Family Vacation 2015

One of our goals is to take a family vacation every year. . . Well, that seemed quite impossible this year because of three little people schedules, a baby that hates the car, and mom that finds it difficult enough to handle Walmart all together--let alone traveling.  So for our vacation, we went to exotic Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Day 1
We potty trained Taya about two weeks ago.  She did a fantastic job.  Like only 2 or 3 accidents total.  I had promised her that if she went on the potty then I would taker her to the city and visit the princess store (Disney).  Now my kids are quite sheltered.  We only visit the mall a couple of times a year, and really don't leave a 20 mile radius other than going to grandma's, so this whole trip was a bit over stimulating for them.  Taya walking into the Disney store and instantly found the play castle that they have there.  At the front of the store they had their swim suits and dolls.  She found a brave doll and said that she loved it. .  .  .  That was until she saw that they sale princess dresses.  She instantly throws the doll on the floor and says, "I hate toys.  I need an Elsa dress."  :) My little diva.  She will pick clothes/shoes over toys all the time.  I sure love my tiny. 

The only problem with this dress, is that it is so big and poofy, and NOISY.  She of course refused to take it off for the rest of the trip.  Which meant she slept in it.  She and I shared a bed, and oh wow, she is a mover in her sleep.  Plus the Elsa dress, and yikes, it was not too restful of a night.  Plus she is a cuddler.  She insisted on holding my arm, laying on my face, snuggling my back, all night.  Most moms at this point would make her change into PJ's and sleep in separate beds... but I couldn't... she owns me:)

In the evening Milo got to go to the planetarium with Chris to see a space show.  He loved it.  He even got to pick out a toy rocket after, and he thought that was amazing.   The planetarium was also super busy and chaotic.  He did kind of look like a deer in the headlights coming out of there, but absolutely loved it. Milo has the most infectious smile and laugh.  It makes it so fun to make him happy.  



Then it was chicken nuggets and off to the pool.   We always have so much fun swimming as  family.  This was the first time that I let Crew get all the way in the water with the kids.  He loved it.  Milo would go under the water and then poke his head up.  Crew thought that it was amazing.  He would giggle and giggle every time that Milo would come up.  Milo loved being the entertainer, and played with him until he was light headed from holding his breath.  Taya is not pictured in this swimming section because she had to keep going to the bathroom... like I said we are new at this potty training thing, and apparently the pool was a new experience.

By then everyone was wiped out.  We put Crew to sleep (in the hotel bathroom) and let the big kids do treats and a movie.  Jurassic Park was on TV, and thanks to grandma Bird's exposure, they love that show.  We ate doughnuts in bed and snuggled all together.

Vacations with kids are so much fun. . . but with that said, I always feel like they are so much work that I need a vacation after our vacation:)  So, that is exactly what we did.  The next morning we dropped Taya and Milo off with grandma and started round 2 of our vacation. 
It was almost an adult vacation, except we had to adhere to Crew's schedule... which actually didn't dampen our fun.  We had to take naps and go to bed early.  Chris and I really lived it up.  Every day we ate continental breakfast (usually twice), then did some shopping, worked out at the hotel, ate dinner somewhere fun, including 2 taco carts, and then had dessert and a movie at the hotel.  It was so fun!  I loved being able to just walk around the city with Chris and have some time to actually talk to each other.   Our life together is a bit crazy.  We signed in for 3 kids under 4, and we love it, but it sure is busy right now.  It was so fun to get some time for just us (well, just us and Crew). 
Crew loved the city.  He was content on my hip, and loved looking at the buildings and being the only child for once.

  I even let him have some ice cream for the first time and oh boy, he was in baby heaven.  He latched on it like it was a bottle, and it was so hard to pry it away from him. 

He also go ahold of my Jamba.

 

and we took him swimming at hot tubbing at least once a day.  He really enjoyed being catered to!

This was such a fun break for our family.  It wasn't California or Hawaii, but felt so glamorous even though we were only 30 minutes from home.  Hopefully next year we can go somewhere with sand, but if we just end up downtown again, I'll be thrilled.