California Trip

*Warning: You are about to see an Epic Post*

About a month ago I we took a trip to Southern California. Most of my extended family lives out there. I hadn't been there for 4 or 5 years. Lack of money, babies, the long trip, and the prospect of going without Jon have kept me away. But finally this year things seemed to come together, and I really felt and urgency to go. I had to start the trek without Jon (he couldn't take time off), which for me was extremely daunting. I know other women who do trips like this with no help and they do great-go them! I was pretty worried about it, so I recruited my Mom, Lexie and Adam to come with me.

We headed down at 5:30a on a Sunday morning. I drove most of the way and I really like that. It makes the trip seem soooo much more progressive! I have never actually driven on a road trip and now I prefer to drive, rather than ride. It took us 12 hrs, as we stopped twice to eat and let the kids play at the play place and we hit traffic outside of Vegas, and some around San Bernardino. Adam was a huge help keeping the boys entertained. And it was so nice to not be alone with the kiddos.

We stayed at my Nana and Papa's (My Mom's parents, since teenagehood) house in Temecula. When we got there she had a yummy dinner ready for us. And I am so so sad that I didn't take ANY pictures while we were with them!! :( :(

On Monday, after the Max regretfully woke up at 5:30a Utah time, for the 3rd day in a row and woke up Zac, Adam and me-I should have brought the portacrib-we got ready for the day and headed toward San Diego to visit Grandma Edie (My Mom's biological Mom) at her rest home. We stopped at Ross to get her a few gifts and ate at Rubio's for lunch. It was so good to see Grandma. It was a little hard to talk to her because I didn't know if she was understanding. My mom was a good example to help me feel more comfortable talking to her. My grandma's health is ok. She can't hear very well and can't see out of one eye. She didn't have very much emotion and barely talked. But I am so so so glad she got to meet the boys. They are the only great grandkids for her and this was the first time she got to meet them. The boys were so good and were glad to meet her too.


Even after Max spilled her denture solution all over, she gave him this little stuffed animal that he grew very attached to.


Max was exhausted and would just not sleep. Even in the car, he only slept maybe 15 mins. After stressing to the point of tears with 2 pre-teens relentlessly, loudly, messing around in the back seat, hitting my seat and me trying to talk on the phone, and wishing Max would sleep and eat more, I called walmart and target to see if they had a cheap portacrib. We headed to target before we got home so I could get a portacrib.

When we got to Nana's I fed Max and put him to bed at 6p. Then Lexie was a gem and stayed to babysit while Mom, Adam, Zac and I went to Uncle Tad's (mom's bro) to swim and get dinner. He has a cool pool with the dark floor. Zac walked off the large step without knowing and gave us a little scare trying to unsuccessfully keep himself afloat. As he got more confident he would jump in the pool to me, and loved to use his new goggles to see under the water. It was a relaxing evening, and then we grabbed some In and Out for dinner. I liked it more than I remembered.

Then the next day, Tuesday, we headed to San Elijo Beach. To meet up with my Dad's side of the family. My Grandparents' ward was camping there for the week. So my the Kolb's had a site and who ever was around would come and go as they could. It was so fun. Becky and Darren and their family, and a few of Tim's kids were camping too. We met up with Aunt Lori and my cousin Lindsay and her kids and headed to the beach for the day.

This was our spot.


Then we had lunch, and surprisingly Max ate...not that it was healthy, but it was calories.

The Beach

Gotta love eating with sand

He discovered Cheetos on this trip!

Max also LOVES to play in the sand and get it all over. He puts it in and out and on and wet and dry.



Max hated the water and waves. He thought it was pretty cool at first, but I think once I let go of his hand to walk in the half inch water that was pulling sand away from his feet, he fell and would not get near the water happily. Even when I was holding him and in 6 inch water was clinging to me.

Max was pretty tired and after we washed all the sand off he took a nap for a couple hours-awesome! Zac wanted to rest with him . . . for 2 mins, then went to play.



Grandpa also got a nap :)

Looking for the Cheetos




Found them!
The bigger cousins played with him for 2 mins and the disappeared around the cove.

Zac thought it was fun to be buried


The neighbors included him and let him help build a castle



a little bit of crack


On the way home Lori took us to dinner at Oscar's and . . . or Something and Oscar's (...? don't remember) to avoid the traffic. It was sooo good and fun to visit some more with Lindsay and her kids. Then we took a dip in the hot tub to de-sand. Max was even scared of water in the hot tub.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to my Aunt Lori's in Fallbrook (15-20 mins from Temecula) and hung out with my cousin Lindsay and her kiddos. It was fun to just relax at the pool-no sand.

Lexie got so burned from the beach and felt sick so she stayed at Nana's. Mom hung out with Nana that day. So we and the boys went to hang out.


Then my Dad flew in to visit family and my Mom and the siblings went to stay at my Aunt Lori's for the rest of the trip.

The next day, Thursday, we hung out at Nana's and took it easy and visited. That was so fun. It was been years and years since I just chatted with her. I wish I could go and shoot the breeze more with her. I really miss her. My family used to live in CA til I was 7 and we got to see Nana and Papa all the time!

Then Jon flew into San Diego at 5p (didn't think about traffic when I booked the flight... :P). I easily found the airport and the tiny cell phone lot, and made good time. Driving in southern California wasn't as bad as I thought, but we were far from LA. And I tried to avoid rush hour(s), and I never got lost! It was so fun to see Jon! We were all excited for him to join us. Then we headed to Lori and Ray's for a BBQ and swimming.

Zac loves this little fish. Its "Nemo" and swims on its own. Its pretty cool!


This was all the adults that were there: L-R, Mom, dad, becky, darren, me, jon, gma, gpa, viri, chris, kim, ray, lori, kay, and farron. It was so good to see the family. Still there were A LOT missing. Jon hadn't met 6 of these family members, and there are still more to go. But it was nice for him to finally meet them after 6 years of being in the family.


These are the older teens: L-R, Savannah, Lexie, and Jeff

The younger teens: L-R, Sydney, Meghan
The adolencents: Parker, Adam, and Logan

The toddlers: Zac, Abigail, Max. Abigail is my cousin...so my kids and Abigail are 2nd cousins . . . once removed...I think.

We ate some good food, played a game and charades and enjoyed getting reaquainted.

The next day, Friday, we went to the beach again. Jon hit the waves and boogie boarded with some cousins.

Its always nice to see the boys playing together


Such a cutie! He loves to be at the beach, just not too close to the water


It was fun to bury Adam.



Uncle Darren gave Jon some pointers on how to boogie board and let him borrow some flippers, which helped a lot.


Playing bocce ball on the beach, more hazards than the back yard. Check out all the seaweed!



Papi keeping Max warm, after getting washed off in the waves. Looks like Papi helped him change mood pretty quick.



Then the next day, Saturday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. First Nana and Papa took us to the IHOP. Again, I wish I had pictures with Nana and Papa! :( We couldn't decide what to do, the Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, the Pier, or the Zoo. The Zoo won out since it wasn't so pricey or hot and the kids had never been to a zoo yet.

Nana suggested we ride the tour bus first to see what we wanted to look at rather than aimless wandering around the huge park.

We chose to sit on the bottom level of the bus. Good choice, its out of the sun and you can see the exhibits better, contrary to popular belief, as shown by the huge line for the upper level and small line for the lower level.

Waiting for the bus


(Notice Max's feet? No shoes. I cannot get him to keep shoes on. One problem is his feet are SO narrow, nothing fits him. They fall off him or give him blisters. All the shoes we can find are made for little kiddies with chubby feet which are 90% of wearers-which are adorable don't get me wrong. But what about Max? Anything stylish for narrow feet kids?? Plus he takes them off any chance he gets anyway. So I have basically given up and I let him walk around barefoot much of the time.)


Zac and a snake

Max eating more Cheetos, this time they are puffed


This is a really pretty zoo. This is a little waterfall and stream that are at the tram line.


Lots of greenery! And they grow plants and trees that are native to where the animals are from. They grow some of the food that the animals eat.





Zac on this chrome Polar Bear structure. We went under to see the polar bears in the water and they put on a great 5 min show for us. We have video, but have yet to upload it. Maybe I will later. Its pretty cool!

Then we went to see the Panda Bear. You have to be very quiet when you go in and they only want a certain number to go in at a time. So there was a 15 min line.

But it was so cool to see. The black and white is so striking.


Zac was pretty whiny the whole time. So we would bribe him with different things along the way. After the bus we will get a snack, after the reptiles we will ride the tram, after the polar bear we will get a churro, after the elephants and panda we will get your face painted... so while Daddy and Max waited in line to see the panda. I took Zac to get his face painted as Alex the lion.


I am AMAZED at his scary growl!


Then we grabbed the moving sidewalk to go see the gorillas which were MIA, and the monkeys.


Then we stopped for a while to see the flamingos. I don't know why but they were facinating to just stare at up close-balancing on one leg constantly, backward bending knees, funky curly necks.




Then I took the boys to get souvenirs, another bribe. Jon watched a live band that did a hula hoop contest and the winner was this 3 yr old little girl. She was amazing and hula hooped for like 20 mins straight without messing up!

Then on the way out there were these "tree dancers" it was pretty mesmerizing to watch them. They were on stilts and were almost completely covered in leaves.



We were all tired and hungry. Zac with his jumbo animal tube and Max with his stuffed polar bear, fell asleep in the car as we got on the freeway, during traffic, with the gas light on. It was pretty nerve racking. We got off a near exit and drove for 5-10 miles looking for a gas station. Luckily, we found one and headed home.

The next day, Sunday, we went back to Utah. It was gratefully uneventful and very smooth. We had a lot of food left over from the beach days. So we only had to stop for gas twice and the potty once. We stopped 3 times probably for a total of 30 mins. And we got home in 9.5 hrs. Amazing with our 2 small children, especially because neither slept much.

Overall, it was a good trip. Very busy and very fun-no regrets. I even think I want to do it again next year!