Six Flags - More Flags - More Fun!!!!

Well, it's been awhile since I updated, and we just got back from a fun little vacation, so time to share, yeah!! Rod and I realized a couple months ago that we have never taken a vacation with just us and the kids. We always go with his family or mine, never alone. We love going with the fam's , but we thought it would be fun to just have our own schedule and do what we want when we want. We thought about where to go and decided that we would just take the kids to Vallejo, Cali to go to Six Flags Animal Kingdom. It is about a 4 hour drive from our house, so nothing to major. On the way home, we would spend a day and night in Sacramento and hit up some fun museum's and stuff! We were all really excited to go, especially Malia. About a week before our trip, Brin started getting a fever, but we were able to control it with tylenol, so I thought it must just be the teeth that she is cutting. Boy, was I wrong! We were scheduled to leave town on Wed. But on that Tues. Brin's fever still hadn't gone away, and she was not eating very well. I assumed it was an ear infection and went to the doc. to get some antibiotic. He checked her ears and said that they both looked great. He then went on to check a few other things and what happened next made me feel like a real loser of a mom!! He proceeded to tell me that she was dehydrated(even though she wakes up with soaking wet diapers), she was anemic(lacking iron), and her white blood cell count was at 16,ooo!! Basically, I was dealing with a really sick baby, and I had no idea!! He told me that she was fighting off a pretty serious respiratory infection, hence, the high white blood cell count and the fever. I had told him in earlier conversation that we had a family trip planned and we were leaving the next day. After getting the blood test back, he asked if I had any family I could leave her with while we went, because he really didn't want her out in the crowds at Six Flags. What?? I was not going to leave my sick baby, while I went on vacation, Crazy!!! He wanted us back in the next morning for a follow up blood test before he felt O.K about letting her go with us. I packed up that night, acting like everything would be fine, but in my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if it would be. We went back in and she had her blood draw, and her count was now down to 15,000, a drop, but not by much. I told him that we would all go to Vallejo, and I would just stay in the hotel, while Rod took Malia to Six Flags. He thought that it would be fine to do that, so off we went. The hotel was fabulous, and we had a good time swimming when we got there. The next day was Six Flags. Rod took Malia in the morning, we met up for lunch, and then I went back to the park with her and Rod went back to the hotel with Brin. Malia and I went on a few rides, we saw a dolphin show, and Shouka, the killer whale show. Malia totally got into the shows and really wanted to get in the tanks and swim with them! We got takeout for dinner and then went for a nice swim before bed. The next day we went to the Jelly Belly factory for lunch and a tour. We got in line for the tour and realized quickly(thank goodness) that it would be about an hour and a half wait!! We promptly got out of line and ate lunch! Who would wait that long (with kids) to watch them make jelly beans?? So after lunch, we just went into their little store and bought a bunch of jelly beans, that should count for something right, who needs to see how they are made?? We made a few more stops on the way into Sacramento, one of them being The Discovery Museum of Sacramento-Science and Space Center. It was really fun, and everything is totally hands on, even better. Brinley slept in the stroller the whole time we were there, so that was nice, and Rod and Malia were able to check everything out. After leaving the museum, we checked into our hotel and then went to dinner, shopped a bit, and came back for our nightly swim. The next day we had to back up and get back home to real life. Rod had to work that night, and I was ready to get things back to our normal routine. Sad, I know, but I thrive on routine and structure. I'm not very good at the whole "flying by the seat of my pants" thing! Anywho, the drive home was nice, very scenic, and we made it home safe. The trip was fun and we decided that we should definitely do it more often. Brinley is doing much better and we are glad to have our spunky monkey back! Malia, on the other hand was in the doctor's office today. You guessed it, another ear infection!! Sometimes I feel like such a bad mom, why can't I keep my kids healthy??? Aaauuggg!!!! Brinley missing daddy and Malia! She wanted to go swimming with them! This is Brandi, one of the dolphins Brandi's friend, Sunni Malia in the butterfly garden. It was really cool, so many butterflies!Alice the camel has 2 humps...... Malia with the camelsMalia riding in a bouncing frogSplash pad at Six FlagsA nice way to keep cool from the heat. She was kicking water from the puddles back at me!Having fun at the Discovery Museum. As you can see, Brin had a great time!!Having a good time in the pool.

Longest post ever, I know!!