Back in Town

We are back, but part of me feels like I am still on vacation -- the part of me that wants to look at each day as a new adventure (and with all six kids out of school, what day isn't a new adventure?). I am so glad we took a trip right off the bat this summer. It helped to break the tension that was building with all the time commitments, end of school activities and concerts, and just the daily grind of getting the kids off to school. It was so great to put my responsibilities on hold and concentrate on nothing more than bare minimum of keeping bodies clean, tummies full, and clothes organized so I could just ENJOY my kids and remember why I got into this motherhood gig in the first place.

Our trek to the LA area included Six Flags, Venice beach, the California Science Center, and and visiting my sister and her family:). I am so glad that my kids are pretty easy going, because it is hard to please everyone. Some of the kids love roller coasters, others don't (although there was enough of a variety at six flags for everyone to do things they like), some kids liked the beach, others didn't want to touch the water. Some kids loved the science museum, some would rather be doing something else. But they were all willing to go along with their "unfavorite" without too much complaint. I am so thankful for that.

We packed a ton of food to eat at the hotel and also hit a couple of fast food joints along the way, but I also wanted to include a "sit down" restaurant in our vacation experience, one where they order from a menu that is not hung above them on the wall and a waiter/ress brings you your meal. The closest we ever really get to that is a buffet style restaurant where they might serve a soft drink at your table.


A Denny's close to our hotel was our chosen site to dine, a family friendly restaurant that wouldn't be too surprised by child antics. When we first settled into our booth I was a little glad that we were "practicing" eating at a restaurant out of town, but the kids settled down quickly. We managed to make it through with a moderate noise level, a minimal amount of kids crawling under the table, and we only spilled two drinks. Success! When we got up to leave Charity (9) asked what we were supposed to do with our dishes. When we told her that it would be cleaned up for us her eyes got really wide. "Really? That is SO NICE," she said.


I don't have many pictures to share as I took a disposable camera into six flags and haven't had that developed yet, and I found that my camera battery had died when I got to the beach, but here are a couple from the hotel pool and the science museum.

What kid could resist knocking that down?

Kickin' it at the pool.