California visit

Last month I told the boys we were going to have a quick* visit with Philip and Allison and Benjamin in California, and the first thing they said---I'm not kidding---was "THE HOOVER DAM!!" We had told them we'd visit it next time we drove to California because it was sort of on the way, and they remembered and held us to it. The wrinkle this added to our schedule was that we had to break the drive into two days (usually we plow through in one), which meant staying at a hotel on the way, which was yet another bonus feature for the children. They looove staying in hotels.

*It seemed too quick to us, but for Philip and Allison who had to make quadruple amounts of every meal and listen to children rampaging up and down the stairs and in and out the door every few minutes, it was no doubt quite sufficient.

The hotel had swans in it.

The Hoover Dam was a worthwhile stop; very interesting and beautiful. I believe it was all the boys had hoped for. (!)

Then it was on to Philip and Allison's.

I wish I'd gotten more pictures of their backyard. It rained near the end of the week and I forgot to go back out there, but it was a veritable vegetable paradise. Allison's flowers are amazing! And there are SO many things for kids to enjoy. Junie loved the sensory table with beans and fish (at separate times) and the boys and Daisy could have jumped on the trampoline all day. And there were a bunch of monarch caterpillars and chrysalli (?) getting ready to hatch. I fully intended to watch one emerge, but again I didn't. I'm sad about that.

We spent a couple days at Disneyland and had a great time. The last morning, it rained and the place was practically deserted. We loved it!

The new Cars Land, unlike the rest of the park, was quite crowded, but it was really cool to see. It's amazing the way they make the landscape look so vast and imposing. We felt like we were back in Bryce Canyon or something.

There were lots of cute, funny little touches--like this restaurant where your table is next to a gas pump, as if you're a car filling yourself up.

Abe wanted a picture of this bear

And Daisy wanted a picture of herself by the "yocket."

She didn't even know the name of Mickey Mouse when we arrived, but when we saw him and Minnie on the second day she was so excited. "TWO Mickey Mouses!" she squealed, running to hug them.

The Small World ride is always one of my favorites. It's all decorated differently for Christmas, and the lights outside are lovely.

No sooner did I re-braid Daisy's hair then it wisped its way out of its braids again. She was constantly pushing it out of her eyes, poor thing.

Wet and curly after the rain.

One night we got to go to a concert with Philip and Allison, at this beautiful concert hall. It was so good---beautiful organ playing and singing and a huge orchestra. We loved it.

 

My other favorite thing we did on this visit was exploring at the Tide Pools. We found lots of hermit crabs and anemones and other interesting things. When I wasn't fearing for Junie's life (I was picking my way around the rocks carrying her in the front pack, and I was sure I was going to fall on her), I was enjoying the lovely, wild ocean view. Rocky coasts are so beautiful. Sam almost caught a crab for us to look at---well, he DID catch a crab---but he lost his balance and nobly let go of it to save Junie instead (HE was holding Junie at this point). It all worked out okay because Sam's sister coincidentally GAVE us a hermit crab as a pet, for Christmas. Everyone loves him, especially Junie, who yelps "CRAB! CRAB! DADDY'S CRAB!" ecstatically every time he comes out of his shell.