thanks grandma karie

Grandma Karie came over for a visit today to get some of the pictures I took in California. I hadn't downloaded a single picture since the beginning of July. So 374 pictures later I am forced to blog!

(we hiked bears hump back in July. the kids were begging to do a hike. they loved it and did the whole thing without needing to be carried. we were kinda in a rush so we were up and down in just over an hour)

In the past month I figured out we have spent well over 70 hours driving I am quite sure. Want to know the best or worst part about it depending on how you take it? I drove about ZERO of those hours! What can I say my husband likes to drive!

(i like how it looks like he is going so fast. we went for a bike ride down in indian battle park a while back, it was so fun to do with 2 kids on 2 wheelers!)

Yes we went to California at the end of July. We were there for a week and took 2 days to drive there and 2 days to drive back.

First thing the morning of the day we were leaving James got up out of bed and stood at the top of the stairs while we were all in the kitchen and said 'is this tomorrow?!' He was so excited. Then the driving began. The kids did pretty good. We left later in the day so the kids would fall asleep and I could begin my love affair with Glee. There was a slight hinderance in the plan when James wanted Mountain Dew to drink at supper which I thought nothing of at the time until he was a hyper hypo still at 9:30 that night. Then we remembered that it has a ridiculous amount of caffiene in it in the States and he drank his whole cup!

The second day was equally uneventful, which is good. Derek would listen to his book on tape through his earphones and thought this was perfectly ok while I thought I should be given wife of the year award for allowing it. The kids mostly watched movies and colored and ate treats. I started out giving them fruit and vegetables which worked through 1 state but didn't last long. And you know those little cheese cracker snacks? the ones that come with breadsticks? Yeah those aren't to eat, James just played with them, used them as pirate ships, soccer guys, and 'painted' with the cheese.

After Vegas and the heat was all getting to us the fights broke out between us. I wanted a turn to watch Glee on the dvd player. (I stayed up the night before until like 1 while we were driving watching them) So the only way the kids would give up the dvd player was if Derek let them play games on his iphone which his book was on. And he had the nerve to give me 'the look' like I was being selfish. HA! So the kids played games while I watched 1 glorious episode. But really, Derek had his earphones out for a total of like 3 hours in a 48 hour trip so I really am pretty much the BEST wife. Then again he did drive the entire trip, but he can't say I didn't offer. Like I said, he likes driving and I shouldn't deprive him of the opportunity. Overall we had some great family bonding time...

So we made it to California and had a great time. I took no pictures driving cause we are a scary looking bunch when we drive, your welcome.

Here in no particular order.

If it looks a little cold out for the beach in july, it was! We had a couple days of lame-o weather, but it didn't even matter we were all having so much fun together!

Ella Alli and Ava playing in the sand

I know it's blurry, but it's so cute of James Kade and Margaret 'surfing' as they called it.

Alli got a really deep cut on the bottom of one of her toes so she never wanted to walk on the sand and insisted on wearing shoes and socks to the beach. this was a really nice day out, but she also insisted on all the layers. my mom and i are totally stumped as to where she gets this part of her personality from...

Grandma Karie, Clarie, Caroline and Sarabeth braving the water. It is cold water and I didn't not go in past my knees.

Can't forget about TomTom!

This is about as close as Alli and I got to the water. She probably would have been more brave, but the cut on her foot really was pretty bad and annoying for her.

Thumbs up for mini golf, bumper boats and go carts! (our replacement for knotts berry farm, the kids will never know. change of plans after a fifth disease breakout in the house with all the kids, (fever, rash, tired kids) which wasn't as bad as the lice breakout! haha, seriously though, it happened, my kids didn't get it, but those are die hard little bugs.)
How cute of Alli and Ava, and James drowning in the background...
Grandpa turns...? Happy Birthday cinnamon buns by Mindy. I hope she makes me those for my birthday!

and 1 single family pic on the last day while I'm in pyjamas and just lookin good overall.

There's a few pics for ya, just be glad I didn't take pictures of my shopping! The girls also went to the musical 'In The Heights' loved it. and the boys went to an Angels Red Sox game (Derek was in heaven, Red Sox are his favorite team) Sarabeth introduced me to evil tradition of cheap Hagen Daz ice cream down there in a wide variety of flavors. So every time we went to the grocery store we would come home with oh 6 or so mini tubs of ice cream to pass around. Sooooo Gooood! My bum did not appreciate this! It was such a fun trip and clearly not long enough! Thanks for having us Mindy and fam!

Next Post, Steed family FUN!