Vacation - Part 1

Our little family got to go on a vacation of a lifetime. We went on a road trip to San Diego (Oceanside), Phoenix (Gilbert and Glendale), Provo, then home, with additional stops in San Jose, Tijuana, Yuma and Clearfield. We were gone 17 days, drove about 3,600 miles and used 13 tanks of gasoline.

We had a blast.

I am going to divide this vacation up into different posts because we had entirely way too much fun to stuff into just one post. I want to thoroughly document this trip so feel free to scroll through and just look at pictures!

Sean and I left Monday, April 12^th, at about 10:00 at night. We dropped the kids off with friends in the ward (Thanks so much Sarah and Scott!) and were on our way. We rented a car, which we got a killer deal on. We ended up getting a silver 2010 Chevy Cobalt, that only had 1200 miles on it. It was awesome! We drove through the night, and after driving through snow in Northern Cali, we arrived in San Jose about 9am. Sean has a roommate from college that is now a cop for San Jose Police Department. We stopped by Todd’s grandparent’s house right off the freeway in San Jose, and he met us there. His grandma made us bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast, with orange juice squeezed from oranges that we watched him pick. We got to catch up with Todd then we napped for a couple hours. We were on our way to Oceanside by 3pm. I started out driving, and ended up driving the entire way! (all 7 hours…go me!) We only had to stop once for gasoline and to stretch our legs, so we made it in 7 hours.

The motivation for the trip to Cali was Sean’s cousin coming home from his mission. Sean’s aunt and uncle, Jamie and Tum, live in Oceanside. They also own an investment condo on the beach in Oceanside, and it hadn’t been reserved for the week we were there. It worked out for us because it meant we could stay there! After stopping by Tum and Jamie’s, we headed over to the condo. We got there about midnight and slept in until 9! The master bedroom that we stayed in overlooked the beach. We slept with the slider door open and awoke to the sound of the waves. It was heaven. 

It was fabulous to not be awakened by children. Sean had to work for a couple hours Wednesday morning so I went for a run along the beach and pier. 

After I got back and had cleaned up, we decided to head to Mexico. We had an entire day without the kids and we wanted to utilize it!

After spending the afternoon in Tijuana, we headed back to Tum and Jamie’s for a little while. They ended up taking us out to dinner, which was delicious. We had Mexican food, and ate WAY more than we needed. But it was yummy! After dinner, we headed north to the airport to pick up the kids. The kids flew in with Grandma and Grandpa Janeway. We were so lucky to be able to arrange it that way! It was nice to be able to drive the first 1800 miles without them. Anyway, so we picked the kids up, then headed back to the Condo. Thursday was the day that Cameron got in from his mission. All of the family that was in town headed to the San Diego airport with signs to wait for Cameron to come in off the plane. It was so fun being able to be there and experience that homecoming. After the airport, Tum and Jamie took the entire crew out to Mexican food in La Jolla. It, again, was delicious. And again, we ate WAY TOO MUCH.

Friday and Saturday we got to hang out with Amanda and her boys! We hadn’t seen her since her oldest son was born, in October of 2006. Seeing Amanda again has been on my list of things to do for awhile. We were so lucky that we were able to both be in So. Cal at the same time. I’m glad it worked out that way! We spent the time we had at the pool and on the beach. It was fabulous!

Saturday evening we went to an Open House that Tum and Jamie held for Cameron. A lot of family and friends came, and we ate a huge home-cooked/catered Thai meal. It was delicious. There, again, was so much food!

Sunday we met at Tum and Jamie’s before church, where they had made French toast for everyone. We had about 7 or 8 topping options, as well as eggs (cooked to taste), bananas, orange juice, and cold cereal. We went to church where we heard Cameron give his talk, which was awesome. Then we went back to Tum and Jamie’s, and…ate. Not only did we eat left over Thai food, but Jamie had cooked a tri-tip roast and baked potatoes for dinner. So we had a huge gorge fest with tons of food and desserts. I really wish I would have taken pictures of the food. Seriously, it was incredible.

To be continued...