California Trip (another one...)

I've mentioned before that I am the youngest in my family.  I have five older brothers and two older sisters.  All of us are married, and all of us have children of our own.  Not surprisingly, eight couples can produce quite a few grandchildren for my parents to enjoy.  By extension, this means that there are quite a few special events that my parents do their best to be a part of.

In April they went to my brother, Danny's, house and stayed a few weeks - first to watch their five children while Danny and his wife, Leslie, were able to take an early anniversary trip together to Costa Rica, and then they stayed for a while after Danny and Leslie had returned to celebrate Danny's birthday, Lauren's birthday (their youngest), and Katie's and Maddie's (their third and fourth children) birthdays and Katie's baptism at the beginning of May.

After Katie's baptism, my parents left New Mexico and headed Northwest for Utah.  One of my other brothers, Mark, was having a big event that my faithful parents wanted to attend:  his oldest son, Jacob, had earned his Eagle Scout award, his Court of Honor was scheduled for May 12.  My oldest brother, Jamie, also had two of his oldest sons scheduled to receive their Eagles and they had intended to have their Eagle Court a few days later, on the 15.  Well, it didn't work out and Jamie's sons had to have their Eagle Court on June 5.  Meanwhile, my parents (who had already been away from home for a month) had responsibilities that needed attending in California; but they also didn't want to miss Jamie's boys' Eagle Court.  So, they decided that they would have to return home for just a couple of weeks before having to turn back around and travel back to Utah/Idaho to be able to attend Levi and Isaac's Eagle Court.

Well, all of that was just too tempting for me and my kids not to hitch a ride with my parents for an impromptu visit to California.  We've done it before:  crammed ourselves and our stuff into my parents' Civic for a visit, but usually I have to buy plane tickets back home to Utah - the notion of an absolutely free trip for me and my kiddos, coupled with the promise of a lot of time with my sister Megan and her family was simple too much to pass up!  (Even with the consideration that our last trip to California was in February!)  I just didn't think that that kind of opportunity will present itself again - when my parents will be in Utah and have to return again in a couple of weeks - so we took advantage of the opportunity, tried to pack as lightly as a mom with two young children can, and smooshed ourselves into the car for the 13ish hour drive across the Nevada desert.  (It's about as relaxing and peaceful and fun as it sounds.)

I liked how one friend put it:  "That trip is even boring in an airplane!"

Can I just say that, for the record, it was worth every second!  We had a great time!

One of the biggest inducements, for me, was giving Luke a chance to interact and play with his cousins that are so close to his age.  Really, his only playmate is Audrey (and me and Adam, of course).  So, I was anxious for him to get some peer play in.

Ben, Luke and Hugh - playing with the ball popper.

Luke and Ben sharing.  Yay!

I love this one, Hugh is so stinkin' cute!

Speaking of Hugh, our trip was pretty fortunate timing:  we got there the evening of the 14th of May and Hugh's first birthday was the 17th so we got to celebrate with him!

One of Hugh's presents was this little motorized quad bike.  Ben was more than ready to try it out - while Hugh was still occupied with his slice of birthday cake and ice cream.  It didn't take long for him to figure out how to push the button that activated the motor that made it go.

Ben's light (and very blue) eyes kill me!

Hugh did get a turn, and he figured out what and where the activating button was even faster than his older brother!  Here he is waving to his adoring crowd as he makes a pass on his new bike.

The quad was a big hit with all of the kids.  In fact, Megan and I used it as a centerpiece tool for trying to teach how to take turns and share - setting the microwave timer for 2 minutes at a time, rotating through each child.  The kids loved being together (except when they didn't - which thankfully wasn't too much of the time).

One of Audrey's favorite things to do was go outside for short little walks (to and from Megan's and my parents' houses, mostly).  And nearly every time she went outside, she returned with a handful (literally) of flowers.  She especially loved the cheerful golden poppies that my parents have encouraged to grow along their walkways and near their patio.  My mom even enlisted Audrey's help in removing the poppy seed pods that were ready to be plucked.

Some of the poppies were almost as tall as Audrey, so we had to have her pose for some pictures.

It was a bright morning!

I couldn't neglect to include the handsome little Luke in our impromptu photo shoot - even though I couldn't get him to stand still next to the poppies.  (I suspect he thought it wasn't very manly to pose in front of a bunch of flowers....)

 

 (Pretty much, Mom.)

Speaking of trying to get Luke to stand still (for anything, but especially for pictures), on our last Sunday in California, as we were walking to church (which is just around the block from my parents' house) I wanted to get a few pictures of Audrey and Luke, all cute in their Sunday clothes.

Yeah, they had other ideas.

I tried to enlist Audrey's help - asking her to catch up to Luke and stand next to him so that I could snap a picture or two...

He's getting faster, apparently!

She caught up to him and this was the best that I could do.  Not great, but pretty illustrative of our lives right now - who has time to pose for pictures?  There's places to go, people to meet, and things to explore and discover!

We had a fabulous time in California!  We can't wait until the next trip! 

(Our deepest thanks to Gamma & Gampa, and Megan & Marc, and Ben & Hugh for such a wonderful time!  We love you!)