Trask Family Journal: Veracruz Mexico

Traveling with kids is getting so hard, or I am becoming a grumpy traveler. Crew just turned 2 in April, and Kade will be 1 this week. So maybe it's just their age and how they both need such constant supervision. This last trip last weekend, was seriously one of the hardest trips ever. We left Thursday at 10am. I should mention I had worked 11 hours the day before and came home late and started packing. I had to have Tiffany's son Beckham come hang out at my house to entertain my boys so I could pack in the morning. It was stressful trying to get everything packed and ready to go by 10am. Jason went into work at 6am so he would have to use less vacation hours. We drove down to Las Vegas and we parked the car where we have to get a bus ride to the airport. We decided not to bring our double stroller because it wouldn't fit in our little rental car in Mexico. Jason dropped Kade and I off at the front with our luggage, while he and Crew went to park the car. I was trying to hold Kade, pull two carry on bags, and our diaper bag, and my purse. It was so exhausting and I kept dropping everything. I was on the verge of tears here. While I was wiping off Kade's black feet from walking on the ground the bus pulled up but it said "the strip" so I didn't think it was our bus. I ran over to ask just in case, and sure enough it was the bus we needed. I ran back to start grabbing our luggage. Jason was inside the bus terminal leaving our car information. Some random stranger got off the bus and helped me grab my luggage. Riding on the bus to the airport Crew was beyond excited knowing we were going to the airport. The kid is crazy over airplane rides. Seeing him so excited helped me to try and relax and enjoy myself. Once we got to the airport we were both packing around so many bags and our two kids without our stroller I felt like we were doing some crazy workout from Biggest Looser. The bus dropped us off at terminal one, we go in the building and try to check ourselves in on a kiosk and then realized we needed terminal three for United Airlines. We had to go clear across the airport, down the escalator, go across the parking lot and wait for the shuttle that will take you to terminal three. I was sprinting with the diaper bag around my neck, holding two roller bags and my purse while Jason was running while holding both boys. I can't even imagine how sad we looked. We didn't have much time. Once we finally get to terminal three I had shed a few tears because this vacation already sucked. If we would have just had our stroller life would have been great! I saw a wheel chair and I grabbed it and put both boys in, this totally helped. We finally get to our gate and it looked like we were not going to make the flight to Houston. So many people listed last minute I really didn't think we were going to make this flight. By some miracle we made the flight. Flying standby you are always one of the last ones to board the plane. So I felt like we were doing the walk of shame. We don't get to sit together. They put me and Kade in the very back. I was really struggling with anxiety at this point. Kade wouldn't hold still and I felt like he was disturbing the lady sitting next to me, he dumped my cup of ice from my drink into her lap, and she really didn't say a word to me the whole trip, so I just had that vibe she didn't want to sit next to a baby on the plane. Once we took off Kade slept the entire flight. I closed my eyes and caught some sleep as well. We landed in Houston and they kept delaying our flight to Veracruz. I think total of a two hour delay. We just kept chasing the boys around the airport, and they would just keep falling down and getting hurt. The airport was freezing and we were all so tired. When they finally started boarding the passengers they paged just me to the gate saying only one seat was available due to weight and balance issue on the plane. I told them I would rather wait and see if anyone else doesn't show up so we could stick together. Thank goodness for some no shows we were all able to get on the plane. We were a row behind Jason and Crew which helped. Once I sat down though, Kade got crazy again, he just doesn't want to be held. The lady that I was sitting next to actually asked if she could be moved. I know I shouldn't be offended by that but I totally was. It was such a long day of traveling and I just was fighting the tears again. Once we took off Kade slept again. Good thing he is so cute when he sleeps. We land in Veracruz a little after midnight. The flight attendant told us we only needed one customs form per family, well when we started going through customs we needed one per person. So we had to go fill out three more additional forms. We got our luggage, and headed towards the car rental areas. Jason had rented a car and when we got there the place was closed. On our email confirmation it stated it was open 24 hours. We were furious. Avis car rental was open and they had one car left for triple the amount we were paying. We ended up just getting a taxi for $23 to take us to the hotel where Alan and Linda were staying. Alan was down there for a week working on the Veracruz LDS temple, and Linda went with just to hang out, so we thought we would crash their party and come for the weekend. Their resort was right on the beach literally. We made a bed of blankets on the floor for Crew and Kade slept in our bed. It was past 1am when we finally got to our hotel room so we were exhausted and we all fell right asleep.

Friday morning we woke up and went to the restaurant where breakfast was included. Scrambled eggs with ham, black beans, fruit and orange juice. After breakfast we wanted to go shopping but we didn't know how long the men would be working on the temple. We did a 8 minute walk to the temple. It was so humid there. I felt like we were swimming as we walked uphill to the temple. Being inside the temple was such a neat feeling. The spirit was so strong. Here I was in this third world country, and you walk in and it's the same gorgeous temple you would see anywhere. Just a very peaceful feeling inside the temple. Every picture was of Jesus and we were trying to teach Crew that this was his home. The rest of the day Crew kept saying, "Papa working temple?" It was adorable. Once Alan and his brothers were done working we went shopping. As we were pulling into park, a guy came out and told us we could park there for free if we buy a drink from them. It was right on the beach and tons of shopping right there. As you were drinking people would come up to you and try and sell you stuff like sunglasses, jewelery, shrimp and etc. Aunt G paid to get her hair done there. She put it in little braids for $20. It was hilarious. The not so hilarious part was when the employee brought us our tab for drinks. My pina colada alone was $17! We were all so furious. A can of soda was $7. It's a memory we are trying to block. After we went shopping in a different location. There was a meter and so we knew we had a little over an hour until the meter was going to expire. We were walking back to the car when they were ticketing our car. The guy was putting a boot on our tire. Jason went running and was yelling "No" and the guy just locked it up, and drove off on his motorcycle while the other guy was writing up our ticket. Seriously?! We had two little babies, it was crazy hot and now a boot on our car. We all stayed behind while Jason ran two blocks away to pay the $10 fine. Driving back to the hotel we saw a taco stand for 5 tacos for $3. We pulled over and enjoyed some authentic tacos. Eating is always the highlight of my vacation. We then went to a Wal-Mart. I love that they had a Wal-Mart there. We loaded up on breads and donuts from their bakery. They had fresh rolls that were divine. After our Wal-Mart excursion we went back to the hotel to swim and play in the beach.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then everyone went shopping again except Kade and I. We went back to bed. I can't even tell you how good it felt to just sleep. We slept for about two hours then everyone came back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the day swimming and in the beach. It was so fun. The perfect day. Seeing Crew in the ocean and the waves would hit him and he would just keep saying, "Again" and would laugh so hard. Linda and I would hold his hand and help him jump over the waves.

Sunday we woke up at 4am to start our journey home. The life of standby is not so fun, you never know if you are going to make it or not. We had to split up, we left Alan and Linda in Veracruz and they made the next flight out of there. In Houston, Crew ran through the immigration line past the security and he was laughing the whole time. Jason grabbed him and said, "Crew, that's not funny" and a immigration security guard said, "Actually, it kind of is" and was laughing at him. Crew was hysterical when he realized we were no longer taking an airplane ride when we landed in Vegas. The moral of this novel is, if you are going to travel with small children we highly recommend a double stroller.

I didn't get any pictures on this vacation. This is such a novel. Alan and Linda and Aunt G took these pictures. I can't believe I am posting them because I look so disgusting, but it's all part of the memory. I feel so blessed to live where and how I live.

This was on the bus on the way to the Las Vegas airport. Crew looking out the window for the airport and Kade just being silly.