Ben had a conference in San Diego at the very beginning of September. It was always the plan that I would go with him. When we started talking about it though, we decided to make it a family trip. What was supposed to be a part-time job for me, turned out to be more demanding and I felt that the kids didn't really get a true summer vacation. What better way to make up for it than a trip to California!
It would mean them missing the first week and a half of school (they went 2 and half days) and with everything we wanted to do (and all the meetings Ben needed to have) it would mean a crazy schedule of 6 hotels in 10 days.
We debated on surprising the kids the day we left but ultimately decided to tell them early enough so they could get excited about it. I found a bunch of Disney pins on Ebay and the kids worked towards earning them so they could trade them at the park. They had a paper chain going with pictures of everything they wanted to do and see. We watched videos of the rides and looked at the maps of the parks. I think Ben and I were as excited as the kids! Mostly to get to spend so much time together. We knew we would be creating memories that would not soon be forgotten.
Briella's birthday would be spent on the road so we decided to have our first pit stop be at the Jelly Belly Factory. We pulled the kids out early on Thursday and hit the road!
California was in a major drought so we witnessed several small fires on the side of the road. This was a huge one that the kids were sure was going to make it's way over to our car. It was scary being that close to a fire.
We made it safely to our hotel in Vacaville. Spent the next morning (Briella's birthday) in bed eating Swiss Cake Rolls and then headed to the Jelly Belly Factory!
This place was amazing! The artwork alone was impressive. They let you have all the samples you wanted, you just had to get back in line to get them. And they had flavors that I had never even seen in stores! We went on the tour and, unfortunately, could not take pictures. The whole process was fascinating and the bins upon bins upon bins of brightly colored jelly beans were simply beautiful.
We gave the kids a weight limit and let them choose whatever they wanted. They went back to the sample station quite a few times so they could make completely informed decisions.
After we had our fill of candy we headed back in the car to drive towards LegoLand. We stopped at Panera for dinner, bought Briella a cupcake and tried, unsuccessfully, to light it in the sudden wind.
Happy 6th Birthday baby girl!
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