California Adventure Part 1

Last month, the kids and I went to California to visit my family, and it turned out to be quite the adventure. We left on a Thursday. I was really nervous to fly by myself with the boys. Although I had done it before, Gabe was 5 months younger and the trip was shorter. This time we had 2 flights, the second being 5 hours long. The first flight was delayed for so long I had to rebook the second and entertain the boys in a tiny airport for nearly 2 hours. I got a few compliments on how well we handled it. I'm glad they couldn't tell how frazzled and alone I felt!

Gabe slept for an hour on the short flight, and we didn't have much layover time, so the first half was easy. The second flight ended up being good too since it was so late. Well, except when Gabe unexpectedly puked up banana at the beginning and no attendants were available to help so I had to use napkins and baby wipes to clean it up. After that, I entertained Gabe with a quiet book for a while before he fell asleep for almost the rest of the flight. No one was next to us, so Caden was able to lie down to sleep too. Once we exited the airport and found Grandma, Caden sprinted to her joyously!

Such a willing helper!

Friday I got a haircut. I've been wanting to get something new and modern for a long time. I googled salons in the area and went with the first one since it had great reviews and it was very close by. My stylist was amazing! My great luck continued while shopping, and I found a maxi dress that wasn't too long, two pairs of shoes, and two shirts.

That afternoon we went to Genesis and Sammy's elementary school for a free ice cream social.

Saturday morning I passed off the kids to Grandma and went back to bed for 2 hours. The trip finally caught up with me, so I relaxed the whole day.

I showed my little sister how to do her makeup, and then we ate dinner at the church (it was their stake conference).

Every chance they could get, Sammy and Genesis came over to help get the kids ready for bed. I wanted to take them home with me!

Sunday we attended stake conference, and my sister-in-law took Gabe. She also made us delicious pozole for dinner.

Caden loves playing at his cousins' house!

Monday I hung out with my best friends. We had brunch at a cafe and went shopping at an outlet mall. My friend Francine has a little girl the same age as Gabe and they played together while we were out. After she and her baby left, the rest of us caught up for a while. I ended the day watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier with my niece Sariah while the boys played.

Gabe started using spoons at Grandma's.

Tuesday I went running, and boy, did I underestimate that hill! I didn't go down the steep side either. We took the boys to reading time at the library, where Caden made an autumn craft.

Caden loved playing with all my old toys!

We stopped by the animal shelter and fell in love with this particularly beautiful, sweet dog. I don't even like dogs and I wanted to take him home! Gabe loved the animals. (He chased Grandma's cat every day too.) After a delicious pizza dinner, we went to Isaac's court of honor.

Wednesday, Grandma took the boys to the park, where Caden rode my little tricycle. I think next summer he will be ready for a real bike.

For dinner, my mother showed me how to make arroz con pollo. I want to have a Three Kings Day party this year, and that recipe seemed easy to make in bulk. It was easy but a lot of work! I ended the day watching Mortal Instruments with my friend Kaitlyn. I hadn't heard of it until my day out with the girls. I felt it was a ripoff of Twilight, Harry Potter, and tidbits of other books.

Thursday we went to the beach. I grew up in San Diego county, where the nearest beach was 15 minutes away. Now my family lives inland, so it was over an hour away. We discovered a new beach in Dana Point; not just new to us, but recently built. It was the most beautiful beach I've ever seen in California! The water was a gorgeous teal, the sand was clean, the shore was below multimillion-dollar houses, and the beach was not crowded.

The boys started off in the sand. Gabe was not a fan, and even Caden was timid at first. Grandma showed him how to make a sand castle.

He tried getting up without touching the sand!

I took Caden to the waterline. It kept receding, so we got closer and closer until it finally reached Caden. And then knocked him over! He recovered quickly and stayed in the water with Grandma and Grandpa holding his hands, and then he sat down in it!

Caden did not want to get out of the water! Gabe had enough, however, so we called it a day. We spent a total of 2 hours there, enjoying the sun and water and running on the sand. My shoulders got sunburned for the second time in my life. The boys slept on the way back and ended the day playing restaurant with me and Grandma.