Macias Family Vacation - 2009

First off,  is anyone even reading this anymore?  I know, I know...its been FOREVER since I've posted.  Sorry!

Its been a busy and very eventful summer and I can't hardly believe that its almost over.  We started our vacation off by hitting the road and driving to California.  We gave ourselves too much time to get there so we added a night to our hotel and took the boys to the beach.  It was Ayden and Mason's first time to see the ocean.  I have missed seeing the ocean living in Texas.  Being from California, we were only a few hours from the ocean.  It would take us a whole day to drive to the ocean now.

We met up with some family in Anaheim and had a nice dinner together.  The next morning we hit Disneyland hard.  It was very exciting to be able to take the boys there and also to be able to share that experience with our family.  We rode lots of rides.  The boys loved it.  My sister who is very pregnant wasn't able to go on many of the rides so she was the designated kid watcher.  She hung out with Mason and Ayden when he didn't want to go.  Most of the rides didn't take that long to go thru so that was good.

Family all left the next afternoon after we met for breakfast.  Dominic, the boys and I hit Disneyland one more time then made it over to California Adventure for a couple of hours.  After that it was time for us to hit the road and head to Las Vegas.  Its about a 4-5 hour drive, so not too bad.  Mason slept almost the entire way there...poor baby was whooped!  We arrived at our friends house late and they were in the garage waiting for us to pull in.  The boys made themselves right at home.  Its always great to see them.We were able to get a babysitter one night and go out with JR and Amanda to Margaritaville on the strip.  Great food, great drinks and great company.  We had a blast...while it lasted :)

Amanda and I

Amanda and JR watched the boys for us for 4 nights while Dominic and I stayed at the Luxor.  It was the first time we had spent an extended period of time alone together without the children since our honeymoon.  It was so great.  We saw Carrot Top perform and also went to a Cirque de Sole show called Zumanity.  It was H-O-T!  We ate at great restaurants and shopped.  The walking got old quick though.  We decided that our next vacation...whenever that may be...will be more relaxing.

The day before we left Vegas to head home we were able to visit and spend time with one of our best friends that we met when we were stationed in England along with JR and Amanda.  Laurie and her sister-in-law flew into Vegas the night before and we got to spend some time with them the next day.  We haven't seen Laurie since before we left England almost 4 years ago.  Her husband, Ben and their new baby boy, Liam stayed in Montana so we didn't get to see them.  We are hoping to plan a England reunion trip next year though.  We had the best of friends there and its just not the same without all of them.

Our trip was long and exhausting but we had a great time.  We made lots of memories for the boys and our whole family.  I am still excited that we were able to take them to Disneyland.  

Now we are getting into the mindset for school to start.  Ayden starts Pre-K this year and will be in school 5 days per week, all day.  Christian is going into 4th grade.  I can't believe that I have a 4th grader!  It goes fast.

I'm going to try to post to my blog a little more often now that things should be settling down...I hope!