A California Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we had the pleasure of being hosted in California for Thanksgiving. We left on Wednesday and came back on Sunday and it was a great time away.

We drove up to Dallas Tuesday night to stay in a hotel close to the airport since our flight left at 8am. The boys got to stay in the same room which was SOOOO very much fun for them, and slightly stressful for us. It truly was a joy as they spent each night of our vacation in the same room to hear them giggling and accusing each other of keeping the other one up when we went to tell them to go to sleep. We have had hopes for them to share a room and I think this trip confirmed that (once Taylor goes to bed a little later) it will be a great fun and quality thing for their relationship to share a room.

Snoozing before their 5:30am (aka Mom) went off...

Off we go...headed to the shuttle. We got to ride a bus, train and airplane all in one day. With all the vehicles those boys were in seventh heaven.

We got there in just enough time to get to the gate, grab a leisure breakfast, let everyone run around and get energy out, potty, and hop on the plane.

The boys did amazing. Coming and going on the plane. They entertained themselves well with their toys, books, new things/surprises Mom stashed away, and Taylor took a little nap. I may sound like I'm bragging but it's the truth, that our boys worst case scenario is someone else's best case scenario. This time of travel truly taught David and I to see the blessings in our life that are our two boys.

Pre-flight chilling....Taylor looks like he's not sure what we just told him he was about to do.

Sometimes you just gotta load them on too to get everything to where it needs to be.

We made it to Uncle Tim and Aunt Sam's house and turkey time began.

I have to say a public "Thank You" to our host who let us truly make ourselves at home in their house. They have been thoroughly house broken as far as having children in the house. We were graciously accepted and tried to clean up as best we could. :)

Thursday, Aunt Sam and GaGa made hats for everyone with the boys while others were cooking. They had fun with the activity and then we had fun with them at dinner.

The hosts of a wonderful dinner and week...Uncle Tim and Aunt Sam



The spread...


Everyone needs a nap after Thanksgiving, right?!?!


One morning the four of us walked down to a park in the neighborhood and just played around. David tried to get Matthew to climb some of the trees. This is about as high as we got before we freaked. But we'll keep working on that.

                                                               This. Is what I'm grateful for. Every moment.

Anything seems backwards in this picture?!?!?

Another afternoon we went to a nearby park and had alot of fun running around.

See how much fun we're having....until we slip off that seat and hit our lip coming down. And.....

Then, we end up hanging out at the LA Urgent Care on Thanksgiving. Turned out okay but he had a big hold on his upper gum. No stiches as they don't do that on the inside of the mouth (good to know). Nice adventure though.

No vacation is complete without wrestling with Daddy. There were so many opportunities for all of us to have individual and together time. THat was what we wanted and were able have the time to get away from the routine to do that.

Everyone needs to ride a chopper on the West Coast right?!?!  (Note: no children were harmed or transport via motorcycle in the making of this vacation)

Saturday we had a fun outing out to an area where you hike down to the tide pools and can see alot of little sea creatures.

Some great views from up here.

Picnic lunch.

Aunt Sam scored a star fish. Pretty cool to see up close.

The Baylor fam...who supported our team from afar as well.

This was a Thanksgiving to remember. It is not common for us to travel on holidays being that our families are mostly in town. But it might be something I could get used to especially when we have great hostesses. There is alot of different things to do as well and I don't think our boys will turn down a trip on an airplane.
 

And every successful vacation can be determined if your back seat looks like this on the way home.

Until Next Time...