Californiahhhhh

In what we are hoping will become an annual event, the Dastrups once again sought refuge from the cruel Utah cold in sunny California.  Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup were crazy er... kind enough to accept our invitation to come along, and the result was our best family vacation ever!

I have to admit to being pretty disheartened last year after taking the kids to Disneyland and having Jacob hate it so much.  It's silly, but I felt like if we couldn't even go to Disneyland as a family we had no chance of ever being a kind of "normal" family.  We were faced with a choice:  deny Ty and Benjamin yet another great life experience or torture Jacob to give it to them.

This year gave me hope.  We decided to skip Disneyland and to do Sea World, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Legoland instead.  I was very hopeful that Jacob might like the first two since he enjoys the zoo, but I was still nervous. 

The first park we went to was Sea World, and Jacob didn't just like it, he LOVED it!  All through the animal shows  he clapped, jumped and laughed like a maniac!  It was so fun!  The other boys really enjoyed it too, but I honestly felt bad for everyone else there because they didn't have a Jacob to experience that unbridled joy!  What a wonderful day!

The next day we went to the Safari Park.  It was neat, but I have to say that I felt like it wasn't much more than a glorified zoo and definitely not worth the price we would have had to pay if we hadn't gotten some great passes through Costco.  Maybe I just felt that way because the kids were pretty worn out from the Sea World and crabbier.  It was still a fun day, though, and watching the cheetah run (full speed toward us chasing a decoy) was pretty cool.

The last day was Legoland.  I didn't have very high expectations of it due to a couple of reviews we'd heard from people, but we really enjoyed it!  I loved experiencing the rides with my boys!  Jacob tolerated the tamer ones but sat the faster ones out with Grandma or Grandpa.  Benjamin loved the roller coasters, and we went on his favorite several times.  Ty was very brave and loved most of the rides we went on and begged for more.  It was so fun to have him laughing and screeching next to me!  He went on his first roller coaster ride and wasn't such a big fan of it, though.  He said it was scary.

Some beach time and the BYU vs. San Diego game (for Benjamin, Brigham, Grandma, and Grandpa) completed our fantastic trip.  Coming home was a necessary evil.

Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for helping to make our trip so wonderful!

At the beach we could walk to from our condo.  We had fun digging in the sand and looking for shells even if it was too cold to swim.

Jacob knows that Grandma always carries jelly beans in her purse!

Holding the star fish at Sea World.

Jacob didn't love the pet show quite as much as the dolphin and whale shows, but it was close!

At the Safari Park.

I knew there was a reason that Benjamin and Ty often make me feel batty!

Ty was hilarious in this little petting zoo.  He kept charging all of the goats trying to brush them.  They'd run from him, but he would chase one until he got closer to another goat, then he'd chase that one, etc.

Grandpa hitting on one of the Legoland regulars.

Ty fighting off Lego crocodiles with his water blaster.

There were many amazing Lego structures!

Just Another Day in Paradise

With the beginning of a new year, our church schedule has changed to 11 am to 2 pm.  I am infinitely grateful to no longer have a napping child that such a schedule inevitably transforms into a raging demon that takes days to subdue.  The only minor challenge this schedule presents to me now is that of lunch.  After moseying through the morning (how did we ever make it to 9:00 church on time?  Oh wait-- we rarely did), I found myself without enough time to feed the kids before church, so I put some of those heavy-duty granola bars and some cheese sticks in my bag to tide the kids over.  I passed out the snackage about halfway through Sacrament Meeting, and I helped Jacob take bites of his granola bar to avoid him overfilling his mouth as he loves to do.  When the end of the granola bar came out of the wrapper, Jacob grabbed it, and although it was big I let him keep it because Ty needed my attention for something.  My attention quickly reverted to Jacob when he started to cough.  I tried to pry some of the granola bar out of his mouth, but it was too late-- he started gagging.  Brigham was at home sleeping after a night shift, so I was on my own.  I picked Jacob up and ran as fast as I could for the door.  For anyone who has not had the opportunity to hear Jacob gag, let me just tell you that it is not subtle.  It is this horrible, loud hocking sound that I'm sure could be heard from one end of the chapel to the other.  So there I was, dashing for the door, trusting that someone would step in and take care of Ty in my absence, and praying that we would at least make it to the foyer before Jacob exploded.  Thankfully, we did make it to the foyer, but we didn't make it much further before he threw up-- all over himself, me, and a little on the floor.  I continued to the bathroom, and within seconds three angel sisters had come in to help.  One grabbed some paper towels and went to clean up the foyer.  Another helped me clean up Jacob and the floor of the bathroom.  The third went to make sure that my other two kids were okay.  Jacob's shirt was not salvageable, so I had to take it off.  He was supposed to stay in the foyer with one of the sisters while I tried to creep invisibly (if you don't look anyone in the eye, they can't see you, right?)  back in to Sacrament Meeting to get the keys so I could take him home and change.  Unfortunately, he didn't want to stay with her-- he wanted to come with me, so I turned around to find a half-naked Jacob trotting down the isle after me.  So much for my invisibility.

I just have to say how grateful I am for those ladies who came to my rescue in the bathroom.   Words can't describe just how grateful I am for their help! I am also grateful to the sweet sister in the library that I talked to when church was over.  After asking if Jacob was okay, she said something to the effect of, "I've watched you, and you do such a good job with him."  On days that make me want to cry, words like that mean a lot.