Robots

Over the past year and a half, I have become increasingly grateful for the technology of our cell phones that allow Lance and I to "talk" to each other throughout the day.  I can send him texts, or pictures and videos of the kids, and he can respond any time he gets a minute of silence in his schedule. Sometimes he will send us a picture or video too. It helps us to be more involved in each other's lives even when we can't be physically present. 

Well, sometimes the videos are just too good not to share. This one is in the middle of the night, and some robots came onto the floor he was working on. The hospital just bought them and this was the first time he had ever seen them in action (they are not much of a novelty anymore). The video reminded me of Star Wars or Wall-E or something! 

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These three kids made my birthday wonderful! I had been feeling a little bummed that Lance wouldn't be able to be home that night, but the kids planned this little birthday surprise for me that completely turned my day around. I can thank Addi for convincing me to get a cake at Costco while we were out doing errands. Evelyn inspired the kids to clean up the whole house with her, after which they colored and cut out hearts to put around the house where I would find them. And all of them put candles on the cake and sang me happy birthday. It was so heart-melting. I love these kids!

And just as thought it couldn't get better, Lance got home right after we cut the cake. It was my own birthday miracle to complete the day. :) 

San Francisco

Our last stop was San Francisco. When we drove into the city and saw the GG Bridge, I got butterlies, and Evelyn yelled, "The BRIDGE!" Our family has so many memories here: It was our first home away from any family, where two of our children were born, where SO many happy times were had, where trials were overcome, and where lifelong friendships were made. Despite this city's crazy ways, it will always feel like a little piece of home for me.

We went down to the wharf one day to walk around and to go to Ghirardelli's for a sundae

 Addi finished an entire sundae and almost everyone else's leftovers. To say this girl loves ice cream (candy, chocolate, cookies...) is an understatement

 Back in the day when Evelyn finally decided to walk, we walked with her all around Ghirardelli Square and got a sundae to celebrate. (There was a lot to celebrate since our cautious child didn't walk until 15 months!) 

And here she is four years later, cute and cautious as ever :)

 Some musicians were playing outside and Addi just couldn't contain it anymore. Here is just a sampling of her sweet moves.

 Blake...not quite as into it.

 We were standing just on the other side of this wharf when Lance got the phone call that he got into UoP. 5 years ago. Wow. See what I mean about memories all over this city? We loved coming back here so much.

Love this one of Hanna, Tauni, and Evelyn:

Joe and Sarah live in our old apartment, so we actually got to stay there while we were visiting!

One of the nights, the cousins all watched Sleeping Beauty together and ate popcorn. We learned just how much they love popcorn, and how much easier it is to see popcorn when you are wearing a headlamp.

 These are from our drive out. Good bye San Francisco...until next time!

Redwood Camping

The majority of our next vacation day was spent driving up the California Coast toward San Francisco. We camped in a remote redwood forest about an hour south of the city, and ended up being the only campers in the entire State Park! The rangers had even gone home early, so we were completely alone. 

We set up camp, got a fire going, and started dinner just before dark. Here are a few of the things that happened that night:

-Lance had accidentally grabbed "spicy fire-roasted" chicken instead of regular chicken to cook over the fire. We thought it would be no big deal, but it was SPI-CY. After our mouths were burning too much, we resorted to cheerios and s'mores. 

-Right before bed we spotted a gray fox a few feet away from us. It was very cool. And obviously foxes aren't picky about spicy chicken crumbs because it was going nuts outside all night.

-As we lay in the tent, we decided to tell Halloween scary stories with the kids. We let Evelyn take the flashlight and go first. She started, "Once upon a time...there was a ghost...and a witch...and a SPIDER..."

Addi: "Um...YIKES!"

Blake: "That's fweaky Ev."

Yep, doesn't get much scarier than that.

-When we got to Blake's turn he took the flashlight and went on and on about spiders and snakes and how things were "scawy" and "fweaky."

-At 4 am Lance and I both woke up and re-tucked our kids into the blankets since it was a little cold. We both laid back down, and within about one minute we heard, "Crack...crackcrack...crack....WHOOOOOMP!" A giant redwood had just fallen somewhere close which shook the whole campground and echoed loudly in the silent night. It was really eerie, and we both had a hard time falling asleep after that.  I logically knew the odds of a tree falling on our tent were slim, but still...

-Addi quote of the night: "So, raccoons bite us....but butterflies don't...right guys?"

And now for the pictures! All of them were taken in the morning after we woke up:

Disneyland!

 We went to Disneyland for "Mickey's Halloween Party." It was perfect for our kids: 8 hours in the park with all regular park goers gone for the last 6 hours, discount tickets, NO lines on rides (we were able to go on every major ride twice), trick-or-treating stops between every ride...honestly, it was a blast!

The kids didn't know about it until the very last second. We told them we were going somewhere fun, and that we would need to wear a costume. This is right before we left the hotel:

 I ended up taking my little point-and-shoot camera into the park so that I could really run around with the kids and not have to protect it on every ride. It worked great. Here is our first ride (and Addi's favorite of the night): Pirates of the Carribean

 Addi choosing our next destination while waiting for Dad and Evelyn to get off the Matterhorn

 My kids weren't a huge fan of the parade until this float came out, and then there was a lot of intense yelling about "real Rapunzel" being there. 

Every time Lance or I would take the older girl(s) on a big ride, the other one of us would take Blake to the trick-or-treat spots and they completely filled our bags. We had at least 7-8 lbs of candy before the night was over. Blake did not complain at all.

Evelyn and I went on Splash Mountain together, and this is what she looked like while on the ride right after taking the plunge:

So...imagine my surprise when we got off and saw this picture, haha. I could not stop laughing and I had to try and take this picture about three times because I couldn't keep my hands still enough. Ev was laughing too. She said, "I guess that ride was just a little scary." 

 Overall favorite rides:

Evelyn: Star Tours (which is redone now and WAY fun) and Space Mountain
Addi: Pirates of the Caribbean and the Carousel
Blake: The Tram that took us to/from the Parking Garage ("We're on a TRAIN, Mom! A TRAIN!") and Buzz Lightyear

Grandma's House

While we were in Southern California, we visited my grandparents who live in Simi Valley. I haven't been to their house since before Lance and I were married, but my mom grew up there, and I spent many summers, Thanksgivings, Christmases, and other times there while I was growing up. It was fun to see my aunts, uncles, cousins and see the pretty remodeled house!

Addi loved having tea parties with my youngest two cousins. Yes, they are MY cousins even though they're much younger!

 Grandpa (her great-grandpa) showed Evelyn how to make fresh-squeezed orange juice with oranges right off their trees! So good!

 We're so glad we got to see everyone, and now we only live 5 hours away, so we may be seeing more of our family in So. Cal!