Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Thanksgiving Trip 2023 - San Francisco - Day 1

Wednesday morning we woke up early like we usually do (around 5:30), got ready, & instead of heading to school/work, we hopped into the van & took off for San Francisco.  The kids were SO excited.  I had filled each of their canvas bags with road trip snacks & they were SO happy.  Trek realized the night before that he had a huge thumb drive that could hold most of our DVD videos on it & that it plugged into our van’s entertainment system so our kids could pick from 100 different movies on the trip.  The only problem was that if you turned off the car (when you get gas or have a bathroom/lunch break), the movie stops & you can go back to where you ended. . . you have to start all over again!  Something we’ll have to look at & adjust for our next road trip.

Taya started us out on our journey.  She wasn’t too happy about it at first (she HATES driving), but she drove from our house through the city & out past the Salt Lake.  She drove for over an hour & we were very proud of her.  She told us afterward that once you get going on the freeway, it’s not bad at all.  Trek drove after her for a bit, then I took a turn while Trek took a nap.  It was a LONG drive.  It took over 11 hours to get there.  We stopped for gas twice, once in NV & once in San Rafael (for $6.00 a gallon!!!).  We got Arby’s for lunch & drove the rest of the way eating snacks.


We arrived around 5pm which was much earlier than we anticipated.  I always forget that we gain an hour when we cross over into NV which is nice.  Tylee was SO excited to see us.  Opa & Oma, Grandma Kinsfather (who is 97), & Tuhk were all there at Tylee’s house.  And of course we were excited to see Jeff, Olive, & Phoenix as well.  It was going to be a great weekend.




Olive insisted on a pizza & pool party for Wednesday night & my kids were all for that.  They put their swim suits on & jumped into Tylee’s pool & hot tub.  Utah has been SO cold lately that a 105 degree hot tub was heaven.  Olive had a blast with the kids & Phoenix asked me to sit by her in the water.  She held my hand the whole time.  I think she was a little nervous with so many people around. 

Tylee ordered some yummy pizza & wings & we enjoyed a night of listening to Christmas music by the outside fire pit.  The kids made s’mores & continued to swim until late.  Around 9, we finally got everyone inside, cleaned up, & ready for bed.  Opa, Oma, Grandma, & Tuhk all stayed at Tylee’s friend’s house & we found places to sleep at Tylee’s house.  Trek & I were in Lucas’ room, Craiger & Canyon were in Drew’s room (though Canyon got the bed to himself because Craiger wanted to sleep in the giant love sack), Bladen slept in the office on the couch there, & Taya slept with Olive in her bunk beds.  It was super fun.  Olive & Phoenix wanted to put “make up” on everybody before we went to bed.  I was so happy that they were comfortable around us.  We just love those girls so much.





 

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