Despite the CDC and our governor's recommendations to stay home for Thanksgiving, the Bligh family got on an airplane (or three). Over the summer, back when we all had hopes that Covid would be in the rearview mirror by the Thanksgiving holiday, we made plans to travel. My brother Scott spearheaded a family trip to Zion, Utah. Meanwhile, Tommy planned a surprise 40th birthday celebration for his brother Brian. After much coordination, we booked flights to San Jose, CA on 11/19/2020 to surprise Brian on his actual birthday. Tommy found a house in Santa Cruz, CA for our families to stay for a long weekend. From there, we flew from San Francisco to Las Vegas on 11/23/2020 and then drove to Zion for six nights with my family. It was a much needed break for our family. I reminded my kids how LUCKY they are that they were able to see every grandparent, uncle, aunt, and cousin on one trip. I'll let the pictures below do the talking and recap our adventures.
We felt very naughty getting on a airplane, but here we are! All masked up and ready to depart. I sat with Brayden on this leg and he talked my ear off the whole time. Bless him.
As soon as Brian and his family arrived at our VRBO in Santa Cruz and we surprised him (I have a video of the surprise but no pictures), the boys headed downstairs to watch the Seahawks game.
Meanwhile, some children were anxious about missing school on Thursday afternoon and wanted to catch up on their work before Friday's classes. Crazy!
The time stamp on this picture is 8:58PM. After the Seahawks game, when Matty learned that his brother and sister had already caught up with their school work, he pulled out his laptop at 10:30. I love my kids' commitment to school but this seems a little extreme!
The original Bligh family
Tommy and I hired a photographer to take family pictures. This was our gift to Elaine for her 70th birthday. The photographer met with us on Friday morning. She was awesome and the pictures were amazing.
My three greatest creations!
Daddy and daughter
A mom and her boys
The house we rented had a room full of wet suits and boogie boards. Brayden could not wait to hit the beach. It was NOT warm. I still cannot believe he did not wear a wet suit.
I LOVE this picture.
Sunset at ~5:00. :(
The Bligh boys and wives
The Bligh cousins
Saturday morning breakfast
Uncle Brian and Matty playing ping pong.
A stroll around Santa Cruz
Cute cousins wearing masks. Look at little Josie in hers!
On Sunday, we drove up to San Rafael to see Brian and Kristen's condo. We took a walk around the neighborhood.
At the end of the walk, Tommy, Brian, Matty and I hiked up the hills a bit. There were some amazing views up there!
Monday morning, we departed for part two of our vacation. I snagged this picture leaving the rental car return at SFO and heading to the train to the airport. Our kids are SO much easier to travel with now! Each of them rolled their own suitcase and carried their own backpack (and they were heavy with laptops, power cords, headphones, notebooks, etc).
Tuesday, we hiked in Zion. Gorgeous!
I missed this section of a hike because I was with my dad. The hike was too dangerous (my hands were sweating at the thought of someone falling) and I walked my dad back to the base.
On the shuttle with cousins to hike the Emerald Pools.
Matty loves his cousin Casey. He stopped for a snuggle here at the 3rd Emerald Pool
Look at those canyons! Gorgeous!
Group photo! Mom, Dad, and Ryan did not do this hike.
Another great cousin shot.
Just gorgeous!
On Wednesday, Taylor was doing school online when Baba showed up in the background. Haha!
This is my favorite memory of the trip. Sitting outside our our rental in Zion, enjoying coffee and talking.
The hot tub with that background was pretty awesome too!
Thanksgiving morning. With my daddy.
B-man chugging his Martinelli's
Thanksgiving Dinner. Tommy noted that after we sat and prayed, our meal was over in 14 minutes.
Alexa set up her camera for this picture. I think it is amazing!
Happy 8th Birthday Brayden!
We love this boy so much.
We gave Brayden a Nintendo Switch for his birthday. After a day of hiking, we made carnitas and celebrated with birthday cake. Uncle Ryan capped off the day with a special birthday song (which I have on video and we laugh every time we watch it).
On Brayden's special day, we hiked to the Narrows. Ryan stayed home since he wasn't feeling well. SMAC hiked Angel's Landing (no way were we doing that!). It was nice to have some time with Mimi and Baba.
Birthday snuggles with Mimi!
Taylor and I at the start of the Narrows. We did not wade into the water (did not have the right gear) but hope to go back and do this hike someday.
Saturday, we walked through the valley of Zion. Not a strenuous hike at all but gorgeous!
Loved having my brother Ryan with us! The kids adore him.
My boys
9.5 years old. A world ahead of him.
Happy Hour by the firepit.
What's funny about this moment - Tommy and I were sitting outside and he happened to look at changing our flights home. We were supposed to spend Sunday night in Las Vegas before flying home on Monday morning. We booked flights home on Monday ONLY because it was prohibitively expensive to fly home on Sunday. Thanks to the CDC Recommendations and empty airports, we were able to change our flights home from Monday morning to Sunday evening (typically the BUSIEST travel day of the year) and get money credited back!
Cheers! Wet hair from hot tubbing!
Me and my momma on our last night.
Saying goodbye to my daddy.
On Sunday, we spent a few hours in Vegas before catching our flight home. We had to check out of our VRBO by 11:00 and our flight home was at 7:00. Tommy and I thought the kids would enjoy seeing the hotels, casinos, and sights, but they were traumatized. There were Showgirls walking around in thongs but also wearing masks. A couple of "police women" asked Matty if his dad needed to be arrested. They could not wait to get out of there.
The highlight was watching the fountains at the Bellagio. We came back to watch the show (which is every 30 minutes) four times.
We got back to Seattle at 10:00 on Sunday night. By the time we drove home and got settled, I climbed into bed after midnight. It was a great trip! It was also great to get home a night early and be ready to take on a week of homeschool/work/etc.
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