This last weekend we went out to CA to visit the in-laws at their new house. It was a lot of fun. Alann, Craig (his brother), Sarah (Craig's wife), Alex, Claire, Brooklyn (Craig's daughter), and I all rode in the swagger wagon. It was a bit squishy, but comfy enough. We ended up being able to leave Thursday afternoon. Alann, the kids, and I left the house around 3:30 to head to Provo. We picked up Craig and Sarah, had some dinner, got the babies fed, changed, and situated, and away we went. The babies were pretty good. Claire behaved, watched some movies on our DVD player (LOVE IT!) and drifted off the sleep around 9. We hit Vegas around midnight. And then the trouble started. Claire woke up when we stopped for gas. She refused to go back to sleep afterwards. She would be quiet for a little while, then start screaming. We didn't put a movie on because I kept hoping she would just go back to sleep. We finally got to the house at around 3:30 am. Luckily, everybody went right to bed and we heard no more from Claire, or Pirate Stinkbottom as she came to be called (at least in our room). We put her pack and play in the closet with sliding doors. She discovered she could go in and out as much as she wanted. So while we were getting ready for the day or bedtime, she would come out of Closet Land, raid for some stuff, and take the booty back to Closet Land, and shut the door and just laugh. She would take whatever she could find- clothes, bags, my purse, my phone. It was pretty funny. I was teasing her, calling her Pirate Stinkbottom while she was raiding. A few minutes later, she came out again and was true to her new nickname.
Anyway, the trip was a lot of fun, and very busy. Friday was just off. We slept late, the kids slept weird times, we ate at strange times. We ended up going out to dinner at 10pm Utah time (9 CA time) for a date with Craig and Sarah. That was a lot of fun. We mostly just hung around the house. Saturday we went to LA. They live in Yucaipa, about an hour from anywhere fun. We went to Griffith Park. Andrew and Claire played on the playground while we waited for Craig, Sarah, and Mark and Debbie to show up. Then we went to ride the merry go round.
Claire LOVED it. She thought it was the best thing ever. She had so much fun. She loved to look at the organ as we went by it and was just so happy. She wanted to go right back on it when the ride was over. I was a bit dizzy, and we wanted to go ride on the train. She was disappointed, but enjoyed the train ride too. Then she talked Grandma into some popcorn and a pony ride.
She seemed to enjoy that too. Apparently the little miss was starving. Every time she came around the circle and saw Grandpa outside (who was holding the popcorn), she said "Pop!" It was funny. We ate and then went to see the Hollywood sights, which were just down the road. Our van, which included us and Steph and Danny and Andrew, decided not to get out and walk the walk of fame. We had tired kids. Unfortunately, we woke Claire up, and then she decided not to go back to sleep. We hit so much traffic, that the other car, who stayed to walk the walk, got home within minutes of us. It was irritating. We hung out at home the rest of the night and had a good time with family. Sunday, we went to church. And Claire decided she needed her Sunday nap at the regular time, which happened to be right in the middle of church. Ugh. We ended up going home, which was fine. We went to Seal Beach later that evening.
It was fun. It was cold, but fun to be at the beach anyway. Claire played with Grandma in the sand while Alann and I walked along the beach. Then Alann and Craig walked the beach looking for seashells and body surfing. I joined them later. I never got in the water. It was too cold. There was a wind and the sun was setting. I totally would have played in the water if it had been a little warmer though. There were some good sized waves too. It was another late night, but Claire and Alex were very flexible with their sleeping.
Monday we did family pictures. That was fun. Imagine corralling two walkers, a crawler, and a drooler, getting them to all look in the same direction, and smile at the same time. It was next to impossible, but hilarious and fun. In the middle of it, Alex started falling asleep. He was sitting up at the time and just started nodding off like an old man. Claire and Andrew stole both Grandma and Grandpa's phones and had fun passing them back and forth.
We did manage to get some good shots. Monday night, Alann, the little man, and I went out for a date while Claire and Brooklyn played at home with Grandma and Grandpa. We didn't leave Alex because he really isn't a hassle to take with us. Except that this particular night he wanted to eat right in the middle of dinner. Nothing like spending half the date nursing a baby in a car to make it special. But it was fun having a second time out without Claire bugging us every two seconds.
Tuesday, we left to drive home. We packed a bunch of boxes (folded) on the roof of the car to use for moving. It cut our gas mileage dramatically. We will never put anything on the roof unless it is absolutely necessary. It was ridiculous. We filled up three times I think. Since we drove during the day, it was a bit more difficult with the kids. We had to stop and feed and let Claire play. But it wasn't too bad. We still made fairly decent time. And then the other saga started...check out Alann's blog for that.
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