We did it! Daddy and I took three young kids across the country and managed to keep our sanity (relatively) intact!
We just returned from our first cross-country vacation as a party of five and it went really well. We traveled to Berkeley to visit Uncle Dennis and Auntie Audris (and their new baby, Finn!) and Daddy and I were nervous about the trip because, well, 3 kids, airport, 5-hour flight, luggage, car seats, ugh. Plus, we had a 7:30am flight out of Newark, which meant we had to get there at 5:30am, which meant we had to leave the house at 4:30am, which meant we practically had to wake you guys up as soon as we put you to bed the night before. When I woke JieJie up, she told me, "I'm full of yawns."
GuhGaw, JieJie and you are obviously not accustomed to waking up when it is pitch black outside but getting you guys up, dressed and packed into the car (along with our diaper bag, a backpack filled with snacks and toys for the flight, Daddy's laptop bag, our carry-on suitcase, our large suitcase AND the stroller and stroller bag, whew) was actually easier than expected. We made it through security surprisingly quickly and arrived at our gate just as the sun was rising. We bought breakfast sandwiches and it was cool to sit and eat them as we watched the sky wake up and see the blazing orange sun rise over Manhattan. It was the first time you guys had watched the sunrise.
The flight to California was also easier than expected. I kept you occupied with stickers, activity books, Play-Doh and snacks and let you watch TV for the last hour. All three of you behaved and there were zero meltdowns. Success!
We spent five days exploring Berkeley with Uncle Dennis, Aunt Audris and Finn and did a lot of fun things: went for a hike in Tilden Regional Park, discovered the awesomeness of Keva Planks at the Lawrence Hall of Science, celebrated Daddy's birthday at Farm Burger, spent a peaceful day amid the gigantic redwood trees in Muir Woods, saw elephants at the Oakland Zoo and rode a steam train through the forest.
We did have to make one unexpected stop on our itinerary: the children's hospital in Oakland. It was supposed to rain on our first day in Berkeley but it turned out to be sunny and clear, so we decided to go hiking in Tilden Park. We found a nice trail and GuhGaw, JieJie and I were walking ahead while you and Daddy were several feet behind us. You ran to catch up to us but stumbled, landed on your face and scraped it really badly on the concrete. You howled, there was a lot of blood, it was awful. We cleaned you up and you seemed okay but when we got back in the car, you suddenly looked really drowsy, your eyes kind of glazed over and you were not your normal, alert, chipper self. I got scared that you might have a concussion so we drove to the nearest emergency room.
So there we were, waiting in the ER. It was 6pm in California (so it felt like 9pm to us), we hadn't eaten dinner and we'd all been up since 3am, New York time. The three of you must have been so exhausted but none of you whined, complained or pouted--Daddy and I were very proud of you. And when the doctor examined you, he said you were fine and showed no signs of a concussion. You had some pretty terrible scrapes across your entire face but they were just surface wounds and would heal quickly; luckily, you hadn't broken any skin or knocked out any teeth. Yeesh, what a way to start our vacation.
Thankfully, there were no more traumatic incidents during the rest of the trip and we had a great time on the West Coast.
Love,
Mom
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