San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the beach, and Disneyland into one week was really a rational idea. But nevertheless we survived, & managed to have a fabulous time even as we ran our kids into the ground!I've learned a few things while on vacation that I thought might be useful information for anyone else who may be considering an undertaking such as ours with small children.
1. Take your child to the potty before the ride, EVEN if he insists that he doesn't have to go. Especially if the ride is a safari tram that is 35 minutes long!! This will save you the considerable embarrassment of having to push him into the corner & forcing him to pee off the side of the tram as it moves through a simulated African safari environment!
2. When you step off the elevator at your hotel, double check to make sure you are on the right floor. This way you can avoid spending 5 minutes trying to open your "room" without actually looking up at the room number to verify if it is indeed your room & then realizing you aren't even on the 3rd floor.
3. Do some research before randomly selecting a place to take the kids for dinner. Calling a restaurant & asking them if they are "child friendly" doesn't necessarily work. The girl who answered the phone at the House of Blues obviously doesn't have a 3 year old & a 9 month old or else you wouldn't have ended up there with your terrified 3 year old cowering behind you. And he would have gotten to eat his dinner with his eyes open!
4. Your GPS systems means nothing...especially if your husband is driving! Make sure to take a compass & study a few maps ahead of time so you have a fighting chance at making it anywhere! This will also lessen the amount of time you will have to hear your children screaming in the back seat.
5. If you are planning to do laundry while on your trip, STAY in the laundry area and guard those clothes! Otherwise you may end up with someone elses unmentionables in with your darks, & 5 pairs of thick fluffy colored socks in with your whites...& that's not the worst part!! You may then have to hear from the owner of the "unmentionables" all about said "unmentionables" & how they ended up in your laundry in the first place!
Can you believe we want to do this again next year?!?
Well, at least I'll be prepared.
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Angie is passionate about adoption. She has been married to her best friend for 11 years and is the SAHM two beautiful boys. She loves photography, digital scrap booking, cooking and sunny days. When she is not cleaning up after her incredibly messy 3 1/2 year old or wiping slobber off of her incredibly slobbery 9 month old, she can be found writing on her blog The Blessings of Adoption
