VanSumeren's and Wilson's - Round 2

One very brave family courageously traveled in the Nautica Flyer with us for 9 days last year.  The VanSumeren’s were a perfect complement to our family and we all had a blast.  This year our families decided to go on another adventure together.  Tim and Travis both work with Family Heritage and the VanSumeren family was also at the “meeting” in Los Angeles. We met in L.A. and chose California to be the destination of this year's travels.

Connor, Tyler, Tim, and Stacey VanSumeren

“Where is the RV?”  We heard that question more than once while we stayed at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles.  Travis is a very well-prepared man in both his business and home life…and RV life.  He had contacted the L.A. Live complex parking company weeks in advance and had secured a parking spot in the locked parking lot across the street from our hotel.  In fact, our room overlooked the parking lot.  Each day Travis would look out our window and say, “There’s the RV.  It’s still in one piece.  No graffiti.” 

“What’s graffiti, Dad?” asked Lincoln the first day. 

“It’s when someone uses spray paint to paint the RV when we don’t want it painted,” was Travis’ response.

“Oh.”  Lincoln wandered into the bathroom talking to himself along the way.  “We don’t want someone painting our RV.  That would not be good if there was black or red or green or blue on it.  But yellow would be ok.”  I just learned that yellow is Lincoln's favorite color.  Something new everyday...

Since the parking lot was locked, Travis had to have an appointment to get it out.  He set that appointment for 11:45am.  As our other FHL friends got in their cars and taxis to head home we said our good-byes and gave lots of hugs.  We had a little time to swim since we were already packed.  At 11:45 the VanSumerens and our family met in the lobby while Travis walked over to get the RV.  He pulled up, we packed up, and we moseyed up north.  We were driving toward Valencia, California, the RV park that held our reservation.

Crazy 8's on the road

We made our way to the north side of L.A. and found a spot for lunch.  The Outlaw Café, located across the street from an old prison, filled us up.  It was there we made our next plan.  Should we head to Valencia or should we attempt Pasadena for the Rose Bowl parade?  Talk about a possibly-once-in-a-lifetime chance.  Travis had done his research and knew that people could start reserving their street-side spots for the parade at noon on the 31^st.  He also knew that, if you have an RV, it is recommended to park along one of the side streets and just stay the night.  Sold.  We headed to Pasadena, California. 

The entire length of the parade route looked like this

We got off Interstate 210 at Colorado Boulevard.  Colorado Boulevard was the parade route.  We arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon and the streets were already lined with chairs, blow-up beds, folding tables, grills, blankets, and people.  The traffic was stop-and-go as we drove down Colorado.  It was almost as if the Nautica Flyer was a float in the parade.  We waved to people along the way and took some pictures.  We turned on a side street and found a place to park for the night. 

All smiles for her $5 pedicure.

The boys played football in the parking lot near our spot  - and when it was too dark they played football on the Play Station in the RV.  The girls took camping chairs to the parade route and found our spots for the next morning.  We came across a nail salon along the parade route.  Stacey, Calla, Parker, and I all got pedicures – something sparkley for New Year’s Eve.  

How cute are these toes?!?!

It was surprising that this salon was open.  Most of the local shops were boarded up.  Restoration Hardware, Sephora, Chicos, and more – all had boards and chain-linked fencing around them.  I’m guessing they've had trouble in the past?  Pasadena has 125 years of parade experience, you know.  In fact, the Rose Bowl Stadium was build specifically for an annual bowl game.  Now it is the home of the UCLA Bruins football team, but for decades its main purpose was one bowl game.  And Pasadena wanted to have a bowl game in order to draw people to Pasadena, therefore funding the Tournament of Roses Parade.  That’s right, the stadium – built in 1922 (and it’s first bowl game in 1923) – was built to generate income for the 25-year-old parade.  This Year Michigan State played against Stanford in the 100^th Rose Bowl.  

Stanford had a fantastic band in the Tournament of Roses Parade.  They had fun costumes, a toe-tappin’ song, and a great dance they performed while walking by us.  The band that took the cake on the best dance, however, was one that came all the way from Japan.  They marched by playing "Gangnam Style" and dancing accordingly.  The kids thought it was the funniest thing.  They loved it.  We saw a few other college and high school marching bands, one was even from Rosemount, Minnesota!  

 

Marching band from Rosemount, MN

Japan wasn’t the only international parade entry.  There was a beautiful float flaunting vibrant colors.  “Wow!  Look at that one,” I exclaimed.  “It says Indonesia.  There's a jungle, beautiful fish, and…I think that’s a coral reef.” 

“Well, it probably is coral reef, Mom,” Taite taught me.  “Indonesia is really close to Australia so it probably is near the Great Barrier Reef.”  How…?  Who…?  What…!  Ok.

Every float was uniquely beautiful.  It is a rule of the parade that all surfaces of the float framework must be covered in natural materials (such as flowers, plants, seaweeds, seeds, bark, vegetables, or nuts, for example); furthermore, no artificial flowers or plant material are allowed, nor can the materials be artificially colored.  That sounds like a challenge.  I bet there are professional Rose Bowl parade float designers.  The Rose Parade is still a highlight of this trip for everyone.   Travis and I both consider it the best parade we’ve ever seen.  We consider the entire overnight experience as one of our top five best New Year’s Eves ever.  We didn't actually stay away until midnight, but the fireworks and people whooping and hollering in the streets woke most of us up for a brief New Year moment.

All good things on Earth must come to and end, including our time in Pasadena.  We ate lunch, closed up shop, and headed to Valencia.  We chose Valencia because it was a good central ground for us…easy access to L.A., the ocean, and Sequoia National Park (the only must-see on our list for this trip).  The guys set up the RV then went grocery shopping upon arrival at Valencia Travel Village.  The moms took the kids swimming. 

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte

Sun bathers

Taite and Connor raced each other in the pool over and over again, changing their swim strokes with each race.  Tyler and Lincoln sunbathed once they were too cold to swim.  Parker did her own thing.  And Calla…well Calla used up her last opportunity to whine.  I had internalized her complaints up to my eyeballs.  We took a walk.  “Calla, you can choose to do any one of three things for each situation.  1) You can whine and complain.  2) You can accept your situation and find three good things about it.  Or 3) you can find an alternative solution to your problem,” were the options I gave her.  “So 'being cold' is your situation right now.  You’ve already chosen to whine and it’s not helping.  Let’s work out another option.  Maybe…what are three good things about you being cold at the pool?”

Calla retorted, “What?!  What is good about being cold at a pool?!”

“Just try it.  Think for a minute.  I’ll give you one – You can be swimming by the pool.  People in Minnesota do not have outdoor pools with water in them right now.  And they certainly don't want to be swimming outside.”

“Well, being cold is better than being dead,” Calla thoughtfully offered.  “And we get to swim with the VanSumeren’s.”

Very good.  We then came up with a solution to the problem, and all was well.  We’ve had to use the ‘3 good things’ and problem solver methods quite a bit since then, but maybe by the time we return to Minnesota she’ll have them down pat.  Praying.

Fabulous clean-up crew

Stacey and I made an Italian pasta dinner while the dads and the kids played football.  It was delicious, but what was even better was that the kids did all the clean up.  Travis suggested the kids do their part and clean up…and when Travis suggests something like that, just prepare yourself for the task.  Connor’s eyes opened wide at the unexpected suggestion.  “Um, I’ll vacuum!”  They cleared the tables, washed the dishes, tried the dishes, put them away, and vacuumed the floor.  All six kids worked together.  Admittedly it was a challenge for the moms to stay out of it and not offer any help nor suggest more efficient ways of doing things.  The adults sat outside and Stacey and I had to face away from the door.  My kids usually do the dishes at our home and they have a good system for it.  The RV is much smaller and there are only human dishwashers, nothing mechanical to do the deep cleaning.  How did things turn out?  Well, I am still finding some grease and pasta sauce on some of our dishes, but I can live with a few dirty dishes for a short time while they learn.  Overall, they did a spectacular job! 

It was a successful day and we went to bed early in preparation for the jam-packed two days ahead.  Malibu, California, was our plan for the next day.  When we woke up the next morning we prepared ourselves, some bags, some snacks, and the rented church van to travel just over an hour west.  We had been experiencing an odd scent near our parking spot.  That morning we noticed the smell and a large trail of wetness.  Travis did some research and found the site sewer tanks to be right in front of our door and wet ground made a path directly to one of the sewer lids.  Are you imagining a glowing green light rising from the ground?  Maybe Santa’s sleigh and reindeer blazing across the sky?  “And the rockets red glare.  The bombs bursting in air…”  Thankfully none of us smoke.  ;-)

Anyway, I was glad for the interruption.  It gave me time to appropriately and completely pack for the day trip.  Eventually we were in the church van driving west toward the ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway. 

The PCH drove us by a few surfers and an abundance of beautiful ocean scenery.  We made our way to El Matador beach.  I packed the kids swimsuits, but I do not like ocean swimming.  It’s alright for some snorkeling, but those ocean waves can be fierce.  Thankfully, the ocean waves here were cold!  It was perfect for dipping toes, not entire bodies – and the kids agreed.  The kids didn’t do that for long either.  The salty ocean water was burning their legs!  If you didn’t know, most of southern California is desert…nice and dry.  It made our skin nice and dry, too.  That dry, cracked skin does not like salt rubbed into it.  Our friend Malia, who has lived in Florida most of her life and never uses lotion, said she had used almost a whole bottle of lotion in the few days she spent with us in L.A.  I did not have lotion by the water with us - and it was about 100 steps up to get back to the van.  What a sight watching the kids run circles on the sand, as if in a cartoon, trying to dry their legs of the salt water. 

The kids made sand castles and dug in the dirt.  They observed muscles, sand crabs, and other beach crustaceans.  Connor threw some rocks at the cormorants.  Taite threw the football at anyone who would catch it.  Lincoln and Tyler threw sand until they got in trouble.  And I threw out the snacks once my blood sugar got too low.  ;-) 

Beef sticks and bananas held us over until we got to Malibu Seafood – a recommended beachside lunch stop.  The fish tacos, fish and chips, clam chowder, shrimp, muscles, and calamari were delicious!  Definitely stop there next time you are in Malibu!  (Thank you for the great recommendation Sean and Kristi!) 

Where should we go now?  We could hit up some more beaches.  Or we could check out Santa Monica Pier.  Leslie Davenport had mentioned it when we were together at L.A. Live.  It sounded fun – a little like Navy Pier in Chicago.  I was interested in visiting the Pier, but I needed someone else to make that call.  “Well, I’d like to go to Santa Monica Pier.”  It was Stacey.  Yea! 

The pier was home to a few restaurants, including Bubba Gumps, and some rides – just like Navy Pier.  Unlike Navy Pier, we could actually ride the rides in January!  And boy did we ride the rides!  The unlimited ride wristbands were $15 for most of our kids.  Connor and Taite cost us $22 each.  The boys rode the roller coaster at least 5 times.  The sea dragon kept the boys high in the air about as many times.  Then there were bumper cars.  They would crash into each other like crazy.  When their time expired they would run out the exit and around to the entrance – only to find themselves at the front of the line and crashing into each other again. (Yea for short lines!)

Poor Lincoln.  He was too short for these bumper cars.  He patiently watched and waited for the kids to come out, only to find them in again.  We remembered there was a set of bumper cars for smaller kids at the other end of the park.  I took Lincoln over and Travis met us there.  Travis gave Lincoln a lesson on how to drive the cars.  Lincoln is a quick study.  He was managing the bumper car like a NASCAR driver.  Like the big kids, he would exit, then immediately return to the entrance.  He never had much competition.  Travis never gave a driving lesson to any of the other kids and it was obvious as the other kids got stuck on the side or spun in circles.  

Calla tried out some of the bigger, scarier rides, but found she preferred the Ferris wheel – like me…and Stacey…and Parker.  Along our ride home Connor asked me, “Miss Kate?  Did y’all plan that?”  (Those southern boys have such good manners!)  No we hadn’t planned that.  The Santa Monica Pier was definitely a highlight for all of the kids.

A highlight for the parents was Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  The alarm was set for 4:30 Friday morning.  The vehicle was already packed with winter gear and food.  We finished by packing the kids and adults into the van.  Travis drove, Tim navigated, and everyone else fell back to sleep.  We woke up around 7:30 to a yet another terrible stench.  Apparently we drove by a conventional dairy farm.  Nothing grass-fed or organic here!  Whew!!!  We found ourselves driving through an area of the country where much of our food is grown.  Olives, oranges, cherries, pomegranates, strawberries, lemons, and more.  Once we got away from the cattle farms it actually smelled pretty good.  We even drove by the Cutie competitor, Halo…while we were eating Halos. 

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are beautiful.  We enjoyed all zones of the forest but were most mesmerized by the Giant Sequoia trees.  Travis asked, “What was your favorite part of the day?” 

I thought Tim did the best at summing it up when he answered, “I love experiencing places like this.  It becomes even more obvious that we have a perfect Creator.”  Other answers varied:  the Sequoia trees and seeing how big they are; Moro Rock and looking out over the vast mountains; having a snowball fight at Wolverton; seeing Mule deer being chased by a bear cub; driving under a fallen tree; climbing rocks and trees; seeing the second largest living organism known to man.

Did you know General Sherman, the Giant Sequoia tree, is the second largest living organism known to man?  (It’s second only to a mushroom growing under the surface of the earth in Oregon – and apparently it’s about the size of Oregon.)  General Sherman is bigger than a blue whale.  General Sherman’s counterpart, General Grant has the largest circumference of any known tree.  We saw General Grant, too.  The day the VanSumeren’s left we listened to and Adventure in Odyssey about Abraham Lincoln – which, of course, included pieces of the Civil War.  Taite was the one who put two and two together for me.  “Mom!  General Sherman and General Grant!!  They led the Union Army in the Civil War!”  He’s got a mind just like his father…and it’s a steel trap. 

Everyone enjoyed the parks, but the curvy drive did a number on everyone except the driver and navigator.  Nobody puked, but at one point we had six people sitting in the first bench seat (of 3 in this church van) needing to look out the front window and Stacey sitting behind us with her head next to the open window while Tyler slept on her lap because his tummy was queasy.  Dramamine next time? 

We got out of the park and off the windy roads.  We made our way to Fresno for dinner.  Sequoia Brewery…the perfect place for us to end our night.  Mid-meal Travis had another “suggestion.”  

“How about tomorrow morning the kids make breakfast?  You can make anything you want, you just have to make it for everyone and you have to eat whatever you make.”  I think he was trying to avoid another breakfast of complaints.  Each kid got to vote.

Taite, Calla, and Parker immediately agreed to it.  Lincoln, our one child who absolutely loves to cook and I can’t make a meal without him running to the kitchen to offer help, declined.  “What?!  Lincoln, you love to cook?!” I said. 

“I know, but I can’t make it for 10 people!” he answered with tears.  So cute! 

Connor was quick to vote a resounding, “NO!”  Tyler liked the idea of making whatever he wanted for breakfast, but was concerned because he didn’t have any idea how to cook what he liked. 

The next morning came and all the kids, including Connor, made breakfast while the parents packed up.  Calla walked to the little RV park store to buy bacon.  Tyler, Lincoln, and Parker made the pancake batter.  Connor started the grill outside for the bacon.  Taite started the pan on the oven inside for the pancakes.  Lincoln and Connor cut fruit.  And Parker and Tyler brought the pancake fixin's outside.  The first pancake got burned, the second wasn’t cooked all the way through, but the rest turned out nicely golden.  One giant pancake by one giant pancake, breakfast was made.  Each person ate as their pancake arrived on their plate. 

We all learned lots of great lessons through this experience:

Connor: I showed my dad I can cook bacon on a grill by myself.

Tyler:  I learned how to make pancakes!

Parker:  Nothing (she’s always too shy to answer in a group)

Calla:  I know how to go to the store and buy bacon.

Taite:  I now understand why mom gets so stressed out around meal time.  It’s hard to have all these different foods ready for everyone to eat at the same time.

Lincoln:  I learned that I should let other people eat first and not be selfish

Tim:  I learned that I micro-manage my kids more than I should.

Stacey:  I learned that my kids are capable of doing more than I let them do.  As their mom I like to do things for my kids, as a gift, but it's not always taken that way.  (Well put!)

Kate: I learned Connor is a great cook!  That Tyler is very good at preparing pancakes.  That Lincoln is really good with a sharp knife.  That Calla is a big girl and can be trusted to run an errand.  That Taite is versatile and good at helping out wherever needed.  And that Parker is really cute and good at stirring the pancake mix.

Travis:  I learned that you all are very capable of making a great breakfast.

Great lessons learned by everyone.  Sadly, our learning time with the VanSumeren’s was over.  We cleaned up the breakfast disaster and rushed to the airport where Tim, Stacey, Connor, and Tyler would have to run – literally run – to catch their flight.  After some prayers and a mysteriously delayed flight, they arrived at their gate just in time.  They made it home to Tifton, Georgia, about seven hours later.

Since the Family Heritage meeting next winter will be in Cleveland, Ohio, next winter we won’t be taking a winter RV trip.  Sadly, it will be awhile before the Wilson’s and VanSumeren’s travel together again.  We’ll miss them!!