Trip to California

We took a long vacation to California this summer.  By long, I mean a month for the girls and me.  That is a long time to be away from home with two about-to-be two year olds.  My husband flew with us there and was able to stay ten days.  We decided to experiment (since parenthood is a huge experiment to begin with) and see how the girls would do on a late flight.  We hoped they would sleep on the second flight.  They didn't . . . now we know never to take a late flight.  One of the many things you figure out as a parent.

We spent some time in Leila and Pho Pho's pool.  The girls liked "swimming" and splashing around.  It took them a few tries before they liked going all the way in with us keeping them afloat.  But then they really loved it.   

 

For me, it was very stressful and exhausting having both of them in the pool.  It makes me so nervous.  Definitely going to try to get them in the swim lessons that teach survival and floating in the water to little kids.  Next year they will be able to open doors and I don't want them running out there and falling/jumping in. 

 

A nice family picture of us relaxing by the pool.

After my husband returned home, the girls and I loaded up and headed out to the desert to my mom's house where I grew up. 

They enjoyed pushing each other on their cousin's tricycle and playing in the kiddie pool on the patio.  They also really liked to go for walks around the property and explore.  They got the chance to pick apricots and mulberries from Oma's trees.  Those apricots are so flavorful and fresh. 

The girls don't get many chances to play with sand or dirt here in Arkansas.  Our back yard is covered with grass and weeds.  The dirt here has a lot of clay in it so is really hard when dry and muddy when wet. The desert though was like one enormous sand box for them.   They loved finding sticks to draw in the sand. 

 

One of the days that my sister, her son and baby girl were visiting the desert too, we went to the Living Desert.  I hadn't been there since I was eight years old.  I don't remember much from back then, only cheetahs and a Gila monster.  Now they have giraffes.  We made it in time for the 10 am feeding but unfortunately the giraffes were not cooperating.  They were more interested in fighting (or play fighting), swinging their necks around at each other, instead of coming over for a bite to eat.  That was disappointing, especially since it was blazing hot already by that time.  But a walk through some shade and a ride on a warthog statue put the kids in a better mood (plus lunch in the shade helped).   There were some nice exhibits. 

 

 

While out in the desert we paid a visit to Joshua Tree National Park with Oma.  The girls had so much fun trying to get up on the rocks.  They are so uncoordinated though, even the small rocks were too much for them without our help.  They enjoyed it and we stayed in the shade at Trash Can Rock (or whatever it is called now) so the heat wasn't too bad. 

 



What visit to California is complete without a trip to the beach?  We drove down to San Diego to visit some of my college friends, see the beach and attend the 5th Annual Dandy Cup.  You know I've been living in Arkansas for awhile when I plan a trip through Orange County to San Diego and don't even consider traffic.  We were mostly lucky that we left as early as we did, but it was a Friday and we still hit some bad spots.  California traffic is one thing we will have to definitely readjust to when we move back. 

We went out to dinner with a friend and her family on our first evening at Wahoo's Fish Tacos and the shrimp burrito was delicious.  It is hard for my friends to accommodate the three of us so we ended up at a hotel on Hotel Circle, which was a first for me.  It went better than I expected as far as the unloading of everything we needed and the girls not going crazy in the hotel room.  But they had a rough time sleeping and spent some of the night in bed with me, which of course means I didn't get that much sleep. 

Early the next morning we headed to Mission Beach, which I vaguely remembered how to get to (and when in doubt I followed the car with a surf board strapped on the top).  The beach trip was partially a success.  I didn't know where to park exactly so we had to walk a bit, which takes so long with two toddlers.  The sand upset Miss D at first and the surf scared Miss T when we walked out a bit too far before a larger wave came in.  But by the end D was really enjoying herself, heading down to the water to fill up the buckets and then dumping it out by the towel (and on the towel and on herself).  T  was mostly content to play in the sand on our beach towel.   

We left the beach and headed to Balboa Park for the 5th Annual Dandy Cup.  It is a picnic some of my friends host that harkens back to a bygone era.  Some try to dress in period attire but most just stick to the dress code of white/off white/ tan colors only.  The girls got to try their hands at a little toddler bocce ball before we made the smart choice to switch to the soccer ball before anyone got hurt.  They ran around chasing the soccer ball with a nice older girl that befriended them.  Shortly after we left the picnic, they both crashed out in the car and, amazingly, slept most of the 2 1/2 hour car ride back out to Oma's house.  Our little jaunt to San Diego turned out so much better than I expected.  It's nice to know that I can do these sorts of things with them by myself. 

At the end of our trip we headed out to Temecula where my sister lives.  Wish I could have done some wine tasting since it is nice wine country there but that was not happening this trip.  Instead we went berry picking at a farm really close to my sister's place. 

 

 

The three toddlers got their buckets and I made the mistake of not grabbing one for myself.  I spent the whole time trying to pick berries faster than the girls could eat them so we could actually take some back with us.  The girls really didn't bother to pick their own since I was conveniently filling their buckets for them.  Next time we are berry picking, I'll get my own bucket and the girls can only eat what they pick themselves.   

 

D picking a blueberry from her bucket instead of from the bush. 

 

 

All the kids got a chance to sit on the tractor which was new for the girls.  They thought it was great.  We also stopped by the pig pen on the way out and saw a few cute and stinky piggies.  It was a good experience but I'll take the $2.50 a pint of our local farm here in Arkansas over the $5 a pint they were charging us any day. 

 

 

We celebrated the girls second birthday two days before leaving California but I will put all of that in a separate post.  

 

At the very end of our trip, we spent Father's Day with my husband's family.  We headed up to Azusa to the Burmese temple there and visited the monks.  It was neat comparing what the girls were able to do there in January compared to now.  It is amazing to see how much they have grown.  After the visit we went out to a nice big Italian style lunch.  When we got back the girls and I napped; we were so stuffed and worn out. 

 

Our flight back went smoothly, no worse than when someone flies with us to help me with the girls.  They both fussed for a little bit on the first flight but kept mostly entertained with books and snacks.  I would have liked for them to walk around more during our layover in Denver but between eating lunch and diaper changes we didn't have much time.  Luckily, they still slept for the majority of the second flight.  The guy sitting next to us conveniently was watching Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark on his Ipad, so I had something to watch (still enjoyable without the sound) while the girls slept on me.  



 

Over all it was a wonderful trip.   However, I think if I would plan it again, it would be three weeks max.  A month is a long time to be away from home with two little toddlers.