California Trip!

We went on a trip to LA this weekend to visit Michelle. It was such a fun weekend and the kids did so amazing for having long event filled days with no naps.

This is a picture that Dylan took out his window as we were driving in of the windmills. He thought they were so great. Of course the trip got a little long and Dylan started to get a bit antsy sometimes which meant that he started to mess with his sister. The picture below shows what that involves.

We went to Disneyland on Thursday. It wasn't too busy so the lines weren't bad at all. Mark and
I had free tickets to get in and we didn't have to pay for Cadence since she is under 3 (until this Friday), so it was a cheap entry for us! The voucher we had required photo id to use it and when we were walking to get in line Mark asked me for my drivers license to which I felt my stomach drop and say..."I didn't bring my wallet with me today, I don't have it". It was such a gross feeling of thinking that we would have to drive the hour back to Michelle's house and then another hour back to Disney. Thankfully Disney was so nice and just gave me a free ticket to get in that didn't need photo id. Such a relief...so thankful to Disneyland!!

Mark's mom had given the kids money to buy something while at Disneyland. They were so excited to be able to bring their wallets with and be able to pick out what they wanted. Dylan's first purchase was a big cotton candy which he shared very nicely with Cadence.

We rode all the rides and the kids loved it. Cadence was a bit scared on some of them but in the end she said she liked everything.

Isabelle did such a great job and we took her on the rides that we could but she was so exhausted by afternoon. She finally konked out in her stroller for a little bit.

Cadence picked out her treat to be a huge lollipop. She ended up dropping it on the ground soon after we had it opened and it shattered to pieces. She was so upset about it that Dylan consoled her by giving her the other toy he had purchased with his money...a flashing R2D2 robot from Star Wars. It was really sweet of him.

The next day was beach day. The kids loved it! The weather was perfect and we stayed out all day. Dylan had lots of fun building a sandcastle and found feathers (gross!) as his castle tops. They were all covered in sand and Isabelle ended up eatting some as well. :)

When we first arrived Dylan was so excited to get into the water. He ran staight down and was jumping around and said "This is awesome" with no exaggeration probably 50 times in a row. It was so fun to watch him be so excited. :)

Isabelle just lounged around...she wasn't sure what she thought of the sand. She ended up taking a nap for about a hour on me, it was so relaxing! The afternoon ended with walking the pier & having some funnel cake & icecream for treat.

On Saturday Michelle took the kids to Toys R Us to pick out their birthday presents. She did this last year and the kids have a lot of fun with it. It is of course hard to wrap their little minds around that they can pick out whatever they like...but only one thing. It was hard for Dylan to narrow his options down but Cadence was very sure of herself as to what she wanted. Cadence ended up picking out a little purple purse that came with some plastic jewelry, cell phone & keys...which she loves and carried it around on her shoulder for the next few days. Dylan picked out a pirate play island thing which has already gotten lots of use.

After the toy store we headed to lunch and then Griffiith Park train area. We rode the little train that went around a that portion of the park.

The kids thought it was great to climb on all the old trains and check everything out.

That evening we headed back to the beach and Michelle was able to take this really great family picture at sunset!

Trip endings are always hard...especially for Dylan, especially when it involves leaving Michelle. They have a special connection and Mark and I think it goes back to the season of life where she came and cared for him while we were in the hospital with Lincoln. I'm not sure if he really remembers that time but I know that it gave him a sense of security that she was there caring for him with things were so strange in the house.

He wailed & cried for a solid 20 minutes after we left Michelle's apartment. We always tell him it is ok to cry and he did. :) He kept saying "goodbye michelle, goodbye apartment, goodbye city"! It is always so sad to see his defestation with the circumstance. He begged to stay for just one more day. We answered by saying "now that Michelle is so much closer, we'll be able to visit a lot more often." It consoled some and then was met with "can we plan the next trip now?"

Until next time. :)