Winter Wonderland (Day 2)

Our journey home for the Christmas holidays had already been quite the adventure and sadly our second day on the road wasn't much better than the first.  We left Klamath Falls, Oregon and headed up north through central Oregon.  What usually would take a couple hours to Bend, took us over 7 hours due to horrible weather, road conditions, accidents, traffic, and trouble with our chains.  At least the scenery was gorgeous along the way...what we could see of it!

The trouble with central Oregon is there is only one main highway that runs straight up to eastern Washington and it's a two lane highway.  Often times it's heavily populated with semi trucks and you can get held up in traffic.  This time we couldn't even see the sides of the road.  Dallas had to carefully watch for the posts along the side of the highway in order to know whether he was going to drive off the side or not.  You can see in the below pictures how difficult is was to drive in these conditions, especially with semis coming straight at us.

Dallas did an amazing job at driving cautiously and keeping us safe.  He was a saint and drove through the most difficult parts of the drive.

This was also the day that we realized our chains did not fit our tires.  It took a long time to attach them again, but this day we had to pull over several times because the chains kept breaking.  Three different sections broke along our drive and were not reparable so we had to get wire cutters to cut off the separated pieces.  By the time we got to Bend, Oregon (7 hours later) we threw away our old chains and bought another pair that actually fit our tires.

Daxton was, once again, absolutely amazing.  I sat in the back with him, so I could feed him without having to stop each time.  He was totally content playing with mommy, eating, and sleeping.  He never once cried.  He was an absolute angel, which was a total blessing considering what a crazy adventure we were having.

We pulled over once the roads cleared to take off our chains.  You can see all the different sections that broke along our journey.  You can also see the not-so-happy daddy face.  Dallas' patience was definitely tested over the course of our two day road trip home!

We didn't reach home til close to midnight that night.
We had been driving for over 14 hours...not to mention the over 12 hours the day before.  We can honestly say that we will NOT be driving to Washington anytime soon!
(On a side note...our drive home was MUCH better.  It only took 12 hours total, although we did decide to break it up into two days again to make it a bit easier on our little guy.)

Winter Wonderland (Day 1)

This year, for the Christmas holiday, we decided to drive home to Washington instead of fly.  We had already flown to Chicago in October and then Wyoming in November, so we were sick of airports and wanted the relaxation of a soothing quiet drive together as a family.  Boy, were we wrong!

It takes about 12-13 hours to drive from our apartment in California to my parents home in central Washington, but knowing that we would need to stop several times along the way for Daxton we planned on making it a two day trip with about 6 hours of driving on each day.  We left around 9am and headed north.  It was a bit overcast when we left, but by the time we made it to Redding it had began to rain.  As our elevation rose, the rain turned into a light snowfall.  Having not seen snow for a year, I was super excited and pulled out the camera to document it's beauty. 

It was fun to see Daxton's reaction to the falling flakes.  He is such an amazing little travel buddy.  We have truly been blessed with the most precious good-natured little spirit.  He sat quietly staring at the passing white trees trying to take everything in.

By the time we reached the Shasta Mountain Range, the snow was really coming down.  We saw several semi trucks and cars pulled over to the side putting on chains.  With the icy conditions of the freeway, we figured it would be best for us to do the same.  The last time I used chains was back in 2009 when I tried to surprise Janelle on her birthday.  

(If you'd like to read about that debacle you can click here.)

Since then, though, we have had all four of our tires replaced and the chains were a bit too small.  Poor Dallas spent almost an hour trying to put them on.  At the time we didn't realize that they were the wrong size; just that it had been a long time since either of us had had to deal with anything besides sunshine and rain!  A nice semi driver came over to help for a bit and couldn't figure out why they weren't connecting.  It was then that we realized that none of us owned winter clothing.  We had brought lots of layers to keep us warm, but we didn't have any gloves, hats, scarves, etc.  We had truly become those "unprepared Californians."  At one point Dallas had to get into the trunk and put socks on his hands so his fingers wouldn't freeze while trying to get the chains on...it was quite the sight!

After battling with our chains for almost an hour, Dallas was successful at attaching them.  We hopped back on the freeway only to be stopped by a massive pile up on I-5.  Chains had become mandatory by then, so cars, trucks, and semis were stopped in all lanes of traffic trying to get their chains on.  Traffic was backed up for miles and the snow kept falling.  It was pretty frustrating watching our GPS keep recalculating our estimated time of arrival.

After 20 minutes of no movement, we figured we better make the best of our situation.  I hopped in the back with Daxton and took him out of his carseat.  He was ecstatic!  We rolled down the window and let him get his first touch of snow.  It was so funny to see how interested he was, especially with the window.  He would carefully catch snow flakes on his fingers and then try to put them in his mouth.  He couldn't figure out why they would disappear on his skin.

Such a happy boy!

He was pretty mad when I rolled up the window, but I didn't want him to get too cold, so we let him sit in the driver's seat for the first time.  He loved looking at all the buttons and playing on daddy's lap.  He is such a daddy's boy!

Traffic didn't clear for over two hours.  Thank heavens we had a full tank of gas, snacks, water, and warm blankets!  As much as I LOVE looking at the gorgeous puffy white flakes, snow can be a best to try and drive through.  The worst part of the day, though, was pulling into a rest stop after driving for almost 12 hours.  As I was walking into the bathroom I noticed a sign...it said we were still in California...

We finally made it to Klamath Falls, Oregon (right on the border) after 9pm.  We checked into our hotel and immediately jumped into a hot bath.  Daxton would live in water if he could.  He splashed, giggled, and warmed right up for bedtime.  He even let momma pose him for the camera, even after such a long day.  I sure do love this guy...and look at all that yummy kissable skin!  I can't get enough of him!

Sea World

You can't go to San Diego and not go to Sea World!
I love Sea World.
I tried to describe it to a friend once and the best I could come up with was Disneyland meshed with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It has the magic of Disneyland mixed with all the different marine life you can imagine.  I love everything about it...even the sometimes questionable smells from the sea lions!
For our third and final full day in San Diego, Kim and I took the kids to a holiday decorated Sea World on a perfectly sunny day.  It was also Daxton's favorite.  He takes after his mommy and LOVES aquariums.  He is quickly mesmerized by the different colors and shapes.

At the entrance of the park...

We got to the park right as it was opening and stayed til the sun went down.  The first thing we did (besides stopping for photo opportunities) was to check out the Shamu show featuring several different Orcas.

We chose to sit a few rows back so we wouldn't get splashed, but Daxton still couldn't take his eyes off the water.

After the show we walked around to the back training tank to get a better look at two of the Orcas.  Daxton was in heaven and did not want to leave.

After Shamu, we wondered over to the sea lions and watched as several people fed them fish.

 At first I was a little disappointed that they had changed the Manatee enclosure to Turtle Reef.  I love Manatees, but Sea World shipped them to the Florida Sea World, so they could be in a more natural habitat.  I also LOVE turtles, so Turtle Reef quickly became my favorite place in the park.  We sat there and ate our lunches while watching them swim through the gorgeous coral reef.

Couldn't help but get Daxton a little Turtle souvenir.

I love his facial expression...pretty "turtlelike" if you ask me!

After Turtle Reef, we headed over to the Polar exhibits.

We were able to watch the Beluga whales feed, a polar bear swim, and a chunky walrus.  I placed Daxton up against the window for some pictures and he loved being able to get a closer look at the Belugas.

We also got to see the new dolphin and bird show, Blue Horizons.

It featured Cirque de Solei performers in the air and water along with the different animals.  It was pretty amazing.

On our way over to the Manta Ray area, we were able to witness a gorgeous sunset among the flamingos.

I love the Manta Rays!

Daxton was quite exhausted after the fun day.  He snuggled right in to his stroller for a long nap.

Playing with gorgeous Layla!
Such a smiley sweetheart.

Another reason I came to San Diego was to see Maren (I've blogged about Maren and I's adventures many times!)  She has a pretty demanding work schedule and wasn't able to meet up with Kim and I until the evenings.  She did get to spend the week at the hotel with Daxton and I, which I loved.  We were able to stay up late catching up all week.  I sure do love that girl!

After Sea World, we all went back to the hotel and hung out with Maren.  We reminisced about our "Dev" years and caught up on each others' lives.  I love Maren and Kim so much.  They've both been amazing friends to me over the years and I count myself so incredibly blessed to have them as my close friends!

(On a side note)
A little after midnight, Daxton woke by projectile vomiting all over himself and the crib.  Needless to say it was a VERY long night trying to clean everything up, soothe him back to sleep, and make sure everything was packed for our journey home.  I got about three hours of sleep.  He threw up again in the morning, so after I cleaned him up again, we threw everything in the car and started our drive home.  It took a lot of prayer and Diet Coke to arrive safely home, but we made it.  And then a day later...I came down with the stomach flu (I'm sure from Daxton, sweet boy!)  Daddy came home to two sickies once again... Welcome home, Daddy!

Beach Baby

Our second day in San Diego we decided to drive 20 minutes north to meet up with Kim and her little ones at a beach in Carlsbad.  Carlsbad is easily one of my favorite beach towns along the west coast.  We went to a great beach off of the Tamarack exit between life guard towers 32 and 33.  It was a long stretch of calm waves and clean sand (no animals allowed) and we were literally the ONLY people on the beach.  It was absolutely perfect!
Kim taught me the ins and outs of going to the beach with a baby/toddler; including which strollers work the best, how to pack and pull them through the sand, and the most amazing thing...baby powder bath for after a long day playing in the sand...AMAZING!
 This was Daxton's first time feeling sand.
He's been to several beaches, but most beaches in Northern California are cold and windy, so we usually have him bundled up tight.  This was his first time truly experiencing the joys of a warm sandy beach.
And he LOVED every minute of it!
I realize that there are a ton of pictures, but I couldn't help but post all of those amazing expressions.  I just wish I knew what he was thinking!

First touch and taste of the sand...

 A very happy baby!

 

I'd say it's been a pretty perfect day if your baby is that happy after over three hours of playing in the sand, no nap, and still smiling.

He truly is my baby; Beach bum at heart.