This year we decided to go to Brianhead again since we had such a great time last year, it is so much cheaper than Mammoth plus we get to stop by Vegas and take the kids to M&M World. All wins in our book.

The kids wanted to visit YY and Nana on Thursday night, so I took them after school. Nana made us homemade com ga (chicken with rice), thit kho tau (braised pork) and pho ga (chicken noodle soup). She packed some for us and I brought it home. When I asked Mike what he wanted to do, he said, “PACK IT!” Hahaha. It turned out to be an awesome idea because it was delicious up there in the snow.

Friday, February 24 2012

We packed that night and woke up bright and early. We planned on leaving at 5am but in true Lam fashion, we didn’t leave until 5:45am. On our way through the 241 toll road, Aidan kept saying, “It’s so smokey.” I had to explain to him what fog was.

We were getting pretty close to Vegas when Brooke announced, “Daddy, I need to go potty.” Mike told her to wait. I’m starting to get very stressed and tried to explain to Mike that Brooke is not good at holding it. In the middle of me talking to Mike, Brooke yelled out, “Daddy, I need to go NOW.” Mike pulled over into South Pointe and we knew that a walk into the casino to a bathroom is going to be too late. He took out the portable training potty we took for emergencies like this, lined it with an old diaper and had her sit on it in the parking lot! She went instantly. We wrapped up the diaper and threw it away. Genius. No mess, no fuss.

We made it to Paris to try their buffet since Mike had a $25 gift card to any Harrah’s establishment and it was recommended by Mike’s coworker, Karen. After brunch, we took the kids over to M&M world. This is the highlight of their trip. Being a true Asian mom, I packed small bags of M&Ms from home to give them so we didn’t have to pay the inflated prices of M&M world and to use as bait to get them OUT of M&M world. Worked like a charm!

We stopped by Wal-mart near St. George, Utah to pick up remaining groceries before hiding away in our Brianhead condo. Nothing eventful happened here…except the lady giving me kudos for teaching Brooke to wash her hands before she pointed out the lady that just left did not wash hers. Ew.

Once we arrived at the condo, we joined the Meisters for dinner where the kids played while the parents ate and talked. The Meisters’ condo had bunk beds, which the twins have never seen before, and they had a great time playing hide n seek as well as climbing up and down the bunk beds. An unfortunate incident that happened lead to a very long night for Mike when Aidan slipped off the stairs and fell off the bunk bed. Poor kid kept us up all night worried since he would throw up every 2 hours. So many variables here when it comes to Aidan! #1. Aidan’s very sensitive, so it could be altitude sickness #2. Aidan ate his share and Brooke’s share in brownies and he usually does not eat that much sweets #3. Aidan has a concussion from his fall and this is what we were trying to prepare for. Poor Dad got the nearest hospital mapped on his phone and just kept watching him all night…this is after waking up at 5am and driving to Utah. It was a long night.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Aidan woke up normal, happy and himself. Looks like it was either #1 or #2 on our list of possible ailments. Poor Mike and I were of course exhausted. Brooke was super excited because we told her the night before that when she wakes up, she gets to play in the snow. She woke up, look at me (since we shared a bed) and says, “Play in snow now?!” So after breakfast, we geared them up and pulled them to the general store where I had to buy the Brianhead Berry Pie…the last one…hallelujah! We played with them for a good 3 hours and got in and got our fat on…snacks, snacks, snacks! Mike discovered that he really liked to eat s’mores cooked under the broiler. Haha. Because of how tired we were and the fact that our condo came with Freedom passes, we did not go boarding this day. We just hung out and spent a lot of quality family time together. We taught the kids how to build domino structures as well as showing them the Domino effect. Mike read the Steve Jobs book with passion by summarizing each chapter as he finishes. The kids enjoy things they never could at home. A flat screen in their room, popcorn in bed, etc. They decided they wanted to share a bed that night and that’s find with us! It was a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

We woke up, got geared up and played in the snow again. This time, I wore the freedom pass and reluctantly went snowboarding by myself. I just had to do it. I could not rationalize the shame of having to tell people that I did not go. So I went and it took a lot of courage but I’m glad to say that I did it and I did not fall or hurt myself. Yay. I don’t think I enjoy it that much anymore and told Mike that I’m up for ski lessons next year. Those skiers look a lot less stressed than I do. Mike went and boarded for a couple of hours while I hung out with the kids. We spent another peaceful evening full of quality time and food, thanks to packing some pho my mom made on Thursday night. Woohoo.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Ready to go home! As we were packing to leave, the must ridiculous thing happened. Mike could not unlock the closet with our snowboards in it! I was so frustrated and just said, “Stick a credit card in there.” not thinking it would work…but surprisingly, IT DID! Woohoo! We can go home. We made less stops on the way back and made it home in record time. The kids were amazing there and back. We didn’t even need to break out the DVD player. They sang songs, talked, pointed out things as they saw them from the car. It was pretty much the roadtrip I imagined I’d have with my kids.

Another successful and fun family trip done!