Family Vacations Make Me Happy

We made the long drive to visit my grandparents in Lake Havasu City, AZ. 

It was a bit of a last minute decision to make the drive, but it was one of the best trips we've made as a family. 

Our first part of the trip was the road trip. We genuinely enjoyed the road trip with the kids. The drive from CO to the Grand Canyon was gorgeous. The kids were great, and the time I spent with James was great. I'm so happy to say that the long drive went so great. 

The Grand Canyon is truly amazing. To think that God has given us a place like this on earth makes me desire Heaven even more. 

Although it was a bit hard to truly enjoy due to the fact that I have small children near a steep drop.

Yeah….we were holding on TIGHT.

Once we arrived in Lake Havasu the first thing we did was smooch Great Pa and Great Gran and then jump in the pool.
How cool is my grandma? I bet you don't have a hat like this.

And seeing as how it's 115 degrees there we hit the beach at 8am. Ella was not impressed. This girl doesn't love the beach.
Seriously….what's wrong with her?

Also, a while ago I accepented the fact that my body isn't designed for a 2 piece anymore. Three kids will do that to ya. But I am so happy to own this one piece. It's adorable, and super flattering! Gotta love a spanx bathing suit! 

And In-n-Out happend…..twice.

My kids are so blessed to have so much family around them. They are surrounded by grandparents and great grandparents. So blessed.

It was such a blessing for me to see my children interact with their great grandparents. They had the chance to experience Lake Havasu the way that I remember. You swim, you eat treats, you watch cartoons and repeat. It was perfect. I love that we had this time together.

Surviving a LONG Road Trip

We just got back from our family vacation to Lake Havasu, AZ.

It was a LONG road trip. It took us nearly 15 hours to drive home.
You know what….it didn't suck.

In fact….the ride out there was actually enjoyable. Yes, it was kind of fun. Yes, we still had our three kids 5 and under with us. (Although it would have been a lot easier without them)

So, now that we survived and didn't kill each other I thought I'd share some of my best "road tripping with kids" tips.

One of the best things I did was make a trip to the dollar store. I purchased a bunch of stuff to make an "activity bag".

I bought paper, coloring books, stickers, and little prizes I could had out.
I also bought little containers where each kid could have their own box of crayons, markers and wipes.
This way there was no fighting over a certain color, marker. I also put the wipes and kleenex in there so they didn't have to ask me for them. I put sunglasses in there too. Dollor store kids glasses are the best thing ever. Seeing as how my kids lose them like crazy.

I also gave each kid their own lap tray so they could color or hold their snacks. You can find these online.

I handed out the little prizes (chalkboards, "guys", toy horses, games, etc) every few hours or so. This was a nice way to break up the long trip with something new for them to do.

I also had a snack bag. Lots of snacks seemed to be the key to happiness. I tried my hardest to buy food they don't get at home but they would love to snack on. But I also tried to avoid sugar as much as possible. There is no need to get them all jacked up on energy in a confined place. 

Every time they asked for a snack I gave it to them. It kept them happy, and kept our sanity. I had little plastic cups I would fill up for them. That way I didn't have to prepackage snacks at home. 

I packed a cooler too with food for a picnic lunch. That way we got out of the car, stretched our legs, and ran off some energy, and saved money. 

They each got their own water bottle, to avoid fighting over one. Dollar store….love it.

Find rest areas to stop at, so they can run around like crazy people.
We also stopped at a Burger King with a play place to use the potty and let them play for a bit.

On the way to the Lake we stayed a night at a hotel, so the next morning we could see the Grand Canyon.
This was out of our way, but we really made it a priority to see it. Who knows if we'd ever make it back that way.
This broke our trip up a bit, and added a mini vacation in the middle of a long road trip. I really suggest making the most out of the trip. Go a bit out of your way to enjoy it more. It was totally worth it!

Invest in a neck pillow.

Ok….I actually did have a neck pillow for all three of them….they didn't even use it.
Geesh! I guess kids will sleep no matter what.

But I think one of the best tips I can give is to just go in with a good attitude. We mentally prepared that the trip was going to be draining. But we prayed, and allowed God to control the time we had as a family.

And we did.

Hope you can enjoy these long road trips too!

Hot Spring{s} Break

I love living in CO.
You can get in your car and drive up the gorgeous mountains, and boom…you are in the hot springs.

Over spring break James' parents took us all up to Glenwood Springs to enjoy the goodness of God's nature. It was amazing that this water just gets pumped out of the ground and they have to add cold water to cool it down to 104 (in the hottest part) and something like 92 degrees.

Ahhhhh…..mazing!

Seriously….best state ever.
So blessed!

Remember that GFC is saying "goodbye". Keep up with us on bloglovin.

Disney: Part 1

I feel like I can't fit all our trip to Disney World into one post, so I'm splitting it up!

The first day was spent at Cocoa Beach.

The second was spent at Magic Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studies for dinner.
I promise I won't post 5 more days of photos. That's a bit excessive.

Look at our rig. Having the standing glider was the best $10 we ever spent!

 Let the Memories Begin!

They were SO excited to get on Peter Pan (which we ended up riding at least 12 times during the trip).

We ran into our friends from home. It was so fun to see them!

Ella was so sick the first day. She was crabby and wouldn't even let me hold her. Only Daddy.
Looking cute anyway...

 Aladdin Ride with our Princess.

 
We had dinner at the most fun places. Our first night we ate at Prime Time Diner.
The picture below is a table near us.
It was so fun!

And then we crashed.