November 29-December 8, 2013
We hadn't been to Southern California for quite some time. And Wendy (our sister-in-law- Jeremy's girlfriend) and I decided we needed to take the kiddos to Disneyland. And what more perfect time than late November/early December when the weather there is nice, most kids are in school, and before the rush of the holidays.
We stayed the night in Las Vegas on our way out. Chris had a half off Groupon for a nice hotel so that was fun! We arrived fairly late and Chris was tired so we didn't really get to do anything fun there. But the following morning we met up with Chris' cousin Danielle, Aaron, and their five children for breakfast. They just happened to be there for a football tournament I believe it was. After breakfast we continued on to San Juan Capistrano where we stayed the night with Chris' Aunt Sherri and Uncle Craig.
That night, Saturday night, Sierra got sick and vomited several times and had diarrhea. We later found out that there was a Norovirus outbreak in Las Vegas the just as we were passing through. Bummer. It put quite a damper on our trip.
The next day, Sunday, Sierra was a little weak but feeling much better. She still managed to have fun in the sand at the San Clemente Pier. It was a lovely first day of December!!!
That evening Chris' brother, Jeremy, and his family, Wendy and David arrived at Aunt Sherri's. It was wonderful seeing them again! It had been a little over a year.
On Monday we went to Disneyland with them, Grandma, and Aunt Sherri, her son David, and her grand daughter Kate. It was a blast until....
Grandma
Wendy and David
Keira vomited after her first fairly bumpy ride. It was terrible. Not knowing about the Norovirus, we thought it was just motion sickness because she had been totally fine all day. After vomiting she said she felt just fine so we went on another ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. During it she started not feeling so great and afterwards she vomited again. By this time I realized we had a problem, a little more serious than motion sickness. The rest of the gang went on some other rides and super sweet Wendy stayed with me while I tried to take care of sick Keira who now had explosive diarrhea as well, and Sierra. It was horrible. And I felt soooo bad. Wendy was just an angel and helped me so much, even exposing herself to Keira's germs. I don't know what I would have done without her.
We had been planning this trip for sooo long, I had been saving since the summer, and we kind of ruined it for everyone, and ourselves. By the time Chris got back it was starting to get dark anyway, so we called it a day. That night I had vomiting and diarrhea as well.
It was also horrible because nobody wanted to be near us- which you certainly can't blame them. We had planned on visiting three other families but couldn't because we were sick. We couldn't really get close to Grandma. And we were so nervous we were going to get everyone sick. Not to mention, there were some yucky messes created when you have two little ones sick.
The next day Keira and I were no longer sick, just very weak and tired so we took a nice long nap while the rest of the family (besides Chris and Sierra) went back to Disneyland. Good thing the bad part, nausea and vomiting lasted less than eight hours. Somehow Chris avoided getting sick the entire trip.
On Wednesday, Jeremy, Wendy, David, and Grandma had to drive back home. We were feeling good and went down to San Diego to visit the temple. It's just spectacular!! Sooooooo beautiful!!!! (I especially wanted to visit it because it will be Colton's temple. I received my endowment at the Denver Temple when I was pregnant with Keira, so she has a picture of that temple in her room. I went to the Newport Beach Temple when I was pregnant with Sierra so she has that picture.) Chris was so sweet to let me do initiatories for about an hour. He took the girls down to the beach. I would've stayed at the temple much longer had I known he would do that.
On Thursday we went back to Disneyland. We had a hard time decided between going back to Disneyland or California Adventure. We decided on Disneyland. I guess we'll just have to go back to visit California Adventure another time. It was much better this time! Nobody got sick! It was a little cooler but we all stayed warm and had a blast! I think "It's a Small World" was my favorite ride. It was just beautiful!
Unfortunately that night Keira got sick again with vomiting and diarrhea. Whew!
We headed home on Saturday and got caught in a terrible snow storm starting in Arizona, of all places! We stayed the night in Beaver, Utah after driving in blizzard conditions for a couple of hours. Chris did a wonderful job driving! Unfortunately Sierra had diarrhea again that day. The next morning the roads were much more clear and we headed the rest of the way home.
All in all, it was kind of a miserable trip. I just felt sooo terrible that we were all sick and made several other people sick and made several messes (which I cleaned up of course). I had begged Chris to let us go home after Keira and I were sick, but he thought it would be best to stay. But it was pretty awful. We did have several fun days where we were well. And of course it's always fantastic to visit family (more so when you're not sick at might get them sick), the ocean, Trader Joe's, and In 'n Out. For perhaps the first time after a family trip, I was GLAD to be home!!!
