the trek. It seemed like we'd never get there, but we finally did. Here's a recap of our week...
Friday (21st)--We stopped in Primm, Nevada on our way to CA. There is a rollercoaster that goes around the hotel there & we told Melissa & Brittany we'd stop there so they could ride it. It was quite the ride. Jake rode with Brittany first & after they got off he had no interest in going on it again. It's an old rickety coaster so his elbows were banging against the sides & his head just hurt. I chose to give up my ticket to Brittany & let the 2 girls go by themselves.
One of the things the girls were most excited about was to see the puppies. They could hardly wait to get out of the car & play with Princess & Peaches. Anytime we were at the house, they were walking the dogs, playing with the dogs, or holding the dogs. I started to feel bad for these little puppies. My girls wouldn't leave them alone. Fortunately they were nice & didn't terrorize them. It took Allie & Brooklyn a little while to warm up & get used to having dogs around, but once they decided they were ok then they couldn't quite talking about them. I can't believe I didn't get more pictures of my girls with the puppies!
Saturday--we spent the day at the Orange County Swap Meet. It's huge & has a great variety of things to buy. Last Christmas, Jake's parents bought us a couple of "Skitters" for the kids. They are the funnest little scooters & we wanted to buy one more (my kids ride them every day & for some reason 2 isn't enough for 5 to share). Brooklyn was so excited when she saw this booth. She knew right away what these toys were.
Sunday--Today was Easter & it was a beautiful day. The girls were excited to find their baskets & play with the Littlest Pet Shop toys they got. They each got a beautiful dress from Grammie & they felt beautiful when they put them on. We went to church & I got to go to Sunday School & Relief Society. That was so nice. Karen & Cecil were kind enough to take Brooke so I could actually hear the lesson. After church, we had dinner with other family members that came over. It's always good to see family & catch up on their current happenings.
Monday--This morning at 6 AM, Jake and the 3 older girls got up & headed out with Grandpa to go fishing. They were all excited & couldn't wait to get there. Unfortunately, they hit traffic on one of the freeways & so it took a lot longer than they planned on to get to the lake. Once they got there, they put the boat on the lake & waited. They waited & waited & waited. Not one bite. They decided to take the boat out & go to a smaller lake where they would cast their lines from the shore. There were people on either side of them that had been there for hours & had no luck. The girls must have had the magical bait cause they started reeling in the fish--9 total!! They were so excited. Grandpa took them to the area where they could clean & cut the fish. The girls were very interested & even took their turns helping out.
While they were gone fishing, Jake's mom offered to watch my younger 2 girls so I could go shopping by myself. It was great!! I headed out at 9:30 and didn't get home until almost 2 PM. I spent most of my time at the Ontario Mills Outlet Mall. It's nice to be able to walk around & browse through the stores with out worrying about what my kids are getting into or where they may be. I didn't break the bank too much so Jake was happy when he saw just a few bags when I got home.
For Family Home Evening, we went & saw the movie "Horton Hears a Who". We all enjoyed the movie & Brooklyn and Allie enjoyed having more popcorn in front of them than they could ever imagine.
Tuesday/Wednesday--We headed out to Dana Point to go whale watching. We went a year ago & had a lot of fun so we wanted to give it another try. The weather was beautiful & we were off on the boat. It wasn't too long before we were watching hundreds of dolphins swimming all around us. It was so fun to see them swimming right next to the boat & diving in & out of the water. They are amazing creatures. We watched the dolphins for a little while & then the we were informed a whale was off in the distance. We headed off towards it & we soon realized there were 4 whales migrating together. They would surface every 5-6 minutes. We'd see them spout out their water & then dive back down with their tales coming up out of the water. It was beautiful!! We followed them for a long time & got excited every time they came up. As we went back to shore, we saw 2 more whales, a mother & her baby. What a wonderful experience we had & it was so fun to see our children get so excited & enjoy this amazing opportunity.
My sister, Deborah, lives in Orange County so we went to stay with her for a night. We headed out to the Disney Marketplace & walked around the shops while we waited for the 2 hour wait at Rainforest Cafe. It's spring break time so Disney is packed!! I always love going to Disney--it really makes me feel like a kid. We finally got to eat & then headed back to Deb's house. We got the kids to bed late & I was hoping they would sleep in--it never happens. We got up early & tried to be quiet & not wake up anyone else. We took a quiet relaxing day today. Jake & the girls went outside a few times to look for lizards. They didn't catch any, but they saw quite a few. They cooled off a little putting their feet in the pool & then we had to start thinking about heading back to Grammie & Grandpa's house before the traffic got too bad.
Thursday--It was another quiet, relaxing day. We had been staying up late & getting up early so we were starting to feel like we had hit a wall. The weather was also warmer than our Idaho weather so that starts to drain us, too. We did some shopping today & Jake & I went out to dinner with a couple he knew growing up.
Friday--We started our trek home. Jake's step-grandfather died, so we drove to St. George for his funeral. We were able to catch up with some friends from dental school, Alex & Heather Blazzard, & get some ice cream with them. We went back to the hotel & let the girls go swimming, eat pizza and go to bed.
Saturday--We got up & took the morning getting ready for the funeral. All of Jake's family was there so it was nice to see all of them again. After the funeral, we changed clothes, packed up & were on the road home. We were looking at a 10 hour drive & I was anticipating a lot of whining & crying. It was one of the best trips they had ever done. Brooklyn had about 20 minutes when she had had it, but it was way past dinner time & she needed her diaper changed. After that, it was dark & we hardly heard a word out of any of the kids. We finally made it home around 1 AM & were very happy to be back in our own beds & know the long drives were behind us.
We had a wonderful time & are so grateful to Grammie & Grandpa for letting us stay at their house. It was the perfect spring break!!
1 comment:
It was so fun to have you guys here. Looks like everything turned out great and your kids did so well. It's always fun to see your family whenever we get the chance.
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