Vacation TimeAfter

What is a vacation?  Just a place away from home, right?  With that comes no expectations of relaxations or stress free environments....  I found out that once again, my expectations exceeded reality.  I suppose I expected Eden to act as a normal, stable, rooted and grounded child as my bio children.  I have thought of this since coming home.  Disappointment filled me from our trip.  It's not as I didn't enjoy myself, but our trip was filled with SO many challenging moments.  That expectation of was not the case (for Eden to be like my bio children.)  I didn't expect that.  I prepared myself and Eden as best as I thought I could.  There will be a lot of people, there will be a lot of distractions, there will not be a normal schedule, there will be a lot of new things.  All of this is hard for Eden.  I suppose to be honest I just wanted easy for ONCE.  Not going to happen for me on vacation (away from home) and without my major supporter, my husband.  I could have chose an easier vacation for Eden but this was the proposed trip to meet up with a friend and her girls (2 of whom are also adopted) and I was thinking of my older girls too.  

Anyway, we went to Great America on Friday with our friends.  It was a bit startling how much I had to assist Eden in everything.  Yet, I knew she was not coping well with all the new environment, yet was still seeking to please and had a smile plastered to her face for the allover effect.  I had to praise her positive attitude really!  My older girls had an absolute blast!  It was the first time they have really been to a big park such as this! Clarabella LOVED the biggest rides she could go on!  She was rating them all!  Little Bear is just such an easy going guy!  He was so tired and it was hot and yet he hung out in his stroller much of the time watching and being patient.  

After our time at Great America we headed to San Fransisco where the rest of our trip would be spent.  It was about an hour drive so it was perfect for the younger kids to get a nap in.  Connie and I drove around for some time to find an open garage to park in....  It was super busy..... Friday night... and I was driving my big ol Excursion.  It was all good though, just took time and then we all had to lug our suitcases to our motel a couple blocks away.  It made for quite a picture!  There was 10 of us and everyone was pulling a load, including Little Bear!  He was so proud to be so helpful!  

This could have been Little Bear's favorite.  He was so short that he
couldn't go on many at all, let alone without me.

The carousal is always fun and Bella loved the horses of course!!

I was holding on to him AND movement of the ride, hence the very close up!

Eden was right in front of us.  This was definitely her pace.

The swings, notice Bella is unbuckled and they started the ride and I
 had to tell them Bella was still unbuckled so they stopped it so they could buckle her!
 A bit of frustration there!

Connie's picture of us 

This picture was taken when we were headed out the part, around 6 pm I think!  It was a big day!

Here we are getting ready to check in to our motel in SanFransisco.
  Connie and 2 girls are missing from the picture!

view from our room

We finally settled in to a Thai restaurant around 10 pm for our dinner!