The road and the beach; our vacation beginning.

We were so ready to go on vacation.

So.Ready.

We had driven to Vegas with our kids a couple summers before for the Chromosome 18 conference, so we were confident that we could at least make it that far in the car without major incident.

These headphones played a gigantic role.  They were lovely, and Deak did not figure out how to take them off (until the way home). Therefore, Blair and I were able to listen to all the 90's on 9 (best satellite station ever) we wanted.

We stayed the night in Summerlin, outside of Vegas (didn't want to do the smoky strip with a recovering Deak) and relaxed. We actually wished we wouldn't have made the reservation and just driven to Anaheim. It was that easy.

(Note to self: there is always a calm period before the storm).

None the less, it was a relaxing evening, Deak slept in his porta-crib inside the bathroom, Blair and Ab saw the new Wimpy Kid movie and I watched American Idol.

We got to Anaheim the next afternoon, after making a pit stop in Baker, which Blair and Ab quite aptly designated "Radiator Springs."

A few minutes after that pit stop, I re-learned a lesson that I apparently cannot get enough of: when to shut my mouth.

Abby mentioned, "Hey mom. All the people in Radiator Springs did not look alike."

Uh, ya.  Blair and I turned the clueless look onto each other, hoping we had not raised a child from white-bread Utah with no sense of culture.

"Ab, what do you mean?" I asked cautiously, not knowing if attempting to understand this was a good idea.

"Well, remember when we watched that one show with all those women and you told me everyone looks the same in California. They don't here."

Crap. Yep, I did remember. Yep, that show we were watching may or may not have been "The Real Housewives of Orange County." Yep, I most definitely made that comment in response to Abby's unlimited questioning as to why the women on the show all looked the same. 

(Don't judge, I was trying to figure out what Tamara and the new chick were fighting about.)

Lesson learned. Again. At least I was able to clarify which areas of California I was referring to:)

Upon arrival, we immediately noticed that although our hotel was very nice, our room was very small. AKA Deak could not fit inside the bathroom. 

This was not good.

We debated actually buying two rooms, even though we don't have that kind of money, because we knew this was going to be rough.  Dave Ramsey got the best of us, and we chose to tough it out; and tough it out we did.

(I'll just clearly say at this point, we will never, I repeat never, travel again without saving enough money for at least a one room suite. )

Deak needs his space (and maybe so do I).

At least we had a balcony...a pretty awesome one.
We got to watch the Disney fireworks every single night.

We unpacked, relaxed for a few seconds, and headed to Huntington Beach to meet Jane and Jake for dinner. We got there early enough to let the kids play around for a while. 

 My favorite beach picture, not taken with fancy camera, just my iphone.

Deak, bless his heart, was still weaning from Prednisone, and having a difficult time with any new environment or transition.  The first hour at the beach, he cried.  After that hour of assimilation, he loved it.  He was even well-behaved at dinner. 

We ate over the ocean at Ruby's on the Pier and Abby was in Heaven.  I think she literally asked to go back out into the ocean (clothed) at least 55 times.  Coming from our pseudo-winter, the California temperatures felt like 80 degrees (even though they were more like 45 or 50 that night).

Love the beach, wish we could have had more time there.  I am happy we were able to at least make an appearance and visit for a few minutes with friends that we haven't seen in a long time.

It was a great beginning.