And So It Begins . . .: McClarty Family Vacation

It's kind of surprising to me, but we haven't been on a solo family vacation with the kids until now. We're very lucky in that we've traveled to some neat spots with other family members and have friends and family that we have visited and stayed with. We however have never, as our four person family, gone by ourselves anywhere on a vacation, that all changed last week!!! We spent five days together, fighting bad weather, but also enjoying each others company and having some memorable adventures. Reed actually had pretty good behavior for most of the trip and seemed really appreciative of all of our little outings. Kieran was battling two molars coming in and didn't sleep very well at night, couple that with messing with his nap most days, and we definitely had some major meltdowns (on a daily basis). To his credit Kieran did rock his potty training and was in underwear all day everyday and only had a few accidents at the house and absolutely no accidents while out, so a huge win there!!!

We rented a house in Carlsbad, CA for the week. As we got closer to leaving, the forecast did not look promising - 80% chance of rain Monday, 100% chance Tuesday through Thursday, and 20% chance on Friday. Santa had given the boys a trip to LEGOLAND as part of their gift so we knew if nothing else we had to at least make it there, so we left as early as we could Monday morning and arrived to LEGOLAND in time to eat an early picnic lunch and head into the park. This is a great place for younger kids because they can go on so many rides, plus there are Lego building stations and Lego playgrounds scattered throughout the park. The first hour and a half was great, we went on a couple of rides, and then the dark clouds started to move in. Kieran and I played in the Star Wars miniland and a Lego playground while Jon and Reed waited to go on his first official roller coaster. Sadly they were next in line when is started pouring and the ride had to be shut down. After walking in the rain for a bit we found an indoor ride that we did twice and then a theatre that was showing a short length movie. It worked out perfectly and by the time it was over the rain had stopped. The rest of the afternoon it showered on and off but we were able to fit in a few more rides and find a little market that had some Reed friendly snacks.

Literally falling asleep on an airplane themed ride

He was so excited when he spotted Yoda

Reed's first roller coaster ride

Monday night we got to our rental after a stop at Trader Joes and settled in. I had made meatballs and frozen them the week before and brought them with us so I just had to make some pasta and vegetables and dinner was ready. It rained quite a bit overnight and the next morning it was still raining. We found an indoor trampoline place in San Marcos and went there to burn off some energy, then headed to Blingy's house to pick her up. We went back to the rental, had lunch, she gave the boys some Christmas gifts, read books, and played some games. We were planning on her staying for another hour or so when it started to rain harder than I think I've ever seen. Kieran had been napping for less than an hour and the downpour scared him so badly I couldn't get him back to sleep (keep in mind he had a rain soundmachine going in his room at the time). The rain let up a little and we decided it was best to get Blingy home before the next wave hit. After saying our goodbyes we stopped at a Jamba Juice for a snack and picked up Chipotle to take home for dinner (it is nice knowing of a few chain restaurants that Reed can eat at so I can relax a bit and not spend an entire vacation cooking and researching).