Day 1: Are We There Yet?

Football at the beach

Room with a view

We left around 9:30 Monday morning. Ben rode with James in Tricia's car and we took Michael with us. Really, I want to adopt Michael. He was so pleasant and helpful. Anyway, the whole way there Max talked about the hotel. You see, my mom has a love affair with Embassy Suites. One of the reasons why she was able to take us on this trip was because she had a few free nights there. Last September my parents took Max to Disneyland as a treat for being potty-trained. He remembered the hotel and knew we were staying there again. He was so excited! "You can have pancakes and sausage and bacon for breakfast. And grandpa will bring you orange juice and then the lion will roar." Let me clarify - one of the major perks about Embassy Suites is that you get a complimentary breakfast. This basically includes ANYTHING your heart desires. Eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, made-to-order omelets, cereal and the list goes on. Apparently it made a big impression on Max. He also remembered the fake lion on top of a rock that roars every hour or so. So everytime we stopped, Max would say, "I don't want to eat here - I'm waiting for the hotel". We had to explain that we could only get breakfast there and he might want lunch and dinner before that.

Every 30 minutes or so someone would ask, "Are we there yet?". I really didn't mind it until the last 30 minutes or so when they started to ask every 2-3 minutes. Anyway, we finally made it about 5:00. We were on the 11th floor - which scared the bajeebies out of me. I had major vertigo at first. Then I just stayed away from the railing that overlooks the atrium area. The boys were facinated with how big the bathroom was. That's another great thing about Embassy Suites - LOTS of room! We had 2 seperate rooms, 2 t.v.s, a dining room table, microwave, sink and refrigerator. The room could've slept 6 comfortably.

After unpacking we headed for the beach. We forgot that it was Columbus Day and therefore the beach was crowded. Oh well, we hung out there for about an hour until it got dark and I got sick of trying to keep Evan from eating sand. We got back to the hotel and my mom got us a pizza from room service. It was one of the best pizza's I've had in my life! Part of that could've been that I was incredibly hungry....

Stay tuned for Day 2: I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up (sorry mom - you knew it was coming...)

*Note: Don't expect alot of pictures - I was busy just trying to keep track of all my kids and trying to keep everyone happy. Hopefully Kim & Tricia will e-mail me some of their pictures.