in-n-out of Cali, animal-style : by amy

Our family got to share our first In-n-Out experience together last week.  Husband and I each got the single cheeseburger, animal-style (the not-so-secret-"secret" amazingly delicious topping, which is simply Thousand Island dressing and caramelized onions-- tip the hat to Big Mac), and Logan got a regular burger.  My husband and I both devoured our burgers (OK, I ate half of Logan's burger too...and animal fries).  But we came a long way before we could even think about tasting this fast-food-deliciousness.  I'm not just talking about the 2,800 miles we traveled by air, but that's where I'll begin since it was pretty quick and painless.

The Plane Ride
This ended up being much easier than I anticipated.  My UppaBaby umbrella stroller (which Jean also used for her Korea trip) was the super-star of my trip, along with my Kate Spade diaper bag-- this thing carries A LOT more than it looks!  Anyway, I packed a few books, 2 toys, the iPad, 2 blankets (thin and thick), some squeezy packs and other snacks, 1 bottle, spare liners, my thermos which stored 16 ounces of milk (which I was allowed take through security), and an extra change of clothes for Logan (in additional to diapers, wipes and Bibsters). We got Logan his own seat, so we sat in a row of 3, which was plenty of room for him.  It was also helpful that the people sitting behind us enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with Logan.  He even napped for an hour on the plane, which gave us a nice break.  However, the plane ride back home was more difficult, mostly because the timing was bad (but we had no choice due to our 3 rescheduled flights caused by Hurricane Sandy).  Logan started to get overly squirmy and refused to sleep, but reading books seemed to calm him down.  He also ended the flight with a little barf right as we landed.  These Arm and Hammer clean-up bags are always crucial to keep in the diaper bag for accidents like this.

The Hospital
Bet you weren't expecting this.  We arrived in San Diego in the late morning and our hotel room wasn't going to be ready until about 4pm.  Logan was still on east coast time, so I wanted to put him to bed by around 4:30pm west coast-time, which meant I would have to feed him dinner as soon as we checked in.  We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in the Gaslamp Quarter because 1) They had full kitchens and separate spaces between the living and bed rooms; 2) It included a hot breakfast and in the one we stayed at in Irvine, even dinner; and 3) It was downtown which would be stroller-friendly and dinner-friendly for the husband and me after Logan went to sleep.  At around 4:15pm, we checked into our room.  I immediately started microwaving and cutting up the frozen lasagna that I bought for Logan while the husband brought in the bags and started to unpack his suit.  Within minutes, the husband walked on an Advil tablet that was randomly found on the floor.  WEIRD.  Thank God he found it before Logan did!  We did a quick scan of the floor for any more random items on the carpet (which we assumed was vacuumed), but within another few minutes, the husband heard Logan crunching away on something.  It was a mysterious white chunk of...something, but it was definitely a pill of some sort since it turned into powder in my fingers.  Long story short, we spent the next 7 hours at the Rady Children's Hospital where they tried to force-feed Logan liquid-charcoal which is supposed to absorb any toxins in his stomach.  While the nurses were very gentle and caring, I couldn't help but cry as I watched my son struggle with fear and discomfort.  On the somewhat brighter side, Logan vomitted 3 separate times shortly thereafter, so his stomach was pretty much clean of anything that he may have ingested.

Poison Control required the hospital to monitor him for 6 hours after ingestion, and in the end, Logan was just fine, though still no idea what he actually ingested (maybe it was nothing-- maybe I got it all out of his mouth).  Did you know that a 27-ish pound toddler could ingest 4-5 Advil tablets and still be OK?  News to me.  Anyway, the hotel comped our hospital bills, our hotel room, our valet parking and our dinners for the nights we were there.  Obviously, this would've been avoided if they properly cleaned our room, but they DID handle the situation in the best way possible, and we were very grateful for that.  It was quite a scare.

The Time-Zone
It took Logan about 3 days to fully adjust to west coast time.  Everything was off due to the traumatic night at the hospital.  Logan woke up in the middle of the night, clearly upset, so we had him sleep with us in the bed for the first night only.  When we returned home to NJ, it was nearly 1:00am by the time Logan was in his crib.  With a little luck thanks to daylight savings and the possibility that Logan may be transitioning to just one nap a day, Logan transitioned to east coast time with ease in just one day!

The Hurricane
We couldn't have timed our trip any better.  Hurricane Sandy prevented us from coming home 3 times.  We were forced to extend our trip for another 4 days which ended up being the delicious animal-style topping of our trip.  While we were in Irvine, we stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Orange County (free hot breakfast and dinners!) where they gave us a reduced week-rate given our circumstances.  Thanks to Sandy, we got to enjoy good company in Koreatown, Santa Monica, Newport Beach, Balboa Island and play at the beautiful playground in the Irvine Civic Center Park.  We came home to a 50 degree, power-less home, but nothing long underwear, 5 layers of blankets and a fuzzy Halloween costume couldn't handle.

Our trip to California will definitely be a memorable one!  Kinda like my first animal-style experience at In-N-Out, but the burger at Father's Office just absolutely blew my mind...and gave Logan diarrhea.