Utah Trip April 2016: Part II - Road Trip Adventures with Two Kids under 3

We were a bit nervous to take a road trip with both kids. Tyler had been a terrible passenger as a baby, so we weren't sure what to expect from Allison. We were prepared for the worst, but she actually traveled pretty well. We just put our portable mobile on her carseat and a few toys, and she spent most of it playing or sleeping. She only cried when she got hungry.

Tyler did pretty well too, though not at first. We'd loaded some videos onto a KindleFire for him to watch, but he kept asking for other shows we didn't have, and when I tried to put on the next show, it fell down out of my reach. Since we were on the freeway, we didn't stop and just told him he'd have to play with his books and computer. To our great delight, this kept him happier and quieter than we ever thought possible. It's amazing how long my child can entertain himself when he's strapped in and only has a few toys and books in front of him. We ended up not using the KindleFire for the rest of that or the return trip because he played so well with the few things he had.

Allison fell asleep on and off throughout the drive while Tyler fell asleep twice for two forty minute naps. The first time his neck fell forward, which worried me that his neck could be badly injured if we had an accident in that position. Fortunately he kept it held up during his second nap.

We stopped at my friend Cambria's house in Richland, WA to have lunch and nurse Allison. We could not have designed a better stop. It was so great to see her again and meet her sweet baby Avery. Her daughter Tayla entertained Tyler and Allison played with Avery's toys. Plus she made us delicious black bean quesadillas. We probably spent a bit longer than we should have there since we were enjoying ourselves so much.

We started off again and had to stop in Pendleton, Oregon to feed Allison. We found a playground where Tyler could run around and took advantage of having enough stable internet service to book our hotel in Boise. We stopped again at an A&W in Fruitland, ID for dinner, just over the border with Oregon. I was able to sit Allison up in the corner with the Boppy in front of her in case she fell, but she stayed up so well it wasn't even necessary.

We got our hotel for a really good price by doing a "name your own price" last minute deal. We were a little nervous since you can't check learn much about the hotel beforehand, so we didn't know if there would be a crib for Allison. The mystery hotel it suggested looked like it might be the Super 8 motel where we'd stayed when we drove down with mom last year, and they'd had a pack and play there, so we went ahead and booked it. We were surprised to see it wasn't the Super 8. It was the Wyndam Garden Hotel directly across the street. Fortunately for us, though, they had something even more comfortable than a pack and play - an actual fold out crib. There was also a desk chair in the room rocked, which felt similar to rocking her at home. I'd thought the different environment would throw off her sleep schedule, but she did pretty well. The risk we took definitely paid off.

Tyler struggled a bit to sleep with us in the same room as him, but we all conked out eventually. We were up pretty early the next day, and since the hotel had a nice pool, we all went swimming. Allie and daddy enjoyed the warm but not too hot Jacuzzi and Tyler really liked the children's pool.

We got back on the road and stopped for lunch at a Burger King in Jerome, Idaho. Allison sat up nicely in a high chair for the first time, and had fun playing with straws, plastic spoons, and Tyler's shoes. Tyler kept himself busy conquering the playplace. The initial climb up was a bit challenging for him without shoes, so I had to boost him the first time, but then he figured it out on his own after that.

We got in just in time to meet up with my mom and dad at Lagoon. We'd decided to get season passes since we'll be back to Utah two other times this year, so we'll go enough to make it worth it. Tyler thoroughly enjoyed going on rides with mommy, and was much more tolerant at going on his own on the ones mommy was too big for.

 He loved the rides, but he really struggled with the lines. 

He went wild over this Dinosaur egg ride. He was constantly smiling and giggling all throughout it, until it got stuck at the end. We were left sitting there for about 5 minutes. He nearly managed squirm out of it but only managed to pull one leg out from underneath the bars. We went on the jeep ride after, which was actually really fun. The sharp turns get you every time.

We went on a few more rides that evening then tried to catch the Wild Kingdom train, but it'd already made it's last departure. We walked over to the Skyride, which they'd already blocked off for the night, but since there were still people in line they let us get on.

The next Saturday I took Ty back to Lagoon in the morning and made sure to go on the Wild Kingdom train. He might not looked too thrilled about it here, but he absolutely loved it. It was the only ride we did twice. Since we went at different times of day, we got to see different animals each time.

We did a few more rides before I took him back to Kaysville for lunch and nap. While he was sleeping I went back to Lagoon and met up with my family to do some big kid rides, like the new "Cannibal!"

Oscar's mom dropped Ty back after he'd woken up, and he was able to do a few rides with the kids before they took off for the evening. We stuck around until closing and did a few more. Ty really liked driving in the green car.

There's a really cool Wild West themed park close to my brother's house. We took Tyler there a couple times in the mornings so it'd wear him out enough that he'd get a nap before the kids got out of school.

We went out adventuring whenever the kids got out of school. They have a season pass to the Draper aquarium, so we went there on our first weekday. We tried seeing the 3D movie, but Ty could only sit through about 10 minutes of it, so he and I went off on our own for a bit. We got to see their 14 foot anaconda in all her glory before she climbed up into the green bush. By the end of the evening all you could see were the last couple inches of her body. This concerned the workers since they had a private party coming in that evening. They were saying they'd have to get the snake handler to move her out into the open.

On our way out Tyler chased the kids saying "got you cousin garbage truck" whenever he'd catch them.

The next day Oscar and I went to the Ogden temple. It's a lovely temple, and the interior is unique from any other temple I've seen. It took us awhile to figure out where to enter. We walked around the temple to the other side only to find out we could have gone in this side too. I'd never been to a temple with two entrances.

We later met up with the family at Jungle Jim's playland for $2 Tuesday. Ty hadn't had the greatest nap, so he was a bit crabby and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as he had Lagoon.

Uncle Mitch got to meet and hold Allison while the kids went on rides.

Ty really didn't seem all that thrilled, but I saw they had a toddler area in the corner. I took him in there and suddenly, he was in his element. He was all smiles from thereon out and cried when it was time to leave. He also kept trying to ride the roller coaster up instead of down and sitting on it backwards. Even when we showed him the way it's supposed to work, he preferred his way. Go figure.

I insisted we go out to Brick Oven pizza while I was there. Yummy! Allison was a bit fussy but dozed off in her car seat at the end of the meal.

The kids had fun at the Museum of Curiosity on Friday. Allison fell asleep in Mike's arms before we put her down. She's so cute in her car seat!

On our drive home we stopped in Fruitland again to get lunch. Oscar took Tyler for a little walk while I was nursing Allison, and he was thrilled to see this enormous tractor.

We spent the night at Cambria's house before heading back home and figured we could get all the way back without a stop since it was only about 4 hours. The kids had other plans. Ty was super restless, so we stopped at a Burger King in Yakima. After running around and getting a crown, he was in a much happier mood and slept almost the rest of the way home.