We went to Califonia for our 1st official family trip. Joe was competing in a jujitsu competition so it seemed like a good way to kill 2 birds with one stone. Having flown with Devon by myself in the past I can say that it was definately easier to have 2 people there for him to go back and forth with on the plane. I also didn't have to worry about him bumping the person next to me. He put his little arms in the air (in the picture) like wings when we landed.
SIDEBAR: We rented a car and they said that they had a carseat for us to use. Great. That way we don't have to lug our own through the airport. P.S. Not-so-great. They charged us $10 a day, but didn't tell us that until we got to Califonia so we had to do it. The hotel did the same thing. Do you have a crib we could borrow? No problem! ALSO $10 a day. Next time I will save myself the $100 on both these items and bring our own. Carting a pack-n-play is not an ideal packing situation, but by the time I was done renting one I could nearly have bought a new one. Bring your own stuff if you can. I will also tell you that the carseat they gave us was a total piece of junk. The seat tipped over TWICE in the car, on the freeway when the seat was strapped in tight. Scary. He was totally fine (asleep and didn't know it happened), but it sent me into a wild panic as I jumped over the front seat to secure it. This is Devon making his "old man face". This face also includes various moaning and groaning sound effects. HIGHlarious.
Devon got REALLY sick 2 days before we were supposed to leave. 102 (nearly 103) fever, cough, congestion, lethargic, runny nose .... it was so sad. The first day I literally carried him around the house in the pouch with a coold towel on his little forehead. I would put him down to sleep and he slept for about an hour and then he was up for an hour then back down. This went on into the night. At night he was up for 45 minutes and slept for 15 .... EVERY. HOUR. Until 5 am. Brutal. The peditrician said it was probably croup, gave him a 2-day steriod and said we would be good to travel since it should clear up while we were gone. It turned out to NOT be croup so he was sick a good portion of the trip, but we spent some down time in the hotel relaxing in the evenings and I think he really enjoyed that. By the way those are pants on his head ;)
The 2nd night at the hotel Devon would not sleep in his crib. He couldn't breath well due to the congestion so we put him in between the 2 of us and had a sleepover. It. Was. Awesome. It reminded me of when he was really little and I put him in the bed next to me. He slept through the night since we propped him up on pillows and he was able to breathe. Watching TV with Daddy.
We stayed in Whittier, but we went to Hollywood to see downtown, the wax museum, Ripley's Believe it or not, the Guinness book of world records, the Hollywood sign and Grauwman's Chinese Theater. It was a lot like any other big city, but it definately had it's own, cool vibe. It was fun to see names on the stars like LaVar Burton ;)and Marylin Monroe.
You can't see it, but that Hollywood sign is behind us.
We went to Manhattan beach and Devon loved it. He was so excited and was thrilled with everything. The water, the birds, the sand .... all of it he loved it. It was really relaxing and I think I actually heard my brain sigh.
He got to put his toes in the sand and he stood up like a champ.
Later that day was Joe's fight and he did great. The only downside to it was we showed up at 3:30 to watch some of his friends fight. He was supposed to fight at 5:30, but didn't fight until 7:30 which made for a really long day for us. I am not a fan of strollers so I opted to carry Devon in the pouch for the trip. I know I won't be able to do it for much longer so I want to take advantage while I can. I really enjoy it and I think it comforts him. Plus, it is SO much easier to move in crowds, you don't have to worry about stairs, he gets to see what you see and it gives you more freedom to move around. BUT carrying him for 4 hours straight, on top of all the carrying I did the previous day, my back was actually fine, but my shoulder stared to ache. Anyway, Joe did amazing and it was so cool to see him in action.
Devon discovered his love of ice at the hotel. We rented a movie nearly every night and just hung out. We weren't sure how it would be with this being the first time we would be traveling with a baby and that "limiting" our options, but hanging out at the hotel was probably my favorite part of the trip. Having Devon there enhanced everything we did. It was also great for him to have 5 whole days with just the 2 of us. I'm sure he loved having his Daddy around all the time.
Sunday we went to the Getty Museum and the aquarium. I don't have any pictures from the Getty because the camera fell out of my purse and hid under the front seat. You have to take a shuttle from the parking garage to the museum on top of the hill and by the time we realized that the camera wasn't there it was sort of too late to go back for it since we were on a time crunch. We definately would go back to the museum and spend a half day there looking at all the art as well as having a picnic lunch on the amazing grounds overlooking the city. I had to explain to Devon that the soft green stuff was "grass" and that he wouldn't see any in Tucson ;)
I got Devon these really cool puppets for his birthday. His birthday isn't until the 30th, but I needed an emergency airplane toy that was new in case he had a melt down. I had a lion puppet and I would do the whole routine,"What does the lion say? ROAR!" When we got to the lion fish tank he started saying "Roar!" You can see it on his face that he is really proud of himself for remembering. We were laughing so hard. It was really cute.
It was cool and creepy to see the sharks.
We held Devon up to the sea lions and they rolled over and put their noses right up to him. He loved it.
We also went into the aviary, but Devon wasn't too sure about birds.
He learned to color! Joe has been working with him on this. I can't take any credit for that one.
All in all it was a great trip. It is so fun to show Devon all these amazing things! Imagine seeing the ocean, the beach and fish for the first time! He is totally at that age where he "gets it" so these exeriences are not lost on him. Of course he won't remember, but I feel that exposing him to this stuff now is laying the groundwork for the future, his education and hopefully his love of travel. I have more pictures that are A-MAZ-ING, but I wanted to save a few for his first birhtday post. Which .... is right around the corner.
2 comments:
YAY for California! What a great posty post. When we first came here we drove on the freeway and saw that tram that goes to the getty...but we never knew where it went. It was this big mystery tram, it had to go somewhere and somewhere cool by the looks of it. But I was too embarrassed to not know what it was. One day jim calls me "I"M ON THE TRAM!!!!" My first thought is Disneyland and I'm pissed at him...but then he tells me he's on the mystery tram...I went to the getty soon thereafter, it's a way cool place. we love it!
Okay, awesome pictures!!! You guys looked like you had fun despite all the sickness going around. Babies being sick is so sad because they are so helpless and cant tell you what they need.
I have to tell you that we decided to save money one time when traveling and brought our pack-n-play on a trip...the airport broke it! thats right, it was broken after we got it out of baggage claim, even though it was marked fragile. The airlines did give us $100 to replace it, but I loved the one I had and they didnt make it anymore...so anyhow, the airlines also told me they are not supposed to check pack-n-plays, so from now on, if we are going somewhere where we know someone, we borrow one. If we go somewhere that doesnt have one, I go to a used kids store and buy a cheap one (its cheaper or the same as renting from a hotel) And then I sell it back to the kids store! Not for as much, but at least its better than the alternative. So good luck next time!!!
And I hope you feel better soon! You need some moms homeade chicken noodle soup and lots of sleep!!
And ps- my mom is getting married! wahoo!
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