Mommiedom

I really enjoyed the parade but it was so awesome to actually go have an up and close look at all the floats. The detail is amazing on them as well as the organic material usage. It is like a puzzle to figure tout what they used to cover a certain item on a float.

My favorite float was the Phoenix and the rest of the family was the hippo (she released balloons that looked like bubbles during the parade).

Another rumoring of getting up at 3:30 am in order to get us all ready to get breakfast prior to heading back on the bus for the the trip to Rose parade in Pasadena. We got down for Breakfast at 4:30 because we were warned they might run out and I did not want to have hungry kids at the parade. After Miss O nearly burned down the place with her croissant getting stuck (it happen to me the next day), we headed to the bus all bundled up because it was super cold- actually it was the coldest rose Parade on record.


My father in law did a great job gutting us to Pasadena and to where the bus was parked. After we sat for awhile because it was cold, we headed out of the bus to our seats which were somewhere on Colorado.  We finally found our seats and were those bleachers cold. I don't think my feet warmed up for a good hour after we got back on the bus.

The parade finally reached us around 8:50 and it was exciting to see all of the bands, floats, and horses.

We have now come to the meat of our road trip - the three day bus trip that my in-laws were so wonderful in coordinating for us.

We got up early like three thirty am to get ready, pack up the car, and travel about thirty minutes to the pick up location in Mesa plus it was raining in Phoenix which is rare.  So here we were off to get on the big bus which the kids were literally vibrating with excitement because they couldn't wait to see Papa at work.

We waited and dozed in the van until I hear from the boy that the bus was here. That kid can be so poky sometimes but he instantly got out of the van and grabbed his suitcase and backpack to literally run to the waiting bus. We all followed suit and loaded onto the waiting bus which was nice a toasty (it was cold that morning) and started to head west again.

We all dozed on the bus as we headed for a few more pickups and finally stopped for the first time in Quartzsite which I guess has an interesting bookstore and huge flea market starting in January. I would love to go there again and explore. It was so interesting there.

Again we war off again and made another comfort stop for bathrooms and snacks somewhere in California. Truthfully I dozed quite a bit even through the thralling Rose Parade video that my Mother in Law had put on (someone had asked for us to watch it again and thankfully we couldn't).

We started our drive through LA to Newport Beach which was our first official stop to be tourists in. We stopped and had some lunch and he kids were super excited to see the Pacific ocean which was super cold.

We took our third road trip in seven months but this time instead of north we went west and we surprised the kids with the trip on Christmas Eve. Wow were they excited when they found out we were headed to see the famous Rose parade in Pasadena, California.

The hubby and I decided in September (not soon after our last road trip) to take the trip and than we decided to well not tell the kids. It was a hard secret to keep and almost got blown a few times either by one of us or by an innocent by stander that who mentions something in passing. Two days before, I  about let the cat out of the bag when I set the house key out and mentioned I needed to give it to someone. My daughter zeroed in on it and asked why?  Totally off the cuff, made up an excuse and well she believed it. Whoooo- close one.

So when were Facetiming with the Grandparents and we decided to tell them why they were on. Wow were the kids excited about it. They were excited to see their Grandparents in Arizona as well as going to see the parade (which Miss O had seen two years prior). So I frantically than packed four people up, and got ready to travel about 3200 miles in 8 days. It was an amazing trip and lots of fun plus low gas prices really helped out.

So off we were headed west on I-10 through Texas- about 1200 miles of driving. We drove 650 miles the first day to Van Horn, Texas. A small rural yet tourist area. It is a typical small town with the western style buildings and a small corner diner.

As we got off the interstate, we saw a variety of different motels but one hotel stood out the Hotel El Captain. It was a retro but updated Hotel that had an adorable dining room as well as a good breakfast (Texas shaped waffles are a plus). We had a great night's sleep and were off the next morning. In the future, we will reserve our room at this charming place.