holiday with the harrisons: days 1-3

day one- traveling to reno

more then ready to leave

i am SO exhausted! not from doing anything fun or exciting, but just from being a mom. i think i take for granted my space- my landon proofed house, wide open places to play, warm weather. this kid drove me insane today! and not when i thought he would either. he woke up bright eyed and busy tailed at 5:30/6 [justin woke us his zombie wife at 5] and we were out the door and on the road by 7. he napped a couple times for less then 20 min so not much- he mostly zoned out to his mini-tv we got off amazon [best money i have ever spent. if you don't count slurpees. or bras. or yoga pants. or gummy bears- but i don't]. he did get fussy a lot [to be expected] so i played with him in the back, we read books or played with toys. he did so well- we only stopped twice in tonopah for breakfast [mcd] and lunch in fallon [bk]- my stomach already hates me for filling it with such garbage [to be continued at night-- just wait for it]. how in the WORLD do people travel with kids? let alone out of the country??? blows my mind!

the caucus put us up in a casino in reno called the nugget - pretty nice. it's no marriott  but its no best western. of course landon went crazy in the room, pulling wires and pushing glass tabletops off. when i tried to get him to nap before dinner he screamed for 20 and then slept for 20. we attempted to go swimming but were kicked out [pool nazi: just sign in here. does he have a swim diaper? me: yes pool nazi: ok just let me see it me: um.... look at his tushy...where did it go? pool nazi: they're $3.08 me: um... i left my money in my room. i'lll come back i didn't].  justin's boss served us and the whole caucus dinner at his house - korean bbq from his korean wife. such nice people - so not good food. seriously, she served these peas so i ate them whole, thinking they were like snow peas where you eat the husk. sooo terrible i barely got them down. later complaining to justin, he told me they were edanami peas where you don't eat the husk. not to be dramatic or anything but i thought i was going to die trying to eat them. okay some of it was good but mostly not for me. landon ate like a champ- and considering he didn't eat anything all day [not a fan of fingers, so not my kid] and he hasn't been eating well for the past few months, i was happy. except for his ginormous fits. like refuse to walk, stomping on the ground, screaming fits. i swear, no place is landon proof. or baby proof. so i was on him like glue and didn't really enjoy the party- in fact, i wanted to shoot myself in the eye. i ran to the bathroom for two minutes and within that time, landon fell head first into the corner of a bookshelf. so he's all bruised and scratched up on his bridge and nose- poor dude. eventually i couldn't take it anymore so we drove around trying to find food and swim diapers. no luck- i found taco bell [my tummy REALLY hating me now]. back at the room i cleaned up and he just sat and played with my ipod cords [don't judge me]. we bathed, he pooped 8 nuggets 3 different time, jammied up then was so sweet and cuddly during the bedtime ritual. i couldn't wait to shower off the day and start a new day.

day two- hanging in carson

our first night in a hotel was horrible - thankfully the casino made a mistake and gave us two queens so when landon woke up for the 5th time during the night screaming i took him in the other bed with me- and he tossed, turned, and kicked me in the face [seriously i thought that only happened in cartoons] until 5:30 when we finally gave up. we drove to carson and once we finally got there, landon fell asleep so i slept in the car with him while justin breakfasted inside with his work people. by the time we woke up everyone was gone! so we snacked on granola then went to the nv history museum [snooze alert]. i first went there in 6th grade when our school's namesakes flew the student council up there for a day [soo cool!]. all the fun things i remember [the penny print thingy] were gone. there was some cool things like the underground mine complete with real dummy's acting out things [read: scary and terrifying- i was all alone in a dark space. i kept thinking a serial killer was going to jump out and get me!] in the mining process then others were lame like the room dedicated to mrs. governor's inaugural ball gowns. landon's favorite was the dead animal room. we were planning on going back but snow prevented that. yep that's right- snow. it was the worst. it was a huge storm people- and not huge to vegas standards, to cedar's standards. we then checked out three apts [all duds- complete with dead people in the walls] then went to the children's museum. i was skeptical because it looks small and unoccupied but it was AMAZING! a great indoor playgroup for landon, fun and interesting exhibits, and no snow! there was a couple kids there and landon has a blast running around. we spent almost two hours there. by that time my car was covered so i drove 5mph to get some lunch then we parked outside our next apt and snuggled in the car. this apt proved to be the place of all places [with kind of a creepy landlord but way nice apts for carson's standards]. after that we checked in early at our hotel [marriott, how can i ever stay anywhere else after i've stayed with you?], we took a nap [a MUCH MUCH needed nap] then picked up daddy and went back to the museum for some fun. we dined at red's bbq with a cranky little boy who was THAT kid in the restaurant who keeps screaming and you wonder why their parents don't take them home [bc we have no home right now]. seriously, he was terrible. this whole morning he was terrible. this whole TRIP! ironically, not when we're in the car- there he's just fussy/high maintenance. seriously, this kid makes me so tired and really wonder if i want more kids. he is so much work but then there's those moments like when we went to the pool at night and justin was splashing him for a good 10 min and landon could not stop laughing [which for landon, is a miracle. he hardly smiles, let alone laughs]. i sure do love him but he makes me work for my money.

day three- on the road to san fran

saturday we landon woke up bright and early to a frozen winter wonderland hell frozen over. seriously, we got over 8 inches in one night. granted, it was 7am but the roads were completely  covered, cars were sparse and i thought carson was holding me captive [that place hates me as much as i hate it]. after scouring the sites and googling road conditions, we decided to brave the storm during the predicted window of opportunity. after a delicious breakfast downstairs we headed on the road about 8:30. we took the 80 through reno to avoid the windy roads by tahoe [we did that when we went to sacramento last time]. roads were snowy but drivable. we kept seeing signs once we got past reno but didn't understand what they meant. snow kept coming down in sheets but we drove slow and steady. eventually there was a sign that said you needed snow tires or all wheel drive. seeing as how we took up jan's car [justin's grandma who recently passed - we're thinking of buying her car. car? no, i'm sorry. her luxury caddi. that's right, a cadillac. hopefully if we can get a slamming deal we're gonna buy it from them] we weren't sure what it had so we stopped, gased up and found out [it did]. after another check point we went through donner's pass [yes, the place where people ate other people]. it was seriously the scariest drive of my life. i was terrified- for landon, for justin, for the other people on the road. my hand was clenched around my phone and landon's leg. i even kept texting our mom's to make sure they knew we were safe but not that safe, so prayers were appreciated. with all this snow and many checkpoints we were stuck in horrendous traffic, which seems weird considering it was a huge storm. this made justin mad but i was thankful- because that meant people were moving slower, more cautiously and roads wouldn't have time to freeze over. eventually we got through with all our limbs attached [pun intended] and made it to sacramento after 1pm [a 3 1/2 hour drive that we did in 5].

once in sacramento we stopped at a family friend's house and had lunch with them. we are SO lucky to have such great company who not only got us lunch [thank you mr. pickles!] but watched landon as he ran amuck. silvia & her two girls were great family friends with the harrisons and also the aunt of my ex-sister in law [my peanut's mom's aunt]. it was so nice catching up with them since they've all recently moved away from vegas [one to sacramento, one to tahoe and one in Italy!]. after this we made a quick drive to fairfield to tour the jelly belly factory! how'd i hear about this place? from a friend's blog- and i say friend loosely. not because i don't like her but bc i'm pretty sure i like her more then she likes me. we really only 'knew' each other for a year but she is literally the funniest blogger i know. we barely reached this place before the last tour and i'm so glad we did. they give free tours and tons of free samples, showing you the process of becoming a jelly. landon was a terror on wheels having been cooped up all day in the car but i enjoyed it. kinda fun seeing all the murals and trying weird beans [barf and earwax to be specific].

from here our journey just got longer. now when i planned this day, i figured we'd be in san francisco by 12. how i got that time? no clue but i just did. justin thought maybe 4. nope- we got there at 7. we drove in on a saturday night [bad idea] on a holiday weekend [worse idea]. the traffic was just so, so bad. we were parked for so long on the bridge onto san fransico. i wanted to poke my eyeballs out. thankfully landon was great with his dvds and lollipops. by the time we checked into our seedy hotel [thanks mr. shatner- you may have chopped our price but put us in a scary part of town] we were starved and tired. after a quick check on yelp i found a place [i thought] was close by. so we went out. at night. in a scary part of town. with no stroller. and no jacket [for me]. oh, soo so many bad ideas. not only did we get lost, never found the place [which was a lot farther then i thought] but were stared half to death by bums. now san francisco, you're thinking it's a treat. it's where michelle tanner grew up. where the princess learned how to drive her corvette. no people, do not believe the hype. it's where bums go to live. all of them- on this 7x7 mile area. ALL the bums in the world. didn't matter where we were in the city, you could see a bum sleeping somewhere or bothering you. scary. esp with a baby. made me wish i had packed heat. so we got back to the hotel, ordered food then wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. our hotel was not as nice as promised either [kind of a old, beaten down hotel disguised as hip and retro] so we went to bed scared, angry, and annoyed that night.

tune in for next post about the city that should be called bumville! check out what landon thought here