I love my relatives

Have you picked up on the fact that we took a family trip to San Diego? With my sister and family? And my mother? And joined 12 other relatives?

Being with my relatives was great. I love hearing about their lives. I love hugging and kissing them. I love playing with their kids. My best image: standing outside TGI Friday's while the kids chased and laughed hysterically under the moonlight. Future note: amusement parks, even kid-friendly ones on the off-season, do not lend themselves to huge groups of people hanging out together.

there is no such thing as too much pre-planning

My sister did fabulous pre-planning. She not only did the basics—travel, housing, transportation—she planned our days and got discounted tickets to all events.

I also get credit for thinking through the food needs of my special diet kids. Might we have pizza one night? I happen to have four gluten-free pizzas in my suitcase.

Even so, our most stressful moments were the "what should we do? where should we eat? who is still in the bathroom?" times.

I have a toddler

If I go into Legoland with the attitude "I am the mother of a small child. I get to do nothing for myself," I actually have a fine time. If I go in with the attitude "would you please stop needing to eat and poop and be carried and be watched and be carried and eat. . ., so I can go on a roller coaster" I get a wee bit resentful. With a couple attitude adjustments, I had a great time at all three events—Legoland, the zoo, and Seaworld. I got to see the incredibly hokey and just as wonderful whale show. I got to see manatees eating lettuce, pandas eating bamboo, koalas eating eucalyptus, Rose eating French fries, and I did get to go down a rollercoaster—twice.

We stayed with Aunt Thelma and Uncle Ray, my brother-in-law's aunt and uncle. (I bet some cultures have a specific term for our relationship.) On the one hand, staying in a home is so much nicer than a hotel. Thelma gets up at 5:00, so I got company for the morning shift. At times she was cutting up my banana while I blocked David from the toilet bowl cleaner. Thelma and Ray were both wonderful with the kids. They let Rose twirl their living room chairs and didn't bat an eye when she proceeded to jump in them.

On the other hand, even in their relatively baby-proofed house, I could not take my eyes and hands off David for a second. Oy.

wear my back brace at all times

I seem to have survived the trip with my back intact. I had some twinges for sure, but I also sat in airplanes, slept on soft beds, and carried David a lot, an awful lot.

eat more luna bars

Correction on above, my most stressful moments were when I went insane from hunger. I'm not officially hypoglycemic, but I have plenty of the signs. If I don't get food regularly, I discombobulate. And even worse, I have trouble making myself eat when I get that bad.

Luna bars aren't great. They aren't terrible. They certainly aren't the fun food you might want to eat on vacation, but I need to lump it and eat one every two hours.

drink more water

John calls water "happy juice." My need for regular water intake is just as strong as food.

Whine alert: It is a pain in the neck to stay hydrated when traveling. First, you have to dump your water bottles before you get through airport security. So, then you have to remember to refill. Water is heavy, so you carry a small water bottle. That means more refills. The amusement park vendors would be happy to sell you a tiny bottle for 2.50. Getting the bottle means hunting through the backpack. . .

Enough with the whining, I figured out I should refill the water bottles every time I went to the bathroom. That helped some.

my favorite parts of the trip

getting to talk to cousin Steve for 10 uninterrupted minutes

holding Sasha

seeing David sign broom

the sun

the stars