Soulful Gumbo: Trip to LA and Disneyland

We recieved some sad news a few days before spring break, that Jon's grandpa was not doing well. It was a sad situation but also provided the family with some relief when he passed away because he had been slowly slipping away for awhile. We wanted to be there to celebrate his life so we made arrangements to go to the funeral. Since it was spring break we took advantage and made it a bit of an extended trip. First of all, let me describe to you the sight we brought in the airport. IF you have multiple small children then you have lived this before but it was crazy. We had; two adults, two children (one of walking ability one not), 3 backpacks (Aaron is a ticket passenger so we brought him a carry on), two carseats, a stroller (single), and two suitcase. So, how do two adults carry all of this? We are still asking ourselves this. Once we finally made it to the ticket counter I managed to snap this

It is a long way to travel and at last minute, flights are...well expensive. So, in order to cut cost and keep from traveling in the weeee hours of the night we took two flights to get there. I decided that the shorter lay over would mean a shorter day of travel. I however did not think about how long it would take us to get our crew from one plane to the next in only 45 minutes. Thankfully our flight coming in was on time and our gates were pretty close together. We worked out a system as we walked through the airport where I would take one kid in and change their diaper, while Jon kept walking to get food. I would meet him and swap kids, as he continued walking to the gate. Once both children were changed I would eat the food Jon brought me to the gate. It was hectic but we made it...and we even had time for them to stretch their legs a bit before we got on the next plane.

Due to the time difference we made it there early afternoon and had the opportunity to walk and pick Olivia and Grady (Jon's cousins who are in 4th and 5th grade) up from school. The weather was beautiful so the kids played at the park for a little while after we got there.

Although it was a sad time, it was also a wonderful time to spend with family that you don't see very often. Olivia and Grady were so good with Aaron and let him play with them even when he was probably too little.

We flew in on Tuesday and the funeral was on Thursday. We had a day to kill so Grandma, Grandpa, an Uncle and some great aunts and great uncles...watched Jacob while Mommy, Daddy, Aaron and Auntie Shawna went to Disneyland. Here are a few pictures from the day. We were even able to get an hour and a half nap in amongst all the fun.

Aaron had a great time. He loved the rides, but really prefered the ones that were open to the ouside I think. He was absolutely exhausted and quite possibly over stimulated the whole day.

Thursday was the funeral and I am very sad that I did not snap any picture of family that was gathered together.

The big boys even let Aaron play legos, he was in heaven!

On Friday we decided to take Aaron to California Adventure since that had more of the Disney Jr. and Pixar characters that he would know. This day Jacob came with us and Laura met up with us late in the day. We stayed until the parade at the end of the day becuase I figured he would love seeing all of those characters.