Wonders of the White House: vacations

March 19-27

Since we got a new van this past Tuesday, we decided to celebrate by taking a little trip! Actually, we have been secretly planning the trip for a few weeks but since we happened to buy a new vehicle, it was a great catalyst for our ruse. We let half of the cat out of the bag on Saturday morning when Bj got home from work telling the kids to pack an overnight bag so we could take the van to Vegas for the weekend. The kids ecstatically packed their necessities and traveling spoils then loaded up the car to leave first thing Sunday.

Sunday-10:00 (actually on the road 8 minutes early). First stop was in St. George around 1:00 at Firehouse Subs for lunch (and Dick's sporting goods for socks) then our final destination, 4:00 Excalibur hotel. After our hour long line to check in, we finally made it to our room to unload. We had an hour to kill before our 6:00 dinner reservations for the Tournament of Kings. We probably walked 10k steps between the check in and the dinner. We went to the M&M store, Coke, New-York, and a few others before we headed back to watch Kings battle for master of the Joust. Bj and I spent more time watching the kids as they witnessed carefully choreographed crashes, sword fights and fist fight segments both on and off horses in the massive indoor arena/restaurant, all while eating their finger food meal of Cornish hens and red potatoes. They were completely enamored. Since our show/meal was over before our eyes were too heavy to hold open, we decided to walk down to the beautiful Bellagio, which according to google maps is 1.3 miles away, but felt like 5... Then We had to turn around and come back. We were completely exhausted when we got back, but not so tired that we couldn't take a few silly pictures of AJ in the roll-away-bed first. We were so grateful for such a fun evening and safe travels (who knew how fast time flew when movies played during road trips?!) and the kids weren't bummed that our morning would include packing up and heading home.... Or so they were led to believe.

Monday- we couldn't check out of the hotel before taking a dip in the outdoor pool... Even though it was 62 degrees outside. After a quick bite at the on-site McDonalds, (that had Pepsi instead of Diet Coke?!?!) we headed to the pool. Ash and Cars were the only ones die hard enough to take the plunge, the rest of us sat huddled in deck chairs swaddled in orange hotel-grade pool towels. Once their lips were the right shade of blue, they decided to get out and shiver their way back to our room.

Packing up would have been pleasant if it hadn't been for AJ pestering us to go to a nearby skatepark. He was placated when we promised he would be able to ride his scooter "before we went home".

About 30 minutes west of the city Prim, AJ started getting impatient and consulted google maps looking for a skate park and realized we were in California. He told Carson who politely asked us to turn off the movie so we could explain why we were in California instead of Utah. Once they realized they were on a full scale family vacation, they were in unicorn-and-rainbow-mode loving each other and reminiscing the high points of our last few trips.

We arrived in Los Angeles between 8:00-9:00 stopping at a hip Chick-fil-A before our home for the week, Uncle Paul's house. Paul and Suzanne live in a beautiful home in a jaw-dropping neighborhood next door to UCLA and Beverly Hills. We were greeted with open arms and great big smiles that lasted all week long.

Tuesday was our low key day at the beach. We woke up in the morning to the joyous sounds of kitchen clatter. When we got cleaned up, Bj and I went and picked up bagels (along with some Mountain Dew at the local CVS) to accompany the spread Suzanne prepared for us. A great way to start our California adventure, and our beach day!

After a quick stop at Subway to buy lunch for later, we headed to the beach zone. It was a little too cold for my taste so I retreated to the comfort of the soft sand and cozy, new sweatshirt and gladly obliged the fruit-selling Beach vendor. Even though the kids and Bj were chilly, they spent quite a bit of time picking fights with the waves. We were so excited to have Jack and Laura come with us and we're even more pleased when Suzanne and JuJu showed up. We didn't spend the whole day at the beach, In our swim suits, but we did stay well into the evening.

After we conceded defeat to the chill, we headed to the excitement that had been taunting us since our arrival, Santa Monica Pier. We unloaded our beach wares on Suzanne and her girls, who were ready to head home, and turned our attention to the pier. We strolled around the boardwalk for about an hour taking in the array of entertainers, rides, and sweet scents until our tummies went into override and demanded attention. We placated the gnarling sensations with ice cream and funnel cakes (although I can honestly say, mine are better) to tide us over until our outing drew closer an end. We finished our shivering bowls of sweets, zipped up our jackets and headed south toward muscle beach. Bj and AJ headed one direction with a scooter and a camera phone while Ash, Cars, Jack and I worked on our upper body strength with the different contraptions the city had to offer. The boys were mostly enamored with the slack lines and their bouncy bliss while Ash experimented with the parallel bars. Once AJ had his fill, or accepted exhaustion, we met back up and headed to the 3rd street promenade (where a Jamie-Lee Curtis portion of Freaky Friday was filmed) and ate at a New York Style Pizza place under their outdoor heat lamps. We finished out the night back at the house "prepping" for tomorrow by watching Harry Potter #5 (we had started the series before we left and that was the next one in the sequence).

Wednesday was the day I was looking forward to more than any other. It started off with a delectable plate of Pauls Pancakes to sustain us through lunch. We headed out later than we wanted, but "time enjoyed is never time wasted".

Before we left we bought tickets to Universal Studios, my favorite amusement park. I saw about a billion advertisements for the new Harry Potter world, (dedicated to the series of which I am slightly obsessed) to be opened April 7, and looked everywhere I could think, to see if there was a soft opening but nothing gave me hope except for a small buried review left the previous week stating "Harry Potter world was open for the day". I hung on to the hope and carried it with me through the entrance and felt it rise inside me the closer I got to the "world" entrance. My smallest hope was that some souvenirs would be available to pacify my HP burning. A larger hope was that the world would be open for perusing and photo-ops. But my biggest hope, my hope-of-all-hopes, was that the whole wizarding world would be open and accessible. Imagine my elation when we walked through the main Universal entrance and saw a Harry Potter shop, in front of a Harry Potter entrance, leading to Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Hagrids Hut, And many other landmarks from my favorite series! We even got a secret entrance grant because my cousin knew the "Broomstick-Ride" (which happened to be the most incredible ride I had ever been on)operator! We spent a good amount of time in that dream worthy land before heading off to explore the rest of what Universal had to offer.

Much has changed since the last time I went.... 20+ years ago, and it kept its status in my heart as my favorite park. Some of the crowd favorites were: Jurassic Park river tour, The Mummy ride, the backlot studio tour/Fast &Furious experience, Simpsons ride, Transformers ride, and of course Harry Potter's forbidden ride and flight of the Hippogriff. We also enjoyed many of the shows Universal has to offer even though the "Waterworld" show left us drenched through every layer for a couple of hours (and when my shorts dried, my rear end dime-sized-rip had spread to a 10 inch religion-exposing peep show!). A good time was had by all, and Bj and I really enjoyed having six kids for the day, making me, especially, long for a larger family but ever so grateful for the sweet one we've been blessed with. It was especially fun spending time with my incredible cousins!

When we returned to the serenity on Bentley Avenue, we relaxed and chatted for a bit, then eventually succumbed to sleep.

Thursday morning started off with a few bowls of cereal and showers all around. Hopefully our stay didn't put the White home over their public mandated water rations! We tried really hard to stick to the 3 minute sand timer inside the shower, but sometimes inevitable lingering occurred. Once our kids were all ready, we laced up our walking shoes and headed across the valley to Knott's Berry Farm.

Visiting during "Berry Days" saved us quite a bit of dough, but everyone in LA, and the surrounding area, had the same idea. Many of the lines were well over an hour long. In the humid, 80 degree, stagnant heat, it made us tired and grouchy. Ashlyn even got sick enough that she passed up the "horse" coaster (what?!). After a couple ridiculous lines, we decided to get some sustenance and some tummy treating Sprite to enhance our bodies and spirits. It worked like a charm and we were good to go!

Some of Knott's coasters were added to the kids "favorite coaster" lists. There were some pretty phenomenal rides there. We closed out the park and even dared to try some of their seasonal berry sauced chicken and beef on our way out. Our trip back was a lot faster than the trip there. And when we got back, The kids didn't even tell us good night before they collapsed in their beds. Bj and I sat and chatted with Paul and Bobby Flay for a few minutes before we followed suit.

Friday, we took the opportunity to sleep in....till 9:00, anyway. We consider that a great opportunity. We chatted with Suzanne about our plans for the day and mentioned wanting to take the kids to see "Zootopia". She informed us that the local theater it was showing at is the same one the stars go to to view world premieres. Although there wouldn't be any closed down streets or swathes of red carpets, we loved the idea of going even more. Our home-movie-going experiences have spoiled us and when we found out the theatre is a general-admission auditorium, we thought pre-purchasing tickets would be a good idea (even though Batman vs. Superman opened that day and we doubted the demand for "Zootopia" would outweigh it). With the kids fed and thoroughly engaged in reruns of "the Office", we took Suzanne up on the offer to drive Bj and I over to the theatre to pre-purchase tickets for the evening show.

The parking was in our favor, which was a bit of a waste because the theatre was not yet open. So we jumped back in and Suzanne took us home the long way pointing out different sights and suggestions to fill our day. We also got the scoop on where the local celebrities lived and were amazed at the vast size of the homes we saw. My favorite part of the tour was the diversity of the homes. For the most part, they were built in a time where thought and creativity went into the building process. (Not like the "throw them together as fast as we can" subdivisions around where we live now.). I also really enjoyed the UCLA campus. It is massive and, of course, absolutely gorgeous. (And We couldn't resist taking a pic of the entry gate to the PlayBoy mansion).

Once we got back we loaded up our beach gear, and Jack, then headed to the Santa Monica pier. This time we started on the boardwalk heading towards Venice beach and the skatepark there. Between the 4 kids we had 3 scooters. Most of the time, it was the 3 boys riding down the windy path while Bj, Ash and I perused the beachside shops. Once we arrived at the skatepark, AJ and Carson rolled around a bit (hesitantly... It was a "skateboard only" park but there were two sections and one looked separate enough that we could justify making up a different set of rules). With 4/6 of our group being spectators, staying 45 minutes was more than generous.

Heading back we caught a whiff of pizza and were glad we indulged. There's something therapeutic about eating vendor food in the shade of palm trees while listening to the din of passers by and the crashing lull of the Pacific.

The mythical sirens entranced us and we found ourselves in swim suits, sun screen and with two new boogie boards as we splashed and sunned on the shore near life guard tower #24. That moment was a glimpse of perfection as I watched my children peacefully collecting sea shells, gleefully running through the surf and actually getting along. I captured a couple time lapse videos that don't do the scene justice, but invoke the actual bliss of the moment.

As the sun met the horizon we headed back to the house where Paul and Suzanne treated us to one of their local take-out Persian faves (that makes my mouth water at the mere recollection). With satisfied souls and stomachs, we headed to the famous Westwood Village for what promised to be an epic viewing of "Zootopia". Shortly after the movie started, Bj and I looked around and realized we were easily the oldest ones in the theatre (apparently not all of the UCLA students fled for spring break).

After a surprisingly captivating cartoon, noting the time to be one minute after midnight, we decided to join the throngs of sugar-craving-night-owls and hopped in line at Diddy Riese. Cookies, ice cream, combinations of the two and one shaved ice: Surely a satisfying end to the epitome of a perfect day.

Saturday morning came with the sizzling sounds of bacon and the tantalizing aroma of brown sugar infused apples. Paul and Suzanne were creating a masterpiece! Carmeled apple German pancakes, (and regular ones for the picky eaters), pepper and onion hash browns, fresh fruit, brown sugar bacon and regular bacon, scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes, and a variety of beverage options. And to top it off, we ate it in the oasis that is their back yard. Never has there been a more perfect breakfast.

Knowing we needed to be on the road between 2-3 we decided to squeeze in one last excursion. We all fit beautifully in Pauls vehicle and headed through Hollywood to go to Griffith Park.

Being the last day of California's spring break, we weren't the only ones with the thought. Paul was astonished at the crowded one-lane road, but managed to find a decent parking spot about 3/4 mile from our destination, the observatory. Once we traversed the paved road, we reached the vantage point and were slightly overwhelmed at the incredible view. We got some great pictures, took in some sights and learned s bit about celestial navigation then treaded back down the hill to the car.

One thing we loved about this trip was that Carson was always holding someone's hand. Sometimes both. A little love security for all of us. Sigh. They grow up so fast.

Packing up went as smooth as butter and before we knew it we were saying our goodbyes. Usually when vacations are over I'm ready and excited to go back to the comforts of my own home, but not this time. I could have stayed forever! We loved everything about every second of this White family vacation. In fact, when asked what the "high and low" of the trip was, the kids unanimously stated the high was "everything" and the low was "nothing". And that says it all.

My "high" was that our kids could stand to be near each other without breaking into a fight!

We didn't dread our 14 hour drive back home because we planned another stop in Vegas to break it up (hesitantly, but glad we did... It gave us Saturday in LA). We made it to Vegas without hitting any traffic and were early enough that after a quick burger at McDonald's we took a dip in the Holiday Inn Express's pool and hot tub. The kids were excited about our room because we booked one that had a little sitting area with a hide-away bed so no one had to sleep in an institutional-style roll-away bed or on the floor.

Easter Sunday greeted us with a full hotel-provided breakfast buffet (that looked better than it tasted).

After check out then a quick gas stop, we were on our way to the chilly heights of the Wasatch front. The kids never once complained about not having a traditional Easter celebration that morning and looked forward to seeing some family that evening.

Traveling in our new Town and Country minivan was a treat. We had a variety of movies for the kids to watch and were spread out and comfortable with convenience at our fingertips. We felt extremely spoiled and blessed as we took time to reflect on the past week. It was an incredible adventure that will be etched forever in our hearts.