Vacation

For spring break this year we loaded all 6 of us up in the car and made the exciting, scenic, journey from San Antonio, Texas to Southern California.  For anyone who has not made that drive it is 20 hours, 1300 miles, of absolutely nothing.  Texas is so large that the first day of driving (10 hours) you still are in Texas!

Friday, March 11th, after school we headed out, our goal was to make it to El Paso, Texas and spend the night.  Thankfully with the time change on our side we made it there by midnight.

Saturday we woke up bright and early, ate our continental breakfast and were off.

Brent entertaining himself while everyone but him and Larissa slept.

Our goal was to make it to Yuma, Arizona before stopping to eat so we could have Del Taco for lunch.  We don't have Del Taco in Texas and we miss it.

The kiddos enjoying being out of the car and eating Del Taco.

We made it to Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Rick's house in Laguna Hills, California by 6 at night.  It sure was nice to see them and visit with them.  As usual Bonnie had a delicious dinner waiting for us and the kids sat and watched a movie with Grandma and Grandpa before bed.

On Sunday Bonnie hosted a family BBQ.  All the family came over including friends.  The kids spent most of the day in the pool and the adults spent the day visiting and eating.

Cousins and friends playing in the pool.

A Robbins, Villa, Boring get together would not be complete with out a loud game of poker.

Clockwise:  Brent, G-G'ma Alice, Aunt Jenny, G'ma Bonnie, Unle Joe, Cousin Alexa, Uncle Dan, & Aunt Linda

On Monday we had one of two free days of our whole trip.  We started the day by eating at In-n-Out, you can't go to SoCal without eathing there.

Kids wearing their hats and playing with In-n-Out stickers.

After lunch we headed out to our old stomping ground in the Inland Empire to hit up the New Balance Factory Store and to go to the Ontario Mills Mall.  On our way out there I received a bad call from my mom telling me that she was sitting in the ER and that my dad had been rushed to the hospital via ambulance and he was not doing well.  When we had arrived at the hospital his blood pressure was only 50/40.  I spent most of the day in a fog waiting for the latest news on my dad while everyone else shopped.  After our shopping trip we went back "home" to Moreno Valley so Hannah could see old friends.  While in Moreno Valley we ran into some of Hannah's old softball coaches and Hannah was invited to come back on Thursday to practice with her old travel ball team.  Hannah was SO excited!

On Tuesday we went to Disney's California Adventure.

Larissa was being grouchy.

We got there 45 mins before opening so we could get reserved seating for the new show, World of Color.  We had a really great day there.

All of us riding Tower of Terror.  Kirstine and Larissa aren't so sure about the ride.

Hannah can't go to Disney without eating a turkey leg.

Woody... I mean Seth.

Larissa getting a ride on Dad's shoulders while we wait for World of Color.

After spending all day at California Adventure Brent wanted to take Seth to Ride Makerz.  Ride Makerz is like a Build A Bear for boys and car enthusiasts.  You get to build and customize any make and model of car or truck that you can think of, including vehicles from Disney's Cars.  Seth chose to build and customize Mater.

Seth with his pimped out Mater.

Seth and Brent had a ball, they ended up spending a good hour in the store while us girls were very ready to head back to Grandma Susan & Grandpa Steve's house to go to bed after a 14 hour day.

On Wednesday we spent the day with Grandma Susan.  Grandma and the kids did a mini Camp Mamaw.  For the last 6 years or so Grandma Susan and Grandpa Steve have taken the kids to make their own plates so as part of the tradition Grandma took them while we were in town.

Grandma Susan and the kids starting on their plates.

The finished product.

That evening Brent and I were able to get away while Grandpa watched Seth and Larissa and Grandma took Hannah and Kirstine out for their birthday surprise.  The girls started their evening by getting manicures and then they went to see Wicked.  The girls had no idea where they were going.

Grandma, Hannah & Kirstine ready for their big night on the town.

Thursday was our only other free day.  We spent the day being lazy and hanging out in the park.  Thursday evening we headed back out to Moreno Valley so Hannah could practice with her old travel ball team, Knuckle Up.

Hannah with Knuckle up.  Most of the girls are the same as when she left.

Hannah had a blast seeing all of her old teammates.  On our way home from Moreno Valley we stopped and had dinner with our best friends the Youngs.

Friday was our Disneyland day, the day we were most excited for.  The park was open from 8am to midnight and our plan was to spend every minute there.  We arrived at the park at 745am and were in the gates before the park officially opened.

Family photo at Disneyland.

The kids being silly in the tea cup.





Larissa in front of Beast's fireplace.

Larissa & Hannah eating churros.

Two pooped Tiggers.

The kids had saved their money from Christmas and birthdays so they had a lot of spending money.  The down side to that is we waited to shop until 11:30pm.  Seth and Larissa passed out leaning against the register waiting for all the transactions to be made.  All in all we spent 16 1/2 hours at Disneyland!!

On Saturday we had a family BBQ with the Borings and VanLandinghams.  Again the kids spent a big portion of the day in the pool while the adults ate and visited.  Grandma Susan planned one big birthday party for everyone since we don't get to see each other very much.


Grandpa Jack & Brent getting sang to with their cake.

 Early Sunday morning we got up and started on our long journey home.  We broke up the drive on Sunday by stopping in Chandler, Arizona to see my family and also to see Brent's aunt and uncle.  We stayed in El Paso again and knew we were back in Texas when we had a Texas shaped pancake for breakfast.