Trip with Miranda

A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to go on a short trip with Miranda. She and I are quite different and I thought spending some quality time alone together would be good for both of us. After thinking about a San Diego trip, I decided on going to Sacramento where there is a zoo, a fairytale land, an toddler amusement park and my friend Val would do just the trick.

I didn't give Miranda too many details, but she didn't need much to be excited about a special trip with mommy. She kept saying she was excited, but "would miss Elizabeth and Parker and Daddy very much."

We packed our bags, got some favorite DVDs (now officially part of a car trip) and drove off Saturday morning.



We arrived at Sacramento Zoo and it was hot. Val and her two year old son Elijah met us there and we wandered about for a while. Miranda was so happy. She was able to actually use the map to figure out what animals she wanted to see. She was in heaven when she got to feed the giraffes.






She really enjoyed the kangeroos too and laughed a lot at this photo.


It was a really nice zoo. Small, but filled with animals and other fun stuff for the kids to play on/with. The reptile house was a very favorite. She and Elijah were getting along great too.







After a quick train ride around the zoo, we took off for lunch with Val and then headed back to hotel.




We were on the 10th floor and Miranda immediately wanted to jump on the bed. After that was out of our system we went to the pool where the "hot" pool was a little too hot and the cold (regular) pool was a little too cold. But we enjoyed them both for a long while. Then we hung at the room a bit before going to Val's for dinner.








Luckily, Elijah is a big Dora fan, so they were both content to look at Dora books. Andre wasn't feeling well and Lawrence was entertaining him a bit. Dinner was delicious and then we went home.




As you can imagine, Miranda was tired. And she was almost asleep when the alarm in the next room went off and didn't stop. I had to call the front desk who came up and banged on the door for a long time before going in and turning it off. With bedtime now far away, I ordered some cake from room service and we both enjoyed it. Miranda watched some Curious George on tv and we both finally fell asleep.




The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel buffet (which is not complete without tiny box of frosted flakes-she only ate 3 bites of it), took a quick dip in the pool again and then headed off to Fairytale Town. It was 9am and already damn hot.







Fairytale Town was really cute, much cleaner and nicer than fairyland, and with more actually fairytales. The kids had a great time but Miranda was getting really hot. As we headed out, Miranda got her face and arm painted by a "princess". It was the best face painting I had ever seen. Really.












Because we hadn't had enough fun yet, we did a short stop at wunderland for some rides and a quick pony ride.







Then it was time to head home. Miranda plugged back into her dvds and I listed to talk radio.

It sure was different to be with just one kid. Slightly boring, but nice to be able to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. She was much more chatty on this trip than usual, but also the same in many ways. For example, she is incredibly slow getting out of the car normally. And she was on the trip. Having the other kids there made no difference in the amount of times I had to say, "ok, we can get out of the car now." She never seemed to be sad about her sister and brother at home. She just enjoyed her time and the attention she was getting. All in all a very good trip.