the hotel resort

When we went down to San Diego last December, during the biggest storm in 80 years, we did not use our Legoland tickets.
It was pouring rain.
We had bought the tickets at Costco -- one of those 3 month memberships for an incredible price, like the price of one days admission, but I can't remember exactly.
I do remember it was a deal, because we like to find deals!

In the summer, we have a very small window between when the kids get out of school and when they start their summer programs. We have about a week and a half, and now we have these tickets we want to use before they expire -- so we really want to make this work.

And maybe it won't rain.

Well, we have been on the time share wait list for months and nothing has come up, so we figure that it is time to start looking on our own.
But now I can't find any deals. Even when I could find a place that would accommodate all six of us, it ended up being pretty pricey without having much to offer other than a bed. Mike and I were getting kinda bummed thinking that we'd end up having to stay in one of these places.

Then Ingrid called me.

You know when you have a friend who has a business, but it never occurs to you that they actually have a business?
(you know that you know what I mean)

Well, Ingrid and her husband Michael Pagliocca own Elite Travel Planners and we ended up calling them about our little trip. Remember, we only have this small time to plan anything and we want something near Legoland since we are not planning to hit the other San Diego parks this time.

(so glad about that decision!)

Michael told us about Grand Pacific Palisades and the best part about it (for us) is that you can WALK to Legoland from there, it's that close.
And no joke, Michael found us the best deal!
-- It was not much more to stay there than it would have cost us to stay in one of those motel places.

The rooms were spacious, full kitchen, kids pool, playground and WALKING distance to Legoland.

Mikey sure liked it!

Oh, and, we had an ocean view!

(nice surprise) 

Having never used a travel agent before, and now having had such a great experience, I would recommend at least contacting one and letting them know what type of trip you are looking for.

Of course, personally I think you should contact Elite Travel Planners because even though we weren't taking a cruise or a trip to Europe, they made us feel that our trip to Legoland was just as important.

Now, I am on a mission to convince The Dad that The Mama NEEDS to go back to Hawaii!

Wish me luck ~

on our way

I like to have everything planned and organized before a trip. I start early. I get everyone's clothes together and make lists and pack bags in my head days (weeks...) ahead of time. I give myself time to have all the laundry done and straighten up before we leave. Some things came up before this trip, so I was extra glad I didn't have to stress what we were taking or try to find things last minute. Except that we couldn't find this one huge green duffel bag that I like to use.
Still can't find it!
Mike does all the boy things. Gets the van ready mostly. Brakes, oil, washing.
Packing the cooler.
(finding the bags for me)

This year we got one of those cases that go on top of the car. We looked at a bunch online and read reviews. We ended up getting a Thule 867 Tahoe Rooftop Cargo Bag It seemed better than a hard case and the one other we considered had poles in it to hold it's shape, but we decided against it thinking it might tear. The one complaint about the Thule one was that it was only water resistant, not water proof, but since we weren't driving across country or through snow, that shouldn't matter to us.
We live in California anyway.
And will be using it in the summer.
So, right before we leave, there is this huge storm coming our way.
In June.
Our last trip to San Diego was in the pouring rain.
hmmm

Mike packed up the van the night before including the big cargo bag thing. He put a tarp over it in case it started raining overnight. (we live in the city, our garage is small and the van doesn't fit )

The kids sleep in their sweats/traveling clothes and every pillow pet is in the van along with a blanket for each kid.
(yeah, I warned you I plan ahead)

We got them up at 4am and it was POURING rain. It didn't faze the kids, but Mike was stressed thinking everything was getting soaked and that the bag might fly off any second -- since this was our first time using it and we were driving through a STORM.

I ban all iPod use, thinking that if they are a bit bored, they will fall asleep. Um. Not MY kids. They are on an adventure and want to chat! Most of them fell asleep for a little bit a couple hours in.

It was still raining.

We (well Mike) drove through the rain for four hours. It finally stopped raining when were reached the Grapevine.

We gave ourselves a 12 hour window to get down to San Diego. It took us that long each way on our trip to Disneyland and the last time we went to San Diego and when we came back from there too. We always stop whenever someone wants/needs to and I hate to listen to my baby cry. So we take extra time.
But none of them were crying or asking to stop.
Other than the eventual traffic in Los Angeles, we had easy sailing the rest of the way and made it down  in almost 9 hours.

Of course that made us way too early for check in at the Grand Pacific Palisades that Michael Pagliocca at Elite Travel Planners hooked us up with.

BUT the "rain resistant" bag thing ended up being closer to rain proof
-- since only one thing in the bag got a little wet and even then it was just damp!

{to be continued}

rain

Last December we went down to San Diego from the 18th to the 24th. We had everything set up and ready for Christmas before we left, so all we would have to do is put out cookies, make reindeer food and read T'was the Night Before Christmas when we got home.
Our intentions were to take the kids to Legoland. The big kids had been there a few times when they were smaller, but Kelly was only there once as a baby and was super excited to go. On the way there we stopped in Los Angeles because DJ wanted to see the Hollywood sign. Well, it was so cloudy (or smoggy) we couldn't see it or even find the road up there to maybe see it close up. We gave up.
We get to the place we are to be staying at after about 12 hours in the car --
We drive around and check it out since there are 7 swimming pools and 2 with water slides. The kids are very excited, but tired, and since it looks like it might rain, we decide to wait until the next day to go out for a swim. I for one, am very excited about sitting in the cabana and having drinks brought to me while I watch the kids play.

But the next day, it was pouring rain! Like POURING.

It ended up that San Diego was having the biggest storm in 80 years. The Biggest Storm in 80 Years.
Haha on us.
Well, we skipped Legoland. Kelly was very upset, but what could we do?
We ended up renting movies and taking the kids to the hot tub when the rain let up -- which was almost never. The most adventurous thing we did was when we had to take DJ and Mikey to the ER. (they were fine) I didn't even take very many pictures. I did take some on the last day. Because on the last day, it stopped raining.

It was still kinda cold, but the kids didn't care -- the water was warm, and I got to sit with Mike and the baby in the cabana ~

Since we never used our Legoland tickets, we are going to try again. San Diego trip take II. Am I worried about rain? Why should I? It's June.
Only it's raining here and we are leaving in the morning.

Hmmm

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Join in at Soule Mama

ancestry

I have not blogged in a bit. Everyone has had a cold and nothing else has been happening. Well, Paige had her first soccer game of the season in the pouring rain. I tried to take pictures, but who knows how they even came out. I was running back and forth to the car, trying to warm up and bringing the other kids back and forth so they could warm up. Mike didn't even get out of the car -- haha. Paige's team lost too.

A few years ago, I started our family tree on ancestry.com. I started it with Kelly since she was the youngest, and then that way I figured I could get both branches. I do like the website and it has upgraded a lot of the features over the years, but there is only so much you can do with their free account. So, I was showing the tree I had made at that point to my father in law, when he tells me that he started one too, but never used it, oh -- and he bought the membership (!) so did I want to use it?
Yes I did!
Like I said, there is only so much you can do with their free account, but there is a ton of records you can search when you have a membership. I worked on our tree all the time!
I have always had an interest in genealogy. When I was little, I loved looking at The Tree in my baby book and I knew all the names of my great grandparents. I also used to count up all my cousins. Like, name my aunt or uncle and then their kids. In my head. And count them. I know, weird right? Thinking about it now, I guess it made me feel more connected but it might not be a genealogy thing (or that's the excuse I'll use to feel less like a dork)
Working on our tree takes up a lot of time, so I tend to work in spurts. It is harder to find information one generation back than 100 years ago, and even harder if you don't have a mother's maiden name, but still I search. The website is always being updated, so I can find even more things now than when I started.
I have also shared it with other family members, but no one really seems all that interested in checking it out or has answered my request to help me fill in blanks. I'm not sure why. I think that the website itself makes it hard to share with people and is one thing I would change.
In January I received a call letting me know that my great aunt had died the month before at age 93. She was my grandfather's sister on my mother's side and had never had children. We always called her Aunt Betty, but she was called Nettie Belle as a girl. The name on her birth record is Jeanette Belle Hopper. I didn't really know her very well. None of my grandfather's siblings had kids, which is one of the reasons (I am sure) why I got the awesome box of her old pictures. After ooo-ing over the ones I had sent her of my kids -- and me as a baby, I started scanning some to post on our tree.

Some of the pictures have writing on them, letting you know who the people are and/or where they were and when. Some are blank. Some have a name, but I still can't figure out who it is... Some of them belonged to her sister, Sarah Katherine -- Aunt Kay. She died when I was about 12. The oldest one I have come across is of my great grandparents.

I grew up only having seen pictures of him when he was old, and never one of her. His name was Thomas Abert Hopper and she was Georgia Beatrice Lively. They were married when he was 19 and she was 13! (crazy, right!?!) They do not look happy in this picture, that is for sure. See how her fist is all balled up? He just looks mean. Another interesting thing about them is that his brother John, married her sister Lillie and so their children were "double cousins" to each other. All I know, is that it makes it confusing when you are searching for people!