked out a nifty system called Jason-waits-in-line-while-I-maneuver-the-worlds-worst-double-stroller-through-shoulder-to-shoulder-crowds-without-running-into-anyone's-heels-until-it's-our-turn. We rode a total of 3 rides the entire day, 2 of which were trains. The quiet hotel room the day before was looking pretty inviting.
He diligently waved to each and every float as if his life depended on it. It earned him a miniature candy cane from Charlie Brown.
We had a unanimous vote and at dinner time I stayed with the little guys at the hotal and Jason took the older ones back for round two with the Howard cousins. The crowds died down a little bit and I had a perfectly cozy evening with Maddox while Ryder slept, it was a win/win for everyone. In fact, I think it was my favorite part of the whole trip.
The next morning we drove to Vegas. It was the usual fun...reuniting with family, eating authentic Chinese food, cousins daring each other to eat the duck head, collecting chopsticks thrown by a certain baby, taking a time out in the car with said baby and listening to Jingle Bells on repeat and then coming back to find all the kids sitting in a circle on the floor of the restraunt playing a rousing game of Down by the Banks. Yeah, just the usual. No really, the kids loved spending time with their cousins and grandpa, who just adores them. The next morning we had a cousins gift exchange (minus the sickies) and enjoyed a yummy lunch before heading up to Utah and the snow.
We told Ryder to go sit by the flowers. So he took a seat right on top of them and refused to move. It took us so long to gather everyone together for a picture that by the time we realized the sun was directly in their eyes it was too late. Oh well, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.
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4 comments:
Ok Ryder waving at the floats! He looks like a professional, so cute. Maybe politics in his future. And also I love the sun squinting, ryder sitting in the flowers picture. Perfect pictures are overrated. That is funny.
Ha Ha! Keepin it real for sure! I love you Jame. And I would be right there with you in that cozy hotel room avoiding all those crowds. Hope he is feeling much better!
and that kissing grandpa picture is to die for! FRAME IT
What! You were in Utah! So were we. I'm so sad we missed each other. I totally agree about the quiet hotel room. I feel like 90% of the time that I'm on "vacation" with the kids, I'm thinking, why do I do this to myself?
That Ryder is just stealing the show! The float waving, cute little sick face, sitting in the flowers and a great big kiss for grandpa! You just can't get any cuter then that! Sorry this leg of your trip wasn't so grand. Glad you were able to make the most of it though and that you had a cozy hotel to go back to!
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