We made it back from our Thanksgiving trip last night. We had a really nice Thanksgiving and the girls had a lot of fun with some of my family they don't often get to see. We definitely made use of our time there doing and seeing lots of things. It made the weekend fly by!
Our car ride out there was mostly uneventful. It was a quick and easy 5 hours with only 1 potty stop. The girls ate lunch, read books, played with their Magna Doodles and took naps in the car. They were so easy going and didn't seem to mind any part of the trip. They kept repeating that we were going on a trip to Arizona and would often tell each other, "we're going to Arizona, sister... we're almost to Arizona". It was very cute and they didn't quite understand after we crossed the border and told them we were in Arizona. Only once we arrived at my Grandma's house did they announce we were actually in Arizona.
We had a vacation rental with my parents and sister that worked out perfectly. The girls loved being able to run around in the house and there was plenty of room for all of us. There were 2 parks right down the street too which the girls visited almost every day. We lucked out and had beautiful weather for the whole trip.
Thanksgiving we spent at my Aunt and Uncle's house with some more of the extended family and a few of my cousins. The girls loved playing with Faith & Gretchyn's old toys and discovering their Disney movie collection. The surprise favorite toys were Gretchyn's old dinosaurs. The girls knew exactly what they were and Olivia picked one up and held it up in the air toward my face saying "Rowar" over and over again. We were laughing pretty hard watching them hold the dinosaurs up in each person's face and make them roar. I'll have to check the video camera and see if I got that. Stephanie, Gretchyn, Faith and I also took the girls over to their local park (along with their dinosaur friends) for some more climbing and sliding fun. We got back in time for a round of family BINGO before dinner. The food was amazing, the company was fun and the dessert was delicious. We were all pretty stuffed and tired by the end of the night.
The rest of the trip we managed to work in plenty of shopping (Old Navy, Kohl's, Target, Best Buy, Ulta, Barnes & Noble, mall & Macy's), a morning hike and girls' lunch, an outing to ZooLights and football watching. The ZooLights were so fun and thankfully it wasn't that cold or crowded when we got there (the trick is to get there early and leave before it gets busy). The girls really liked the monkeys, penguins, giraffes and elephants (all in light-form). We definitely want to go back to the zoo during the day to see the real animals next time.
We headed home yesterday afternoon after picking up the girls' new beds from my Aunt and Uncle and saying our goodbyes. Between the bed and all the stuff we bought shopping the car was packed pretty tight. We were anticipating a bit longer trip than the usual 5 hours, due to Thanksgiving traffic, but nothing like what it actually took. :( It was smooth riding almost all the way to the border. We decided to stop for a potty and gas break in Quartzsite where I heard there was a bad accident somewhere around Blythe and the back up was pretty bad. I was pretty worried but hoped that it was magically clear up by the time we got there. The info I got about the accident said it was East of Blythe, so once we passed through Blythe, I decided it had been cleared up and gave the girls their cups of milk. Cups of milk = roughly 1 hour before potty's are necessary. FAIL. As soon as they finished their milk, we found the accident back up. We inched along for over an hour before coming to a complete standstill. We were parked for another hour before the accident was finally cleared and everyone was allowed to pass. Being parked allowed us time to let both the girls use their little potty (thank goodness we brought that!) and repack the back seat to give the girls more room. All in all it wasn't too bad, but that on top of another hour of traffic by the outlets, added 3 hours to our trip. The girls were so good through the whole thing and never complained or got restless once. We really are lucky.
Overall it was a great trip. It was nice to travel with the girls now that they are a bit older. This will be the last trip we have to drag along two Pack n Plays. Each trip gets easier and easier as there is less stuff that we have to pile along with us. Plus there are just so many more things we can do now like run over to the park with them, take them to ZooLights and get their reactions etc. We can't wait for more holiday excitement to come!
Our car ride out there was mostly uneventful. It was a quick and easy 5 hours with only 1 potty stop. The girls ate lunch, read books, played with their Magna Doodles and took naps in the car. They were so easy going and didn't seem to mind any part of the trip. They kept repeating that we were going on a trip to Arizona and would often tell each other, "we're going to Arizona, sister... we're almost to Arizona". It was very cute and they didn't quite understand after we crossed the border and told them we were in Arizona. Only once we arrived at my Grandma's house did they announce we were actually in Arizona.
We had a vacation rental with my parents and sister that worked out perfectly. The girls loved being able to run around in the house and there was plenty of room for all of us. There were 2 parks right down the street too which the girls visited almost every day. We lucked out and had beautiful weather for the whole trip.
Thanksgiving we spent at my Aunt and Uncle's house with some more of the extended family and a few of my cousins. The girls loved playing with Faith & Gretchyn's old toys and discovering their Disney movie collection. The surprise favorite toys were Gretchyn's old dinosaurs. The girls knew exactly what they were and Olivia picked one up and held it up in the air toward my face saying "Rowar" over and over again. We were laughing pretty hard watching them hold the dinosaurs up in each person's face and make them roar. I'll have to check the video camera and see if I got that. Stephanie, Gretchyn, Faith and I also took the girls over to their local park (along with their dinosaur friends) for some more climbing and sliding fun. We got back in time for a round of family BINGO before dinner. The food was amazing, the company was fun and the dessert was delicious. We were all pretty stuffed and tired by the end of the night.
The rest of the trip we managed to work in plenty of shopping (Old Navy, Kohl's, Target, Best Buy, Ulta, Barnes & Noble, mall & Macy's), a morning hike and girls' lunch, an outing to ZooLights and football watching. The ZooLights were so fun and thankfully it wasn't that cold or crowded when we got there (the trick is to get there early and leave before it gets busy). The girls really liked the monkeys, penguins, giraffes and elephants (all in light-form). We definitely want to go back to the zoo during the day to see the real animals next time.
We headed home yesterday afternoon after picking up the girls' new beds from my Aunt and Uncle and saying our goodbyes. Between the bed and all the stuff we bought shopping the car was packed pretty tight. We were anticipating a bit longer trip than the usual 5 hours, due to Thanksgiving traffic, but nothing like what it actually took. :( It was smooth riding almost all the way to the border. We decided to stop for a potty and gas break in Quartzsite where I heard there was a bad accident somewhere around Blythe and the back up was pretty bad. I was pretty worried but hoped that it was magically clear up by the time we got there. The info I got about the accident said it was East of Blythe, so once we passed through Blythe, I decided it had been cleared up and gave the girls their cups of milk. Cups of milk = roughly 1 hour before potty's are necessary. FAIL. As soon as they finished their milk, we found the accident back up. We inched along for over an hour before coming to a complete standstill. We were parked for another hour before the accident was finally cleared and everyone was allowed to pass. Being parked allowed us time to let both the girls use their little potty (thank goodness we brought that!) and repack the back seat to give the girls more room. All in all it wasn't too bad, but that on top of another hour of traffic by the outlets, added 3 hours to our trip. The girls were so good through the whole thing and never complained or got restless once. We really are lucky.
Overall it was a great trip. It was nice to travel with the girls now that they are a bit older. This will be the last trip we have to drag along two Pack n Plays. Each trip gets easier and easier as there is less stuff that we have to pile along with us. Plus there are just so many more things we can do now like run over to the park with them, take them to ZooLights and get their reactions etc. We can't wait for more holiday excitement to come!
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