MEXICO!! errr.....wait... uhhh HAWAII??!

We were so excited for this trip. We had been planning it for a while, and everything was falling right into place. FIRST it started with Stephens Grandmother Katy turning 80 years old, the family decided to have a big birthday celebration in El Segundo California (right outside L.A., where his parents grew up) for Grandma Katy and her twin sister Kathy. Then we built on top of that and figured since we were down there, we should wander on down to DISNEYLAND and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE and KNOTTS BERRY FARM since I had never been!! I was beyond excited. Then Stephen gets a wild hair and decides to look up the cost of flying to Mexico from L.A. since we were so close already, and well it wasn't very much more so we started looking for places to stay and a deal fell right into our lap that we couldn't refuse! THEN his dad calls to tell us he is buying tickets to the BSU vs UNLV game for anyone who wants to go. So THEN we look up having our flight come back to Las Vegas then just drive home with Stephens family! Wow, it all fell perfectly in place. 16 days. Lots of adventure. Too much fun. Well folks, we decided we basically had to do it. All of it. Because once those kiddos come its all over! So we booked the trip. YAY!

It started out just fine and dandy. Landed at LAX Saturday morning and Party Party Party all day all night. It was great to see Stephens extended family. Here she is, the angel in white giving her bday speach.

Stephen with his cousins Joe & Tyler and some crazy great aunt or something

A bunch of Stephens cousins...we had a great time

We ended the night around the fire sharing stories and laughing like crazy. I got to know all of them, mostly Grandma Katy, much better. She told me that I was the perfect balance of grace and beauty and to thank my mother for raising such a delightful girl and perfect match for her grandson. Made me blush, but was sweet.

On to DISNEY/CAL ADVENTURE/KNOTTS!
I'm so so so so so so so sad I didn't take my camera on these days. Here is about the only picture from Disneyland

I had an amazing time. I didnt know what to expect at all, so I just took it in stride. We went with Stephens mom and dad, such troopers. They took me on all the big rides and we didnt have to wait at all except space mountain. But it was so worth it! Not busy on a monday at the end of october! Indiana Jones was fun, last time Stephen went to disney that ride was brand new and he waited in line for over two hours and had to pee so bad! So he hopped out of line and ran so fast and got back and his brother and cousin had already gone. He was the saddest kid. So that was so fun to go on with him, he was so excited to finally go! Cal adventure was a blast too, it was more carnivaly like Lagoon which I'm familiar with but soo soo much better! Tower of Terror ROCKED! California soarin was our favorite and of course california screamin! We literally had maybe 20 min wait on 2 or 3 of the rides. Then Knotts berry, I think we were the only ones there. We didnt even get out of our seats sometimes we would just go again and again because we were the only ones riding the ride! I cant even count the number of times I went upside down. It was so crazy. I was giving all the rides new names too, that was fun. Stephen was trying to keep up Haha. We rode ever ride I swear at least 6 times (the cool rides anyway:)) I cant believe we did that and didnt get sick! Til I got in the car. Oh my heavens I was car sick for a week, had to take dramamine every night so I could ride in a car. It was crazy! Worth it.
Then I was lucky and got a shopping day! H&M BEST DAY OF MY LIFE wish I could have bought more, but only had so many lbs in my suit case to spare. Nordy Rack (Stephens fav) was amazing as well, we got some sweet deals. Then we landed at Venice beach and strolled a bit. It was lovely.

ON TO MEX....HAWAII?
Ok so we got to the airport. Checked in. Sat to wait with 45 min to spare. We are meeting up in Phoenix with my parents then flying to Can Cun. Well pretty soon my mom calls and tells us our flight was cancelled due to the hurricane. Uh oh. So I go to the counter, they want to re-route us through Charolette North Carolina for 3 days then go to Phoenix for a day then maybe Mexico. WHAT?? I dont want to waste 4 days of Vaca, and I dont want to go into a hurricane or right after one for that matter. What are my options. Let me just tell you how UNHELPFUL Lax airport is:) They tell us to call a number and change our flight to NC. Well, as Stephen is on the phone, I call my mom. She is getting much more help than I. They are telling her, they will fly us anywhere U.S. Airways flys. At this point there are 10 min till our flight leaves to Phoenix. Our bags are on that plane, mom is getting way farther than I am. We are going. Well, Lady took our boarding passes and told us phoenix didnt want to re-route us so we couldnt go if we didnt have it figured out. So we lied just a little and told them we figured it out:) On the verge really! By the time we landed we had new tickets the Hawaii. Kauai was the next flight so we took it. Here we come! It was really quite the adventure! I was giggling like crazy, because that is my nervous tick. Stephen was impressed with how well I handled the situation haha.

KAUAI, HI
to be continued....