It was really important for me to get my family to California to see my grandparents before we left for Brazil, so we decided that Spring Break was really our only good option. It was tricky for Jonathon because he was teaching classes and didn't have a break, but he was able to work it out with one of his colleagues to swap some class lectures. I am grateful that he is so willing to go along with my crazy vacation ideas!
We left on Friday after school and stopped halfway in Las Vegas. I reserved a hotel on Priceline that I thought would be good, but it ended up being a dud. Not only was it slightly rundown and on a street right by the railroad tracks, but the pool was also under renovation. Having a pool was the main reason I booked that hotel, so we were all frustrated. Luckily, they did have a free breakfast, so at least we had that before we left the next morning. We were supposed to stay there on the way home too, but I called and cancelled the reservation and hoped we could find something better.
The next day were the Saturday sessions of General Conference. I actually really love traveling over General Conference because all of my kids are in the car together and have nothing else to do but listen. There were so many great talks, and I am continually grateful for living prophets and apostles on the earth today. I felt like the main focus was on avoiding contention and becoming peacemakers, which is exactly what our family needs right now.
We pulled into Salinas right as the afternoon session was ending. It was perfect timing. That night, we enjoyed sitting in the backyard chatting with Grandpa and Grandma. The kids tried out all of Grandpa's cool gadgets like his corn grinder, puzzles, and fresnel lens. Christian even got a little fire to start using the lens. Grandpa is always encouraging them to be inquisitive and try new experiments. They were pretty thrilled to be able to start a fire without the grownups getting mad. Haha!
That night we went to our hotel, the Laurel Inn. We were warned that it wasn't the nicest place to stay, but it was the only place in Salinas that was affordable. It was around $80 per night, and the rest were all nearly $200, so we took our chances. Staying there turned out to be my second bad decision of the trip. The room was super beat up with old, ratty blankets on the beds and holes in the walls. We knew we weren't going to be there long, so we figured we could just tough it out. We all went to bed, but around 11:00 pm, someone started yelling and pounding on the door of the next room. Luckily, the kids were all asleep because every other word out of his mouth was the f* word.
Jonathon and I were quite alarmed, but we didn't know what to do because he kept yelling to his girlfriend that if she called the police he would make her pay for it. He also threatened that since the Laurel Inn didn't have any cameras, no one would know what happened. Looking back, we probably should have called the police or someone, but the woman was safely inside her room, and we didn't want him to get even more angry and do something worse. We were also nervous that at any time he could smash the huge window of our room and hurt us. The taunting, screaming, and terrible language continued for hours and hours. Jonathon was so distraught that he sat up all night by the door in case he needed to protect us. It was a miserable night. At about 4 am, he left to go get some cigarettes, but when he came back, he honked his car horn for a while and then continued the crazy screaming. By 6 am, he finally stopped. That morning, we reported the incident to the motel staff, and Jonathon wrote a lengthy email to the owners. It was a miserable night, but I am so thankful that the kids slept entirely through it.
We had a slow morning getting ready because we were exhausted, but we finally made it over to Grandpa and Grandma's. We planned to make aebleskivers (Danish round pancakes) for breakfast because it is a conference tradition. We made them, but our late start meant they were finally ready halfway through morning conference. We made the most of it though, and everyone still enjoyed them.
That day, we watched both sessions of conference, played games, and made a roast for dinner. Aunt Tracie, Jacquelyn's family, and Hayden and Paige came over for dinner and games. It was fun to see them and get to know Jacquelyn's husband, Zach. The boys got along well with Hayden, and everyone seemed to have a good time.
I knew that we couldn't go back to the Laurel Inn, so we quickly got a room at the Holiday Inn Express across town. It was a lot more expensive, but it was modern, quiet, and we felt safe. Worth every penny!
On Monday morning, I helped Grandma figure out how to get Monterey Bay Aquarium passes for all the grandkids. Over the pandemic, they didn't renew their annual passes, but this year they started them up again. I called the Aquarium and added all the kids and their birthdays to the account so that they could all get in free. Having those passes has been a huge blessing for me and for my kids. We have gotten to go to one of the best aquariums in the world many times, and that would not have been possible without the generosity of Grandpa and Grandma Ogborn.
Monterey is always one of our favorite things to do in California, and it did not disappoint. The aquarium was magnificent as usual. We watched the playful sea otters for a while, explored all of the new exhibits, wandered through the gift shops, and spent a long time at the Open Sea tank, which is my personal favorite.
After a couple of hours, we had done everything we wanted, so we headed down to the wharf for lunch. Before we ate though, we had to stop and take pictures at our favorite spot overlooking the bay. It's tradition! Even though it was a very windy day, the temperature was pretty mild, so we could still sit outside and eat our food. We got our regular: clam chowder in a bread bowl from Old Fisherman's Grotto and squid/fish and chips from Abalonetti's. It was delicious as usual!
Since it was so windy, we opted against going to the beach and decided just to head back to Grandpa and Grandmas. Our trip wasn't very long, and we wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. Once we got back, the boys went to work trying to get the lawn mown. It was very long and overgrown. They tried to get the old mower to work for quite a while, but they finally gave up and went and bought a new one. Andrew and Christian worked hard to mow and trim the whole yard. It took them quite a long time, but I am glad they got to serve their great-grandparents. Meanwhile, Hyrum and I worked inside the house. We swept all the floors, cleaned cobwebs, did all the dusting, and helped clean out cupboards of things that needed to be sent to D.I. Jonathon worked with Grandpa fixing the gate and doing some other maintenance around the house.
As we were driving to Las Vegas, I was googling hotels that had openings that night. I found one that looked pretty good, but after all of my previous fails this trip, I was gun shy to pull the trigger. We had tried so hard to find a place with a pool for the kids, and so far it hadn't worked out. I called the new place we were looking at to make sure they had a pool and that it would be open. They confirmed that it was, so I went ahead and booked it.
Thankfully, it turned out so awesome! It was called the Desert Paradise Resort, and everything there was wonderful. We would definitely stay there again. It was like a small apartment with a kitchen, living area, and two separate bedrooms. They also had a game room with pool and foosball, a nice swimming pool, and a huge hot tub. Finally, the boys were able to swim, so their vacation was complete. We let them swim for over an hour, and then we ordered dinner and ate it in the apartment. After dinner we watched some NBA for Andrew before going to bed. My confidence in picking hotels was definitely shaken on this trip, but at least the last one worked out well.
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