Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend Jeff's sister Jen got married in Porterville and Jeff was in the wedding.  Porterville is approx 5 hours from where we live so this trip with the kids took some planning.  Jeff had to be there on Friday so he left solo and then I followed with the kids on Saturday.  I must admit I was nervous to attempt this road trip alone with three kids - 6 years old and younger.  But with a lot of advance planning and some serious good luck the trip went very smoothly. 

I knew the kids would meltdown if I attempted to drive the whole way without at least one long stop.  So I packed a bunch of snacks in individual sandwich bags (to eliminate any possible sharing issues), some juice boxes, empty juice cups with lids, and of course our overnight bags and off we went Saturday morning.  Our first stop was the Stockton Children's Museum.  It was about an hour into the trip and would allow the kids to play in a contained environment.  Plus we have been there once before so I knew what to expect, which was nice. 



The future firemen.




Or maybe future vets.



Or farmers.

Or police officers.

Fun with the fun mirrors.

Joey took this pic for us.

After the museum we drove for about another hour before driving through McDonalds for Happy Meals.  Those empty juice cups with lids came in handy when the Happy Meals came with bottles of chocolate milk.  No way am I passing back a bottle of milk to a two year old.

After another 45 minutes the inevitable "I have to go potty" chorus began.  Since the thought of gas station bathrooms gives me nightmares I opted to stop at Baskin Robbins for ice cream and much nicer bathrooms instead.  The kids loved this idea!

We made it to the hotel just in time to meet up with Jeff, get changed, and load back into the car for the wedding.

Logan is wedding-ready with Pandi Bear in the elevator on the way to the car.

This was the first wedding for the kids and they did great! We sat in the back row in case I needed to make an escape  - but thankfully a quiet iPhone game kept Emmie's attention and the boys were on their best behavior.  Only once did Logan ask, "Is it over yet?" which did get a few chuckles from the next row up.

Patiently waiting for the ceremony to end so he could have cake!

It doesn't get much cuter than this! Daddy and his princess dancing together.

One of the coolest wedding ideas ever - let the kids decorate the dance floor (sidewalk chalk and concrete dance floor).
Logan was so excited to show me the heart he made for me.  LUV!

The very awesome DJ brought out a box of crazy hats for the kids.  Obviously our kids loved them.

This was the hat Logan kept on for the majority of the night.

The wedding was beautiful and thankfully very laid back.  From the unique "farmers market" favors to the family recipes served for dinner it was obvious that a lot of thought went into every detail. I know that we had a great time and for me the best part was when the dancing started.  Joey was so excited to dance with me, we danced for hours!  I will never forget dancing under the twinkly lights with my little man.  My other little man was using glow sticks to bang on a pumpkin like a drum for most of the night.  Emmie was either monopolizing Jeff, dancing with "the princess" who was of course the bride, or making new friends.  There were a couple songs when Jeff and I were able to dance with each other, but mostly I was twirling around Joey for the night.

Always wonderful to see family and to finally meet family we only really "know" through Facebook posts and pics.  All in all a great night and memories that will last a lifetime - what more can you ask for?

On the way back to the hotel from the wedding Joey said, "I'm scared to grow up and be a daddy." Why? "Because I don't know if I can be as good at it as my daddy is."  This will probably be one of those quotes you remember forever.  It was so spontaneous and heartfelt - my kids could not be luckier to have Jeff as their dad.  Of course we told Joey that he will be an awesome dad because Daddy will teach him how to do it. :o)

We got back to the hotel and headed straight to bed.  Me with Joey and Logan in one bed, Jeff with Emmie in the other bed.  I am pretty sure I woke up at least ten times last night sandwiched in between those boys -and their stuffed animals of course.  At least four of those wake ups were to the sound of Emmie rolling out of the bed on to the floor - see tomorrow's post for how I solved that one!

This morning we started off with the hotel continental breakfast...

Then we headed home but first planned a stop at the Fresno Zoo.  We had low expectations for the Fresno Zoo, assumed it would be small and we would be there an hour or two.  Ha were we wrong! That zoo was amazing and we were there for over four hours.

Joey was very excited that this zoo had bears!

One of the coolest zoo attractions I have ever seen, a "Dino Dig" where kids can brush and dig away gravel to uncover a buried TRex.  If we let them they easily would have done this for hours.

Emmie at Seal Cove watching the sea lions swim by.

Logan being Logan.

Emmie in the petting zoo.  This baby cow was so cute even Jeff said he would have trouble eating meat for awhile.  Well apparently "awhile" meant 20 minutes since he ordered a tri-tip sandwich for lunch!

Emmie's new caterpillar friend.

All in all it was a fun-filled weekend.  Even I can't believe how much we packed into 2 days! The kids had trouble picking their favorite thing from the weekend.  For me dancing at the wedding was my favorite activity and the baby orangutan at the zoo was my favorite animal (simply adorable but couldn't get a good photo!).  So happy to be home and to sleep in my own bed tonight.

On to the next adventure!