San Diego Day 3 - Christmas Eve

My family has this thing about holidays; they are full, sometimes overfull, with traditions. I think that is the main reason that this holiday season seemed so strange to me. Even writing about it much later I get this sense of unease and exhilaration about the way we spent Christmas week. That being said, we got to spend Christmas Eve in Sea World, and it was amazing. I had never been, and Alex went once as a teenager, so we were just as excited as the kids to see all the animals and attractions.

We decided, in typical Casqueiro fashion, to go early and see as much as we possibly could before going home. I was so glad that we did that, because there were all of these touch pools and activities to do before you even went into the park. Here is Olivia enjoying, then being totally grossed out by the sucker fish that eat the dead skin off of your hands.

The park is really big, and we weren't at all confident that we would be able to see everything, so we headed to the most important thing first: the dolphin show. I'm really glad Alex talked me out of it, but I was pretty sure we wanted to be about 5 rows up, above the first few really wet rows, but well within the soak zone. We ended up about 10 rows up, still in the soak zone, but much higher than I originally sat.

The show was awesome. It was so fun to see the dolphins and trainers swimming and playing together, the kids (and grownups) totally loved it. A month later you can ask Makenzie about dolphins and she will get this beyond excited look on her face and say 'dolphin splashed me!!' in her adorable 2 year old voice. We got a few sprinkles from the last big splash, which was the perfect amount of wet, in my opinion.

We went straight from the dolphin show to the orca show. It would have been better to space them out a big, but the orcas only perform twice a day, and we weren't sure how long we would last, so we went to the first one. It was cool as well, and may be the only time our kids see an orca, but the dolphins were way more fun. Alex says the orca show is totally dumbed down from the last time he saw it, with fewer and less cool tricks. Either way, the kids enjoyed it and were some of the last kids to see the show before it closes next year.

We ate lunch and saw a few exhibits, then decided to go to the Pets Rule! show. It was recommended by every local that we talked to, but I thought it was strange to spend the better part of an hour watching a dog trick show at an aquarium. I was totally wrong. The show was adorable, included many different types of animals, and was the most interactive event of the day. Each kid remembers a different favorite part, and Olivia is quick to tell you about all the tricks they tried to play on the audience and how they did them.

Makenzie slept while we walked through some more exhibits, but when she woke up we immediately headed to the Sesame Street Playland. I didn't know that this was part of Sea World, but M is really into Sesame Street, and Elmo in particular, so I knew she would enjoy this part of the day. She was able to see and meet Elmo with no wait, which was a highlight of the day. We also rode Elmo's Flying Fish, which fulfilled the ride requirement for the day.

Alex's face... (I love my husband :))

As we were leaving Sesame Street, the kids were slowing down a little - it's hard to expect a 4 and 6 year old to walk the entire time of an amusement park, but the two smaller kids got to ride, so that's the way it goes. We saw this beautiful rainbow and stopped to show it to all the kids when we started getting pelted by a crazy hail storm. Everyone started dashing for shops and cover and we just waited out a storm that rolled over us in less than five minutes before we were back to overcast, slightly damp weather.

We let the kids each go to a few gift shops to pick their souvenir that they bought with Christmas money, then went into the shark building last. I didn't expect it to be this cool, but everyone enjoyed the moving sidewalk underneath the sharks. I have walked through a glass enclosure before at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, but I expected some of the kids to be nervous. They were totally unphased and couldn't wait to go back through.

At the end of the shark building was this cool tank with exotic fish and some Sea Turtles. The turtles were so playful! One came up and was totally waving to Olivia and Carter when they waved to him, and another kept swimming past Makenzie and Carter in a different window. The moment of turning around to see the Turtle (who Carter is pretty sure is Crush from Finding Nemo) waving to the kids was definitely my favorite of the day.

We grabbed a quick family photo as we left and headed back to the hotel for some rest and Christmas Eve dinner.

In the car on the way back to the hotel, Olivia shared some knowledge with us that I hadn't expected and was totally unprepared for. She was sure that Santa was coming to visit our hotel room! Santa visited us a week early this year when we celebrated Christmas before our trip, so I thought we would read our traditional Christmas Orange story and go to bed, but O was absolutely certain that if she left out cookies, Santa would still come again. After ten minutes of us unable to convince her otherwise, I gave up the fight. I was happy to find that the dinner that evening included adorably decorated Christmas cookies, so we were able to leave out a few. I'm also grateful for a wonderful husband who loves to be Santa's helper, even when it means a late night trip to a grocery store in search of something fun and small and inexpensive that the kids would feel was magical. He delivered, as he does every time he has a chance to be the cool dad :).

San Diego, Days 1 and 2

On the 22nd of December, we loaded up all the kids, 4 car seats, 4 suitcases, 5 carry ons, 1 double stroller, and miscellaneous jackets/snacks and made it to campus at 8:30 to begin our journey to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl! It's our first year at Washington State, and Alex's first bowl game, as well as our first big family trip as a family of six. I was SO glad that families were invited (and paid for) to go on this trip, so we could be together for Christmas. I imagine that with a career in Athletic Administration we will have years where we spend Christmas apart, but these years with young kids feeling all the magic of the season are numbered, so I was thrilled to go along for the ride. Logistical issues of having 4 kids 6 and under traveling and going to big events would arise, but we could handle it. 

Many many first were in store, and I hope the next time we do something like this I am slightly more organized. I tried my best, but it was an insane preparation period, and a few things were overlooked. The biggest thing I forgot to think about was the kids' car seats. We rented a car to use for our week down there, so we needed to bring all the car seats with us. Imagine my embarrassment when I started getting them out of the car and realized that Carter was using our coolest new booster, the Oregon State official orange and black one... I wasn't sure what to do, I didn't want to offend anyone, but luckily the cover of most booster seats comes off to wash, so Carter just had a bare plastic seat for the time in San Diego :).

It's hard to really get the setting for our travel day. It was FREEZING. I think about 10 degrees in the morning, and super icy everywhere. There was snow and ice on every surface, including all the pathways that we needed to walk on. We met at the fieldhouse, which is a quick walk from Alex's office, but he had to park quite a ways away because we would be parked for the entire trip. This made some creative shuffling of kids and luggage and cars when we got to campus. The highlight of the morning was the tour bus :). The kids couldn't believe that a bus had a bathroom, they each got their own seat, they didn't have to buckle, etc. It was awesome. Unfortunately, Makenzie and Dad were the only ones willing to smile for a picture.

About the time we got to the bus, we learned that one of the chartered planes (going out of Spokane, about a 90 minute drive away) was stuck elsewhere with mechanical issues. We didn't know what this meant for us, but the team and others on their plane had already left, so we assumed we would leave shortly and they would find a plane for us while we drove. Man were we wrong! After waiting on the bus for 20 minutes or so, someone came and told us to head into the warm fieldhouse with the kids because we were going to be there another half hour at least. That was fine, we ran around with tennis balls and enjoyed the time. I was just relieved that we had made it out of the house, everything was packed, and we were on our way to a week in a new place with loads of fun things to experience with our little family. After the half hour of play time, they told us to go ahead and head home and come back at 3:30, we would fly out at 7:00 from Spokane instead. This was a huge bummer. We were looking forward to settling in that afternoon, traveling during the day, and just getting a start to this fun trip. We kept our smile on for the kids and headed to Old European for a late breakfast on our way home. I had been looking for an excuse to eat here since we moved to Pullman, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I wasn't disappointed, the food and service were both great. Here is Hunter eating his first something - I'm horrible for even questioning this, but I'm pretty sure it's hashbrown. Either way, it's a small piece of some breakfast food :) ... he loved it, like he has loved every single new food we have given him.

Midway through the meal I caught Carter in this awesome pose. He was proud that he had successfully cut his pancake by himself. This kid is so fun to experience new things with, everything is 'Awesome' or 'The coolest', etc.

Our house was completely devoid of perishable food, cleaned as well as it needed to be, and full of new Christmas toys, so the early afternoon was an adventure :). We put the little ones down for a nap and just hung out together. I was actually glad that we had that time at home because it was so relaxed in the middle of the craziest month of our lives. Playing with the kids and their new Christmas toys, just sitting in the middle of the family room with no to do list going through my head, and laughing about the uncertainty of how the rest of our day would go...it was great.

After Kenzie and Hunter had a nice nap (that I previously thought would happen on the plane) we loaded the car back up with all of our carry ons (2 kid suitcases, 1 diaper bag, 1 backpack and 1 man-bag) and all of our kids (at least 2 of whom couldn't really walk on any of the icy sidewalks) and NO STROLLER! to get back on the bus. It's hard to describe the mess that we must have looked like, but it was fun in our typical fashion. We got on the bus for the 90 minute drive to the Spokane airport. I had tried not to have the kids wear their heavy winter coats (which would be completely useless in San Diego) but I regret that now as we spent a lot of time walking between the car and bus and fieldhouse and back again, so that will be one change for next time. About halfway through the bus ride Makenzie threw up all over her seat, clothes, and the floor. We were utterly unprepared for this. All of her clothes were in San Diego already, I only had extras for Hunter. We also had this awkward lack of conversation with the bus driver while we tried to get it cleaned up. I had my supply of wipes, but didn't want to use them all this early in the trip, so I had Alex go ask the driver if there was paper towels or cleaner or something we could use to assist in the cleanup. I was trying to get it relatively clean and keep the smell contained because the bus was full of Alex's coworkers and this wasn't the impression I wanted to give :). So Alex went to talk to the bus driver. After what seemed like a long time to me, he came back and said the bus driver didn't answer him at all. This seemed crazy to us, and to this day we don't know if he honestly didn't hear or if there is some rule that he isn't allowed to talk while he is driving. Either way, we just did the best we could, tried not to bother people more than we had to, and got through the ride. I put my jacket on Kenz as a beautiful dress, and tried to make plans about how we would get her washed up. This was both Alex and my first time on a trip like this (he has flown with the team before, but this trip was different than typical game travel in many ways), and to my understanding we would get from the bus onto the plane and back onto another bus to the hotel. This didn't leave a lot of options for cleanup, and all the kids were getting more and more tired. Luckily, there was some uncertainty when we got to the airport and we ended up able to use a charter building bathroom that came complete with shampoo, towels, and a little counter where I was able to wash her up very well. She still had to wear my jacket, but that was the worst part, so we made it through. I did have this inkling of a thought about a trip full of sick kids and messes, but luckily that didn't happen.

Here are the kids watching a movie on the bus while we waited to be checked by TSA.

The chartered plane experience was awesome. We got off the bus and went into this little building where we waited to go through the TSA checkpoint. I was very glad for the building, because it was about 10 degrees, dark, and windy when we were boarding the plane. We showed ID and were all wanded (even Hunter in his car seat!) which was a process but none of the kids screamed and we made it through. The hardest part was just shuffling all the stuff. To get us from one point to another, Alex carried Hunter in his car seat, his man-bag, and helped the two older kids with their suitcases when needed. I carried Makenzie, a backpack, and my diaper bag. I'm sure we looked like a mess but we knew what we were getting into, so we made it work. The funniest part was trying to get our food. After security they have these huge tables with food options (ham or turkey sandwiches, different drink options) that we were supposed to grab and eat on the plane. I just laughed when I saw it, we needed to get food and drinks for 5 people and honestly had no hands. Alex ended up filling his pockets with gatorades and water bottles, We piled food bags on top of Hunter (yes, I know that's awful...) and we climbed up on to the plane. Once we got to our seats, it was just a matter of getting the right blankets and toys from different bags, and getting each of the kids settled and eating. They saw it as this huge new adventure, which I will always remember as a great blessing. No one threw fits or complained at all about the food, they just got together and ate and settled in.

The flight looked like this...

We had the same adventurous shuffling of babies and bags getting onto the buses to go to the hotel, which was made harder by the fact that all of our kids were sleeping and we still didn't have our stroller. However, sometime after 11, we all got into our room. Actually, we had 2 adjoining rooms, and it was perfect. It will be hard to go back to sharing a hotel room with all of our kids after this awesome setup. Olivia and Carter each had their own full size bed in the kids room, and Makenzie slept between the beds on the cushion from the couch in our room. The couch became suitcase central anyway, so we didn't miss it. In the other room Alex and I slept on our wonderful King size bed and had a portacrib for Hunter. The first night we all just crashed, but on the other nights we were able to hang out and watch TV and talk after the kids were all asleep without risking them waking up. It was amazing.

The kids woke up the next morning ready to explore the hotel and San Diego. We had a short list of things we wanted to do, but no set schedule, so we tried to have a lower key day, but the kids were having none of it. Each morning we started out in the hospitality suite for breakfast. They had the standard continental breakfast fare, and some wonderful volunteers that were wonderful to the kids and very helpful for us to ask questions of someone local who wanted us to enjoy our time in San Diego as much as possible.

The most important thing to the kids of any hotel stay is the pool. We started out our day walking around to check out the hotel and ended up with 3 kids begging us to go back to the pool in the breezy and rainy 60ish degree weather. I sent Alex to go get the rental car and took the kids to get into their swimsuits.

This next picture is the view from our room. The big ship is the USS Midway, and the island that you can see on the left side of the picture is Coronado.. This tan little shopping center at the bottom of the picture is the old police station where we ate lunch and explored later in the day.

Needless to say, we lasted about 10 minutes in the pool after our 45 minute getting ready process :). The need to swim was met, so we headed down to the outdoor mall and little touristy place right next to the hotel.  The kids saw their first cactus while we were waiting to be seated for lunch, and O made the instant connection to a 'plant camel' that made me realize I am super slow in connecting the two :).

The little shopping center used to be the police department, so we explored some jail cells before walking down near the water.

Ice cream break!

We walked along the bay toward this famous statue (that I can't remember the name of) and the USS Midway, which were very close to the hotel. We considered taking a tour of the Midway, but read and heard from many sources that it wasn't great for kids and wasn't possible for strollers, so we decided to pass this time. We just walked around and talked to the kids about all the things on the ship and the different jobs that people protecting our country have. I thought it was a perfect afternoon.

That evening (and every evening) we headed to the hospitality room for dinner as well. I think the food there was meant to be hors deourves, but it was plenty for us. I also loved that we completely avoided the stress of having 4 kids in restaurants twice a day. Ordering, waiting for food, having good manners...it's all hard. The hospitality suite was a life saver, with a lot of variety in the food served and super nice people who were forgiving about the mess that we seem to leave behind whenever our kids eat anywhere :). We went to bed dreaming of Sea World and very excited for our big adventure the next day.

December part 2

We had one more crazy week to pack for 3 trips before we left. On this day (the 15th) we actually decided that the roads were too unpredictable and the weather too bad to go to my cousin's wedding 3 hours away. I was really sad about missing it, especially since I had just finished packing and we were supposed to meet my mom there. It ended up being a blessing in disguise though, because we were able to pull off a much more Christmas-y Christmas than we would have been able to do otherwise.

We spent the evening before wrapping all the presents from grandparents, so the kids were thrilled to come down and shake, organize, kiss, and inspect each and every present. O can read all the labels, so she separated them into piles of who they were to, who they were from, size, etc. I love present organization, it's just such a blast to watch these kids get so excited about what may be.

Hunter also tried - and loved - his first snow ice cream! He loved it, and is totally loving this world of new foods that he has entered into. Once his pinchers work we will just be able to put food in front of him and watch the party that is Hunter eating.

We had to get creative with our timing to get all of our December checklist items complete, so one on evening when Alex had a basketball game to work, the kids and I made gingerbread houses! The kids had to be completely independent because Hunter was having a bad day, but I think they did a great job! O helped solve the problem of too-thick-to-squeeze glue and was great at assisting her siblings to get just the right piece onto their house or into their mouth, whatever was preferred.

Oh man. This was a bad one. I can't even describe my feelings as I realized that C and M had been silent the entire time I was putting H down for a nap. I walked upstairs and found this tragic sight. I know someday I will be able to laugh and say with 4 kids I was due a disaster like this, but right now I'm still in mourning for all of those beautiful curls. It was also 3 days before we left for 2 weeks while I was busy packing and cleaning and trying to make Christmas happen. I was even too mad to let Carter be in the picture. He is forever banned from scissors, grrrrrr.

Carter had a fun Polar Express pajama party and Christmas program on his last day. He was pretty stiff and silent the entire time, but it was cute to see him interacting with the other kids in his class.

On Saturday (the day we were supposed to be gone for the wedding trip to Tri Cities) O got to go to a swimming birthday party at the Student Rec Center. She was SO excited when I told her she would actually get to go, she would live in the pool if I let her. I actually got a babysitter (Alex was working another game that morning) to watch the 2 middle kids so I could go with her and meet some of the moms from her class. We both had fun, and it will be a future family activity for sure.

At dinner Alex told the kids that this was our Christmas Eve, since we would be gone on our trip for Christmas. He said that he sent Santa an email so he was pretty sure it would all work out. I was quite surprised when I heard this conversation, because this was Saturday night, and we had planned our Christmas for Tuesday. I wasn't anywhere near ready, but once it's announced it becomes law, so we busted out a quick Christmas Eve box opening in our underwear after baths...we do whatever works :).

I had a short grocery list and a LONG to do list of evening things to get done, so Alex went to Walmart for me. It was such a magical thing when he came back in this shirt...I needed just that to lighten my mood and let me feel the Christmas fun while I got it ready for the next morning. I love this guy!

Merry Faux Christmas from the kids! I hope we always have stairs, this is my favorite annual picture. And yes, Alex was just inches away to save Hunter if he fell down. He was sitting but not super well at this point, so the stair wasn't the best place for him. Anything for a picture!

Just some cute kiddos exploring what Santa brought for them...

 And my oldest kid...

Traditional Johnson Christmas morning breakfast of rice krispy treats and stocking candy :)

We had a totally lax day of playing with the kids and hanging out as a family. In the afternoon we decided that paint cookies. Every year is a new experience as the kids get older (and we have new ones). This year Olivia really got into painting details on her cookie. I was sad that I didn't have more brushes, she wanted to use a lot more precision than one brush allowed. Carter was all about mixing the colors to see what it would make, so his frosting palate was actually way more artistic than the cookies he produced. Makenzie just wanted to eat the frosting, like every 2 year old I know. She did paint some, but licked the brush in between every stroke. I always separate each kid's cookies for them to eat later so we avoid sharing drooly frosting cookies.

Hunter absolutely LOVED this cookie. He gnawed it down to nothing and was super sad when I took the last crumbs out of his hand.

After the kids went to sleep I busted out the rest of the painting, but I had a little bit of fun as I realized that the Benny cookie cutter is part of every collection we have (Christmas, Valentine's, spring, etc.). He makes an appearance regardless of the occasion. Go Beavs!

We had a couple days of playing with Christmas stuff before we left for our trip, which was a miracle for the peace in our house as I tried to bust out packing for 6 people, 13 days, 2 completely separate modes of travel, 2 vastly different temperatures, a variety of activities, etc. It was a crazy packing adventure that I don't wish to ever do again. Even as I type that though, I know given the opportunity again we would totally do the same thing again. Anything for fun family togetherness.

This was a beautiful tiny metal piano that Alex ordered and then made for me. It's sitting on top of the piano now, and is a totally awesome addition to any decorating that I will do in the future :)

Next up, our crazy travel day and San Diego!