California: Chapter One: The Park

We left Utah early, early Friday morning, February 4.

Like, early.

Like, so early that you don't consider it morning yet, but still the middle of the night. We pulled out of the driveway at 4:19am.

The trip went really well. Leaving so early was a great thing since a big chunk of the 14 hour trip was behind us before the day officially began with the sunrise. Audrey and Luke traveled so well - with the exception of a quick stop at a McDonald's Play Place in Winnemucca to let the kids run around and play, we drove straight through, only stopping for gas - during which we'd use the facilities and change diapers. By noon, we were already 2/3 of the way there! We pulled into my sister, Megan's driveway just a few minutes after 5pm. My trip was a surprise. Megan had no idea that I was coming.

Ever since she had shocked me with her own surprise visit just a week and a half after Luke was born, I've been wanting to orchestrate my own for her. This was my opportunity. I had talked with Megan on the phone many times in the days leading up to our departure. Never once leaving any hint or clue - often even commiserating with her about how crappy it is to live so far away from each other. She had actually called me, wondering when my parents had left our house that morning, so she would have an idea about when they'd be getting in - at that point, we were only about an hour and a half away from her house. I kept up the charade - silently giggling the whole conversation!

When we got there, I told Audrey to knock on their door, while I hid just out of sight (Meg has a glass front door which would have given me away). Audrey has a pretty soft knock, so when they didn't answer right away, my mom went to add to the knocking effort. Megan's husband, Marc, answered the door. Megan was in the front room, but could see enough to notice the little girl with our mom. I'm pretty sure the first words out of her mouth were "Nuh-Uh! No Way!" And then I literally jumped my way into her house - my excitement making me resemble Tigger, no doubt. Keeping our coming a surprise was difficult but entirely worth it for the look on Megan's face! I loved seeing the surprise and the happiness at our arrival!

We didn't stay long since it was time for them to get started with their bath and bedtime routine. But we all reunited for a trip to one of the city's parks the next morning. We put our kiddos in the swings first.

Luke, it turns out, has not stopped loving swings. It has been a long and very cold winter in Utah, and we haven't been able to venture outside to play on the swings since the early fall. We were all relishing in the warm California weather -a 40ish degree increase from the frigid temperatures we left in Utah.

And both Luke and Audrey were so excited that we could go outside and play!

(Audrey with cousin Ben to her right.)

All of the kids had such a fun time on the swings together.

Benjamin is Megan's oldest boy. He has the prettiest light blue eyes I've ever seen, and his laugh is so infectious! I'll tell you more about that in a future post.

And this cutie pie is Hugh, Megan's younger boy. He is a doll with the cutest little grins that totally melt me. And he's got this amazing husky voice. It's awesome.

I think Ben and Hugh were still getting used to me - some times it takes a little time! - they really were having a lot of fun!

Right next to the swings was a big play place with a bunch of different slides, stairs, bridges and jungle gyms. Audrey started eying them from her swing, so we played on those next.

Traversing the treacherous ladder/hammock bridge:

She looks a little nervous, a little intense, but she did really well. And felt really proud of herself when she got across safely!

I made Luke try a few different slides with me, and he liked them alright... but then started signaling for a repeat turn on the swings...

It is definitely safe to say that the swings are his favorite!

Our outing to the park was a great beginning of our week in sunny California!




Chapter Two coming soon....