San Diego

Call us crazy, but we decided to take a 14-month-old on a three-hour plane ride to San Diego. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I was terrified of how I would keep this little ball of energy (who hates to be held) happy on a plane for that long. And our trip didn't start out the greatest. Because of a big snow storm and the potential for the highway to Kansas City to be drifted shut, we left for the airport a full day early. In fact, the weather was so bad that when we went to find something to eat later, we realized the entire city was shut down. We ended up buying our dinner from a gas station. Since we ate late and we stayed at the only hotel in the world that doesn't have baby cribs, Myelle had a really hard time getting to sleep. She fought it for about two hours before finally giving up. Needless to say, I was nervous about how our flight would go the next day, and how our nights would go once we arrived.

We got to the airport and let Myelle play until it was time to board the plane. I purposely waited to feed her lunch until we were on the plane so that we had something to help kill time. To our relief, she ended up doing really well on the plane. She played and even napped for a while. The worst part was toward the end when she had a dirty diaper the same time the seatbelt sign went on due to turbulence. She was scared to death lying on the changing table in the tiny airplane bathroom. (She hates being on a changing table, so I normally change her on the floor. Not an option in a plane!)

We had first class service when we landed in San Diego. Brett's brother met us at the airport with carseats installed and hauled the two moms and three kids (Brett's entire family was there) to the beach cottage. Myelle and Kyler napped on the way and Myelle was so happy to be able to hang out outside when we got there. She was in heaven. She just kept sitting in the doorway, loving that she could go outside whenever she wanted. (It's been a cold winter, folks, and this girl is an outdoorsy thing!)

While we waited for Kyler to wake up from his nap and the daddies and grandparents to get the rental cars, Myelle played in the sand. We were so lucky to be right on the beach. Every morning, Kyler and Myelle would head straight outside in their pajamas to start playing in the sand. Poor Meow Meow (which has become a must-have attachment item) got buried a few times and had to be washed. The kids slept well and stayed on Kansas time for the most part. It was nice to not have to adjust their schedules when we got back, but mama and dada had a hard time with the 5:00 am wake-ups since we weren't heading to bed with the kids at 6:30 pm. I think I'm still recovering!

While we were in San Diego, we visited Birch Aquarium. Because of Myelle's love for balls, she adored the jellyfish. She kept calling them "ball balls." We also went to the zoo where her favorite animal was the elephants. She was in awe and did not want to step away from them. She also found out what helicopters are. Since we stayed on the Naval base, we got to see a lot of helicopters fly right over us. When Uncle Ryan took us to the hangar and let her stand in a helicopter, she thought she was big stuff! It was so great to be able to spend so much time outside and we didn't even care that it was a little colder than usual there (in the 60s). One morning we even found a spot to have breakfast right on the bay.

We had lots of fun with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Unfortunately, a couple of the little ones were sick while we were there. I guess that's what happens when you vacation with five kids three and under during flu season? One cousin had pneumonia and another ended up with the croup while we were there. Myelle woke up earlier than usual the day we left with a fairly high fever. It lasted a couple of days with no other symptoms and went away. We can only guess it was teething, even though it was high and stuck around for a while. We did notice a new tooth on the plane ride home. Our flight home went smoothly and although the snow had not melted, we did miss one of the coldest weeks of the year.

A big thanks to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jessica for their hospitality! They made everything so easy for us, providing transportation, hooking us up with a great place to stay, and having the kitchen stocked when we got there.