Vacationing in the Giant Pig!!

So Friday came and we decided that we needed a vacation. We have spent the last couple of weekends, cleaning out the garage, working on our backyard and painting inside the house.

We wanted it to be a surprise for Jaidyn so we didn't tell her where we were going. We went online and got a great deal through AAA for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Ca.

Well we did something that we swore we would never do!! We rented a minivan for our trip, we ended up nicknaming it the "Gigantic Pig" because of it's round porkiness and robust figure. So we are now officially "closet minivan drivers" My mom and dad went along for the trip with us, dad kept saying "you know you're going to want to buy one of these". I do have to say it was very convenient when we had to load and unload the kids and attending to their many needs during the trip. It never fails the minute we get on the highway someone has to go potty, wants juice, a bottle, fishies, or the station changed, turned up, turned down, its too hot, too cold, roll down the window, its too windy roll the window up. If there's one thing we have learned it's a lot different having 3 children versus just 1. More diapers to carry, more formula to pack, more treats and more of everything including time needed to prepare for your trip. I always seem to not allow enough time for the preparation for a trip, we had intended on leaving our house at 6 am. By the time we got everything loaded and headed out the door it was 10 a.m. No worries we thought, something that we have come to realize is to just go with the flow, it seems to work a lot better then trying to stick to a strict schedule.

It was driving Jaidyn crazy because she still didn't know where we were going, we did a great job in keep it a secret. All she knew was that we were going to California. She kept saying, "I know where we're going, we're going to a hotel" Nope, it's not a hotel. Then she would say "no, don't tell me".

We stopped at Fry's to get a digital camera. I lost mine a few weeks ago, after we took the kids to the Shriner's Circus. I was so bummed because I had some great pictures on there, I figured I had lost it in the Macaroni Grill parking lot. We ended up getting a great Cannon camera.

We finally arrived in Vallejo. Jaidyn kept looking for the place where we might be going, as we came around the bend there on the right side of the highway were rollercoasters and rides galore! Jaidyn's eye's got so big and she just said "oh my Gosh! Is that where we're going?" She was so excited she could barely contain herself. We parked the car and decided to walk to the gates. When we got inside we decided to let Jaidyn lead the way. We ended up on the rafting rides. Jaidyn chickened out right before we got on, but with a little coaxing she decided to hop on and off we went. We were doing okay and staying dry until we came to the waterfall. Jaidyn and I ended up going right underneath the falls, I shielded her to try and keep her dry and I ended up soaked to the bone. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay warm, it took a good 3 hours to finally dry off. I made the mistake of going to the bathroom while my clothes were still wet, the toilet paper kept sticking to my clothes and shoes. I was so worried that I was going to walk out with a trail of paper straggling behind me.

We had a great time at Six Flags. John and my dad rode all the rollercoasters. The first ride they went on was the Vertical Velocity. Jaidyn was so worried about Grandpa, mostly about his hat, while mom worried about him having a heart attack. While they were standing in line, we were off to the side waiting. I started digging through the diaper bag for some treats for the kids and I couldn't believe what I found!!! My camera, the one I thought I had lost a few weeks back in the Macaroni Grill parking lot. I was so happy to find it, it was filled with great pictures and there it was. Then I got really mad, it's just my luck that I would go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a new camera and then within an hour find the original camera that I had thought was lost. I had checked the diaper bag 3x before chalking it up as a lost camera, I swear it was not in there! John and my dad both survived the Vertical Velocity and were raring to go on another rollercoaster. I ended up going on the Boomerang with them. As I got closer to the top I almost chickened out. Fighting back the older wiser me, I told myself if you chicken out now, you'll be that old unadventurous mother that I always swore I would never be. So I sucked it up, hopped on the ride and kept my eye's closed the entire time. When the ride was over I was so dizzy, I had a hard time walking and keeping my balance. I'm sure I was quite a site to see. What a fun ride though, so from there we went on the Kong and the Medusa, both of which were very fast with lots of twists and turns. I made it through alive.

We left the park at about 7:30 p.m. We decided to ride the trolley back to the car, it was freaking freezing outside! The trolley driver was an older woman with a very bad attitude. She definitely didn't like her job much. I have always wondered why somebody who doesn't enjoy working with people would choose a job working with people! I felt pretty bad for her because she just didn't seem happy, although if I had to drive people back and forth in a trolley all day long, I probably wouldn't be that pleasant of a person either.

After stopping for some food at On the Border (I miss that place here in Reno) we headed back home. It was close to 11 p.m. at this time. We reached the pass and what do you know? It was Snowing! Of course it would be snowing, why wouldn't it, it's only April!!! We made it safely over the pass and picked up the Suburban at Boomtown, transferred all of our belongings, kids etc.. and John drove our beloved, Gigantic pig back to the Car rental company.

Our mini vacation turned out to be a great time! Jaidyn went as far as to say it was the best vacation yet! I asked her "better than Disneyland?" She said "oh, yes, because it's like Disneyland, Sea World, and the Zoo all in one" So our surprise was totally worth it! We all had the break we needed and have been fully recharged.