Mila Birthday Extravaganza

In the Millfam we celebrate our children’s birthdays with more than a party; we celebrate with a birthday extravaganza week. A week made up of adventures mostly of the kiddo’s choosing. For her Forth birthday Mila requested we stay in a hotel with a pool, and a hottub, and we spend a day at the beach. Momma, loving to plan trips, planed us a three-day hotel beach adventure in SeaSide Oregon. The following is a trip report from Mila’s Extravaganza.

Sunday – Day one of my weekend and our trip

As I told Maddex while tucking him into bed in our hotel room tonight, “the day started off butt-hole early” when Maddex woke everyone up before 05:30. The Millfam kids are naturally early risers for sure, but 05:30 is early for all of them. I’ve always been an early waker, but over the last few years I’ve forced myself out of it a bit. I work a swing shift now and don’t normally make it to bed until 0100 or later. Momma is pretty nice and lets me sleep until 07:00 or so AM most mornings.

Sunday morning, I got up with the kids to let momma sleep in a bit. I sleep through night time Roxi feedings, so it is only fair. The kids and I snuggled on the couch and finished off a batman movie we started the day before, then started loading the Mercedes. Momma did most of the packing the night before. Our job consisted of loading it all into the car, making some snacks, and dressing ourselves.

First stop was a few miles away at McDonalds where we ordered sausage muffins for the fam. Kiddos all ate the sausage and left the muffins around the car for us to find later. From there we stopped at Krispy Kreme in Tacoma for a donut and Milk delivery to Michelle’s parents. Michelle’s boobies are currently feeding Roxi and one of her sick aunts. We’ve been meeting her parents once a week for Milk delivery for a the last month. Good thing our Momma is a Milk making machine.

20160717_153552954_iOS

Momma packed well for the kids, and our kids are veteran road trippers – the Drive to Vancouver WA, was quick and uneventful. Our kids have never had screens in the car. Instead we let them have books, crayons, drawing pads, colouring books, Legos, and other toys for entertainment. Love that our kids are entertained by simper things and we don’t have to play a movie to go anywhere. Seeing movies playing in cars make me sigh a bit.

Vancouver

Our first stop in Vancouver was a park at the corner Mill something road and the 192ed road. We played there on a nice big park toy for an hour or so, had a snack, used the wash room, then headed off hunting for our hotel. Mila tried the log roll thing and was not overly successful, but she had fun and giggles. I might have dropped Maddex once on the pulley thing thinking his feet were on the ground when they weren’t. Khaleesi did awesome on a rocking back and forth balance beam bit. She refused my help the third time across. Kids had a great time in the park.

20160717_180218062_iOS

When we checked into the hotel there was a little league team in the pool, sad face. Not loving to play in a full pool. We hid in the hotel room for a bit and stretched out from the drive. The pool was still full after an hour so we walked across the street to the Vancouver mall and walked about the mall for an hour a bit. They have a padded thing jumping around zone for kids in the mall we’ve played on before. The kids had a blast there. They all walked away from that toy sweating jumping from one thing to the next avoiding the carpet they were pretending was Lava.

WP_20160717_003

When we made it back to the hotel from the mall the pool was finally empty so we went for an hour swim. After the little league team, the water was far from “clear” – We tossed in some diving toys and had some fun. I ended up with my face on the bottom of a 4-foot-deep pool in a grid search pattern looking for them with 6″ of visibility. After swimming, on to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. We love unlimited soup and salad, Thanks William for taking us here in Vegas our first time. Wish a 3-hour drive was not required to visit the closest sweet tomatoes.

20160717_234358689_iOS

From dinner we visited a Fred Meyer to buy K a new blanket. W left hers at home and she kept asking for one. Luckily she was super excited to show us her NEW BLANKET after we gave it to her. We also picked up snacks for tomorrow and a few small Lego sets for Mila and Maddex to build in the car – Back to the hotel by 07:10 to put the kids to bed, relax, type up trip reports, read some books, tell the kids to get back in bed, you know hotel things.

20160718_010603419_iOS

Monday – Onward to the Beach

Maddex was awake at 05:05 in the morning and snuck across the room to snuggled with me for a bit. Not wanting to wake anyone we started watching transformers on my phone. 05:20 Momma said “what’s that sound” and Mila jumped up out of bed and said “Dad farted then giggled” Guess she is up now. A few minutes later Khaleesi jumps up holding her Elmo up in the air and says “Look Elmo” We made it almost to 05:30 before the entire family was up, awake, and jumping about the room like a pack of wild howler monkeys throwing poo at each other.

Thankfully the Hotel starts serving free breakfast at 06:00. We spent the next while dressing, brushing, bathrooming, and readying the MillFam6 to leave the room for free hotel breakfast. Of course we were the first peeps in the breakfast room and there was no line to queue to make our strawberry waffles. A good hotel waffle covered in peanut butter and syrup makes us happy -mmmm; Maddex and I each had one. Mila and Khaleesi had some yogurt and sausage and bites of my waffle.

20160718_132859036_iOS

When we travel with the kids we like to give them a chance to run around and burn off some energy before stuffing them in the car. We’ve found that malls all open early, before stores, to provide a place for people to walk around. After breakfast we loaded K and Roxi into their packs and walked the family over to the mall. The kids play area was directly in front of the door we used to enter the mall, gee that sure did not annoy the kids. Play area bonus, no other kids in the mall, so the play area was all theirs. Momma went looking for Coffee only to find the mall Starbucks did not open until 7.

WP_20160718_003

We let the kids play until a bit after seven then we walked back to Starbucks which was open and packed with people? Where do these coffee with laptop people come from? After the mall the kids watched a show, I cleaned the room and loaded the car, and momma feed Roxi. We made one quick stop for fuel a few minutes after the hotel then drove straight through to seaside. I wanted to stop for a hike off of 26 on the way to seaside, but the kids all passed out. Never wake a sleeping kid unless you must, so we kept on driving and momma and I enjoyed the time to chat.

20160718_144843601_iOS

Seaside – Beach and Pool time

We rolled into the hotel parking lot around 11:00 or so and asked about an early check-in. They did not have any rooms, but John, cute guy behind the desk, offered to call us as soon as a room opened up. From the hotel we drove a few blocks to the beach and dug in the sand. Maddex pretty much dove into the sand rolled around and started digging with his hands, Mila ran towards the water with mom and Khaleesi following wanting to see how cold the water was.

20160718_182111705_iOS

I went for a mile jog down the beach in the sand. Running bare foot on the beach was feeling great but, not being dressed right, I did not want to go too far and turn into a sweaty mess. I did use the opportunity to analyze and tweak my foot strike a bit. You can tell a great deal about your landing from foot prints in the sand; wish I had a nice long sand running track at home to work with. After my run I had to take Mila for a potty break, then the digging in the sand began.

Since taking Trenton to beaches way back in the 90’s, I’ve always been obsessed with covering my kids in sand. We only had plastic buckets and plastic shovels, but we still managed to dig waist deep before Maddex jumped in the hole and I covered him in Sand. I took some pictures and video of him trying to escape and sent those to Trenton to remind of our fun at the beach. Next time I am bringing some metal man shovels and Maddex is going be neck deep. Took Maddex a bit to escape from the sand, and he loved it.

20160718_183907001_iOS

I built some sand Castles for Mila while Maddex worked on another hole. Mile wanted to fill the bucket with sand, flip it over and make a sand pile shaped like the bucket then she would jump butt first on the sand pile and crush it. She kept on doing this over and over again until she had a large mound she was able to jump in it without adding more buckets. Maddex had me hop into his hole about knee deep then he buried my legs. Being the terrorist he is he tried to shove me over a few times, but I had plenty of leverage with my legs planted in the ground to push him around.

WP_20160718_021

Hotel Pool

The hotel called while we were at the beach to let us know our room was ready whenever we were. We drove back to the hotel, and moved into the room. Our room has nice balcony overlooking a river with a strong enough railing to prevent our kids from going for a swim in the river. We feed Roxi and put on our swim suits for a swim in the pool. Not a large pool, but the water was fabulously clear compared to our last hotel pool. One wall of the pool room was covered with black plastic to keep the elements out while they remodel a section of the building. The kids are bolder every time we visit a pool – it’s impressive to watch them progress closer and closer to being swimmers

20160718_192742148_iOS

Khaleesi was attached to me most of the time we were in the pool telling me to zoom her over there, now zoom over there, ETC. Maddex was jumping in and looking for his torpedoes and swimming around. Mila hung on me a bit too but spent most of her time in the hot tub. From the pool we walked to Safeway then a pizza hut for late lunch / early dinner. After dinner we walked back to the beach, but it was raining and extremely windy near the ocean and a bit of a turn off. We decided to return to the hotel and partake in the pool again.

This time momma kept Roxi and K in the room and I took the bigger kids. Mila gave up her life jacket and by the end of the session was jumping in from the side, pushing up off of the floor and trying to swim to the surface. Most of the time I had to pull her head above the surface and hold her up, but a few times she managed to swim up and hold her head above water. She did not care at all about drowning, she kept right no jumping in or asking me to drop her to the bottom. The girl cannot swim yet, but she trusts dad enough to jump in the water without a life jacket on.

Maddex ended up doing the same thing after watching his sister doing it. They were both having an amazing time. We would have spent more time in the pool but it was not hot water and they started to shiver – an hour was our limit.

Goodwill and bed time

After the pool it was too early for bed time, and the beach still looked damp, and spending time in the hotel did not sound awesome. To kill some time, we took off for a drive north to a goodwill to shop for treats for the kiddos. Mila came away with a Spiderman mask that makes sounds, Maddex found a boat, and K came away with ribbon? I found a brilliant cat picture I’m going to put on my desk at work or give to the Kelliest if she has not left yet. By the time we made it back to the room it was 07:30. We setup beds, brushed teeth, read books, and had the kids mostly in bed right after 8. It’s 08:30 now and they are all passed out cold. Time for momma and I to snuggle and quietly watch a show. I bought us a penguino to have for old times’ sake.

20160719_152134748_iOS

Tuesday – Beach and a Hike

We made it until 05:30 before Maddex woke up this morning – progress? He and I watched a transformers movie on the laptop and the other kiddo’s made another 30 minutes of sleep. Sad face, the Comfort inn in Seaside does not open for breakfast until 07:00. I’m pretty sure anyone in a room near us hates us now, but oh well, hotel life. We consumed mass quantities of waffles, juice, yogurt and sausage for breakfast then hit the pool again.

Mila stepped up her game and told me to not help her head above water until she grabs me. I’m now pretty much watching her almost drown then I pull her out of the water. She then says “put me back under I was not ready to come up yet dad”. Maddex likes to jump onto me and claw at me then dive under water and follow what Mila is doing. Maddex managed to figure out how swimming enough to make it from one side of the pool to the other before we were spent and mozied back to the room to dress and pack up.

20160719_154231483_iOS

We drove south on the 101 back towards the 26 to head home. We could have traveled north through Astoria, but I wanted a hike and we spied a few off of the 26 on the drive to Seaside the day before. About 40 minutes away from the hotel we found a big turn off with a new sign and a trail head tucked into a corner. It’s been many moons since we hiked elevation. The kids didn’t seem to care at all, but momma and I both felt it in our legs. We made it about 1.3 miles with 400+ feet of gain then turned back. When we made it back to the trailhead we found a sign saying there was a lake at 1.5 miles; DOH!

20160719_173108517_iOS

Another 40 minutes later we stopped at a target for snacks and more Legos to build in the car. We picked up meat, cheese, crackers, and brownies at for snacks and I separated them into small bins to created Dadables. Much better then lunchables. Then we hit the road and the girls slept a few hours, while Maddex built Legos all the way in the back. One stop for gas the girls slept through, and we were home around 16:00 to unpack the car, dinner, hotub, and bed time.

20160719_193121536_iOS

Mila was pleased with her adventure. Momma had some presents for her to open Wednesday morning, her actual birthday, and we’re going to take her to a movie just the three of us next week. I’m calling year for Mila Extravaganza a success, now for some pictures.

20160717_193846625_iOS

Maddex enjoying a free cookie in the hotel room20160718_035201123_iOS

Baby K passed out with a book 20160718_135041578_iOS

Momma and K leaving the hotel heading to the mall20160718_141009819_iOS

Look 6:30 and we’ve been up an hour and are walking in a mall20160718_155255960_iOS

Back of the car all loaded up20160718_155305700_iOS

Maddex in his nest in the back of the car 20160718_155310037_iOS

Khaleesi in her next behind mom20160718_155320111_iOS

Mila in her Next behind dad20160718_181928391_iOS

The fam setting up our “beach head” on the beach20160718_185800278_iOS

Maddex showing his legs after being buried in the sand20160718_185752442_iOS

Wind blown hair20160718_223900584_iOS

Mila sining at pizza dinner20160718_224841284_iOS

K and I working on a selfie20160719_023916339_iOS

Momma reading to the kids before bedtime20160719_161948699_iOS

Momma with Roxi bundled up trying to stay warm in the windWP_20160718_017

Kids are ment to planted at the beach to grow into crazy monkeys
20160719_172043083_iOSThe Sign for the trail looks to be brand new

20160719_173538707_iOS

Khaleesi  in the pack on the trail20160719_172846801_iOS

Khaleesi in the pack after we made it back from our hike.

 

 

Leave a Reply