In early April we were able, for the first time in 3 1/2 years, to take a family trip to Southern California to see our families on the West Coast. Here are a few highlights from our short week....
Well, "highlights" is a little too perky for this first picture, which commemorates our first plane ride, during which Benjamin puked all over himself & me. Fun times. Good thing we didn't check any luggage. Everything we needed was in the overhead bin! :)
This is my parents' gorgeous new backyard. The kids loved being outside even thought it was pretty cold those first few days. They especially loved the pink rubbermaid "sandbox." Hours of entertainment!
Talia is sitting in my childhood rocking chair, holding my childhood Raggedy Ann doll (handmade by my mother). Precious!
We got to spend some time with my childhood friend, Erin, and her two (adorable) kiddos.
My brother and sister-in-law came in from Arizona and spent the day with us on Saturday. The kids had a blast with Uncle Kevin & Auntie Erin.
For old times sake, my dad gave me chores: to go through my boxes in the garage. I found some really...um...wonderful stuff, but I think Kevin gets the prize for the nastiest childhood "treasure." Here's my dad trying to return some kind of wild animal tail to it's rightful owner.
On Sunday Seth had the opportunity to preach in the church his high school youth pastor now pastors. We had a great time reconnecting with the sweet Clark family.
Even though the kids were still recovering from their mystery illness, it didn't prevent them from enjoying In-N-Out!
When we transitioned to Seth's parent's house on Sunday night Benjamin prayed, just before bed, "Please don't let me forget to ask Mamacita to help me make lemonade tomorrow" (they have a lemon tree in their backyard). Sure enough, almost first thing Monday morning, they were in the kitchen squeezing lemons.
Talia's dearest wish for our trip to California was to go to a place with a really big slide. (???) Seth grew up going to Atlantis park where Talia definitely got her wish.
Benj & Talia were very enamored with this statue of "Ariel's Daddy"
Leila and her cousin Audrey (2 months apart) had a "ball" in the backyard. (Blog posts are supposed to be full of cheesy puns, right?)
Our last day in California we took a morning trip to Downtown Disney. Benjamin has recently gotten into Legos, so he was very excited to visit this amazing Lego store.
Papo & Mamacita treated the kids to their choice of Build-A-Bear Workshop or Ridemakerz (the "build-a-car" place next door). Here is Benjamin putting his custom Lightning McQueen together.
Papo was on picture duty for Build-a-Bear since we had two little girls and their custom creations to manage. Talia made a pink rabbit with a daisy pattern and dressed her in a Rapunzel dress from the movie "Tangled" (which we saw for the first time that week). She named her bunny Rapunzel. Surprisingly, Leila had some strong opinions about her bear too. She chose a pink bear, which she was adament MUST have shoes. When we were creating the "birth certificate" for her bear we had to give it a name. I suggested several names to Leila. She kept shaking her head and saying, "no." When I suggested "Princess" she got a huge smile on her face, nodded her head vigorously and said, "YES!" Talia carried her bunny around for the rest of the morning and kept insisting that everyone hold hands with her.
Thank you to Mima & Papa, Mamacita & Papo, for a wonderful, magical week. We all had a wonderful time.
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