Monday - March 23rd
We are back from our trip to California. We left on Friday the 13th. We stopped and spent the night at Missy and Mikal's house. We spent the day at Missy's house. The kids had a lot of fun playing. their favorite thing was in the morning when we put the air mattress away. They love jumping on it and helping to put it away.
After dinner, we left on our long drive to Kelly's house. It took us 12 hours to get there. We thought it would be easier with the kids if we drove through the night. That way they could sleep through the whole drive.
On Saturday the 15th, Kelly took us on the light rail to go to the farmer's market. We loved riding on the train. the kids thought it was so fun.
The kids had a lot of fun taking baths with their cousin, Delia. She had a lot of fun bath toys. They took a lot of baths while we were there. Kelly would make a heat tunnel (using a blanket and a wall heater) for them after they got out of the bath. They loved it!
On Monday, March 16th, we went to the Jelly Belly Factory. We love going to the Jelly Belly Factory. Jelly Bellies are so yummy. I love that they sell big bags of Belly flops (oddly shaped or stuck together Jelly Beans) so we can afford to stock up on Jelly Bellies.
In the lobby area, near the gift shop, they have some fun little toys and these funny mirrors for the kids. We had so much fun looking at ourselves in the mirror. It's funny to move around and see how funny it makes us look.
Kelly and Delia
Alissa and Parker are pretending that Parker is driving and Alissa is hanging on to the front. They did a good job. Parker looks like he's flooring it and Alissa looks like she's screaming and hanging on for dear life (except for the bag of Jelly Bellies in her hand).
We had a lot of fun playing at a little park, not too far away from Kelly's apartment. We blew bubbles and threw a Frisbee around. Kelly lives in a really nice area. I really liked it there.
Archie and Mr. P couldn't get enough water. They were hot and tired from the walk. In their excitement to get water, they ended up tipping their bowl over. They are funny dogs.
I told Alissa that I wanted to take an action shot of her. The plan was for her to run toward the camera, then Roger would throw the Frisbee and she would jump up and catch it in the air. He would throw it gently and make it as easy as possible for er to catch. It didn't end up working too well, because Alissa was afraid that she would get hit by the Frisbee. It was fun trying though. Alissa is such a cutie.
Delia was being so cute sitting behind them and giving them loves. She kept choking them a little when she hugged them. They weren't quite sure how to handle it. But, they all posed for a picture anyway, and it turned out quite nicely.
The funnest thing about Kelly's apartment, was the swimming pool. The kids couldn't wait to go swimming. I hadn't taken them to a big pool before. They are used to playing in little pools in the front yard, but have no experience with regular sized pools. So, the kids were really excited about this. It didn't start out well, though. Brinley had some floaties on to keep her from drowning. They all had some kind of floaty toy. So, we were all by the steps and slowly getting in. Brinley wasn't afraid and went right in. Before I knew it, she was in the pool floating, but with her head stuck under the water. I quickly grabbed her and got her situated safely on the top step of the pool. When I turned around to look at the other kids, Alissa had gone out too far and was drowning. She had decided to go in with out her floaty toy, because she could touch the ground in the shallow end and she thought that was really cool, so she didn't need a floaty. Anyway, she went a little too far into the pool, where it slopes down and gets deeper. She was jumping and flayling her arms, trying to get back to the shallow end, but she seemed to keep going deeper with each jump. she couldn't yell for help, because every time she went down, water got in her mouth and she was choking on it. She had the most terrified look on her face and her eyes were looking at me pleading for me to help her. Luckily, roger noticed what was happening and her was really close to her. He quickly jumped in and saved her. After all that, we were all afraid to go swimming. We all stayed pretty close to the steps. Kelly spent some time with Alissa, teaching her how to swim. In the end, we all had fun and the kids couldn't wait to go swimming again.
I was so worried with this being our first time in a big pool, that I forget to take any pictures. I remembered when we were leaving. So, here are the pictures I took after we went swimming.
The kids really couldn't wait to go swimming again, so her we are, the following day, swimming again. This time I remembered to take some pictures.
I got a hair cut! I love my new short hair. I was surprised at how much hair was on the ground after I got it cut. My hair was long!
Beach Day! We finally got to take the kids to the beach. Only problem was that the weather didn't cooperate with us. It was cold and we weren't prepared for that. The kids loved playing on the beach. They got really wet. I thought that was crazy of them. It was so cold outside without being wet. I couldn't imagine how they could stand to get their legs wet in that water. Kids are funny like that.
We were freezing after playing on the beach. I didn't expect the kids to get their shirts wet too, so we ended up stopping at a gift shop and buying some sweatshirts so the kids wouldn't freeze. After we left the beach, we went to Santa Cruz Diner. We ordered some hot chocolate to warm us up and some lunch. Kelly was disappointed that she didn't get to buy a funnel cake at the beach. The weather was bad and the line was too long. she loves those funnel cakes and the beach is the only place that she knows to buy them. Next time we go, I want to try one.
We had a lot of fun on our vacation. I'm really glad that we got to go and spend so much time with Kelly and Delia.
Our drive home was not very fun. We had bad weather and it made the drive take 2 hours more than it had taken us to drive there. so, the drive home was 14 hours long! We had fun, but we are happy to be home.
