Palmdale and a Looong Drive

Thursday morning we packed up and said goodbye to Grandma B and Grandpa Bob (Happy 60th Birthday Dad!). Jules had come over Wednesday night to say goodbye. When we stopped to get gas on our way out of town guess who was there gassing up right next to us? Auntie Jules! Haha it was fun to get last hugs from her. We drove out to Palmdale to visit Aunt Teri and Uncle Mike and cousins. We got there a little after lunch time. It was a really nice day out and we spent most of the afternoon visiting and watching the kids playing out in the backyard. Ian's cousin Todd and his kids, Preston and Brooke, were there. 

Aunt Teri is so fun and put together a little Easter egg hunt for the kids. She is smart too and color coordinated it so each kid only found their color of eggs. They loved it and helped Talia and Beckett find their eggs. The kids all played together really well.  They set up a car track and had fun playing cars. Weston taught Preston how to play chess. Weston and Davin introduced their cousins to Pokemon too.

Jenni got there after work in time for dinner. Uncle Mike grilled us hot dogs and Teri made delicious homemade mac and cheese. Talia and Brooke were so cute and SO similar. They were cracking us up.  They played this game trying to get the jump rope away from Ian over and over.

Finally it was time for bed. Cousins headed home and we put our kiddos to bed. Ian and I stayed up a little bit visiting with Aunt Teri. The next morning we got up with the kids, gathered our things and headed out to drive home. We didn't get going until about 7:30am. It was a different route coming from Palmdale. It should have taken almost exactly the same amount of time as coming home from my parents. It ended up taking quite a bit longer because about 45 miles before Beaver, UT we got a flat tire. Luckily a really nice guy stopped right after it happened and he had a tool we needed to get to our spare. The whole process only took about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately we were too far away from Beaver to make it to the tire shop before it closed, so we decided to just drive slow (like 55 mph with the hazard lights on) on the spare the rest of the way home and get a new tire the next morning in Lehi. It's amazing how slow 55 feels when the speed limit is 80. It took us an extra 2+ hours to get home. Luckily the kids were really good the whole drive. There were a few fussy moments from us all, but overall our kids did really awesome! We made an extra stop in Nephi to grab a little bit of dinner and put some air in the spare tire. We were all glad to be home that night! We had such a wonderful, fun trip and we are so glad we went!

Beckett thought the stop in Nephi was awesome! I did not. 

Beach Day

Wednesday was beach day. We ended up only spending a couple of hours at the actual beach. It was a fun day though. We went down to Long Beach in the morning and stopped in to visit my Grandma Snowball. She was having a good day and we had a really nice visit. I had fun showing them some of my favorite treasures in Grandma's house and talking about how Grandma B had grown up in that house. Ian took Beckett for a walk so I didn't have to stress about keeping him away from fragile things. I am glad we got to see Grandma this trip.

Next we drove down the road and popped in at Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house. I hadn't gotten a hold of them beforehand, so I wasn't sure if they would be home, but luckily Grandpa was finishing up some work in the driveway and he called Grandma at the mission office so she could come home and see us. They had some toys and coloring books so the kids were pretty entertained. Beckett was fussy because it was close to lunch time, but Grandma's M&M guy kept him at bay while we visited. I really love my grandparents and am so grateful we got to visit! I didn't get a pic though.  Oops.

After our grandparent visits we grabbed some lunch at In N Out. Beckett was starving and ate every last bite of his grilled cheese.

We drove down PCH to Huntington while Talia and Beckett got little naps in the car. We met up with my friends, Pam and Amanda at the beach. It was such a blast to catch up with them and let our kids play. You know you have good friends when it is years between visits, but it feels like no time at all.

I could have stayed a little longer at the beach, but we were getting tired and hungry and I knew it would take us awhile to get home in the end of the day traffic, so we headed out a little before 5. We made it home in time for Ian to go out for sushi with my dad. It took me the rest of the evening to get everyone (including myself) bathed and showered and fed. The kids went to bed pretty early that night, but no one complained. Ian and I stayed up watching Sweet Home Alabama with Mom. It was a good day.

Science and Swimming

Tuesday was our day to play with Auntie Jules. She took the day off work to hang with us. We decided to go to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. It participates in the ASTC program so we could get in free with our Thanksgiving Point pass. Plus it was Bubblefest! I had never been to the Discovery Science Center before. Ian took the boys a couple years ago and they loved it so they were happy to go back. 

The Bubblefest was really cool. They had all these fun bubble activities set up in the parking lot. Making giant bubbles, bubble tables, bounce houses and even a human bubble pond (that's how I am describing it since I have no idea if it has a real name). The kids all liked making the giant bubbles. Davin was the best at it. He was able to get his to close off and float away.

Weston, Davin and I all went in the human bubble pond. It was a really cool experience.  Kind of like being in a hamster wheel on water. I felt kind of silly but I'm glad I did it with the boys. They, of course, thought it was amazing and went twice. :)

The kids all played together at the bubble table. They are so cute they even got filmed by the event people! Beckett was seriously in heaven getting to splash in the bubble solution and play with the shapes. He was not at all happy when I pulled him away to wash up and go into the actual museum.

Ian took the boys to the laser light bubble show while Jules and I took Talia and Beckett into the museum. It was starting to get hot outside so we decided to play in the air conditioning. Beckett loved the exhibits with balls. These were the biggest smiles I saw all day!

Talia was getting pretty tired and grouchy, but we managed to see most of the museum. Beckett could have wandered around all day. He was fascinated by the mock space shuttle in the cube. And he loved walking around the dinosaurs outside. Talia had already been forcefully asking to go home by the time we got outside, so she was running out of patience. I think she was just still worn out from our day at Knott's. Finally when she screamed, "Take me home so I can nap!!!" I figured we were done.

Jules and I took Tal and Beck home (with lots of singing to keep them awake) and put them down for naps. Then Jules picked us up In N Out for lunch and we enjoyed the quiet house. We both got naps too. Ian and boys came home during nap time (they had stayed at the museum a little longer and then gone out to lunch) and everyone had much needed quiet time.

After the babies woke up from naps we put everyone in their swim suits and headed over the Jules and Rick's apartment. It was fun to see their cute place! The pool was deserted, which was perfect. It was also really cold, but it was 95 degrees outside so once we got in it felt amazing. The kids had a blast playing in the water. Beckett especially loved it. Towards the end Beckett and Talia had fun jumping to us over and over again. I think getting out and in made Beckett cold though, so we got out pretty soon after the jumping.

That night was Taco Tuesday at Mom and Dad's. It was so delish. Dad made carne asada and carnitas tacos. Mmm. Grandpa Bob and Davin worked on putting together Davin's new pirate puzzle that he got for his birthday from the Garcia's. We had a fun night hanging out together. I'm so glad we got to spend a whole day playing with Jules! Love my sisters!