California Trip

We're home from our first official trip as a family of four! I added more pictures and will try to write notes about all of them! We had a wonderful time spending 12 days with Hans' family near Santa Cruz, California, and going to Family Camp at Mission Springs for a week. What a fun, refreshing, and encouraging trip!

Here's our family photo taken on the back porch of Hans' Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Dave's house. You have no idea how many pictures we took to get this one good shot! Many thanks to cousin George for getting Reily to smile! Daddy and Isaac...how adorable is this??

Anyway...back to the trip! We had good times...

And not so good times...Overall, the boys did very well...Reily threw his fair share of tantrums and got sick towards the end, and Isaac decided to be extremely fussy and cry whenever anyone but Mommy was holding him. We are extremely grateful for Hans' parents and all they did to help with the boys...I don't think we could have done it on our own!

I was so nervous about the flight that I forgot to take a picture. Isaac slept the whole time and got compliments from the people around me about how well he did! Reily did really well, too. He was very excited and wanted to check everything out for the first hour--which we spent on the ground in the airplane while they fixed a mechanical issue. (Very frustrating when you're traveling with young children!) Reily fell asleep promptly before take-off and slept the whole flight! Hooray!

When we arrived in San Francisco, we got the rental car and tried to pile 4 adults, two kids, and all of our suitcases into a "large" SUV. After about 20 minutes of packing, unpacking, packing, and unpacking our stuff, we realized we wouldn't fit. Luckily they had a huge Ford Explorer that we all fit in...we were a little squished, but Reily seemed to enjoy his view of the suitcases...

Our first stop was In-N-Out! It was packed at 2:00 in the afternoon, and we had to wait quite awhile...but it was worth it!! Yummy burgers...and a Krispy Kreme in the same parking lot, so we got a box of donuts too!

Here are the boys playing on the bed in our hotel in San Francisco...

This is Isaac's sad face...

Lombard Street in San Fran...Reily walked up all of the hills to get there from our hotel! It was a tough walk up those streets for us...but he ran up them like a champ!

I really wanted a picture of us at the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, both boys fell asleep before we got there...so they were both cranky!

We arrived in Mission Springs and stayed with Hans' grandparents--it was their first time meeting the boys, and we had a wonderful visit with them! Reily had a blast playing with George, his second cousin...they became great friends and Reily would mimic George all of the time!We did lots of fun things at Mission Springs...Grandma taught Reily how to play ping pong!More play time with George...Of course, we had to stop at ABC Chinese for the Pecan Prawns...we enjoyed a wonderful meal with Hans' parents, grandparents, and Lee's Aunt and Uncle who were passing through. The boys slept through the meal, which was an added bonus! We went to the Mission Springs pool...the boys wore their matching swimsuits, thanks to Grandma Ellen. Isaac didn't go swimming though...he slept most of the time!Reily (wearing his stylish floaties) loved playing Ring Around the Rosie in the pool with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa! I just thought this was cute...Isaac is wearing his sandals that my Grandma bought him...look at those cute feet!Tired out from an afternoon at the pool!

I really wanted to take the boys to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, since I have wonderful memories from it when I was little...so we ventured there on Monday.

Reily really liked the interactive exhibits...

Daddy touched a bat ray, but Reily's arms weren't quite long enough!

My favorite were the jelly fish... Reily's favorite were the sharks!

Once back in Santa Cruz, we indulged in Maryann's Ice Cream...it's delicious and a tradition for us to go there! Hans always has to get Bubble Gum and we get Mandarin Chocolate...of course, we went back about 4 times over the course of the trip, so we all tried various flavors...

We met up with our friend Greg who we served with at the youth group at our church before he moved to CA to be the youth pastor at a church out there. It was fun to catch up! He has two boys also, who are almost exactly the same ages as Reily and Isaac. We had to go on a ride on the Carousel on the Santa Cruz boardwalk...

I think I was more excited than Reily!

Isaac was a sweet baby a lot of the time...and gave us a few smiles for the camera...

The boys, in matching outfits again, thanks to Grandma Ellen.

Isaac with Great-Grandpa... Isaac with Great-Grandma.

Isaac's 1st Fourth of July!

Grandpa making Swedish pancakes...it's one of my favorite memories of coming to Mission Springs. I love having Swedish pancakes and lingonberries! Hans tries to make them at home, but they never taste as good as Grandpa's! Yummy!

We spent the week at Family Camp. Reily was able to go to the nursery when they had speakers and worship time in the morning and evenings, and during classes in the daytime. They also had activities throughout the day and night...it was SO wonderful! The worship leader was great and the speakers were very moving and encouraging...it was very refreshing and thought-provoking. This picture is from one of the last services...it was held outdoors in "Cathedral Grove." The group on Fourth of July...

Family picture...

Hans doing the "Mountain Goat Race." I'd heard about the Mountain Goat Race since my first time to Mission Springs about 8.5 years ago. Until just a few years ago, I truly thought they released mountain goats on the grounds and made them race around...it just seemed like something those crazy Swedes would do.

In reality, Mission Springs is full of huge hills, and they have a run on 4th of July all around the area...Hans got 6th place. I'm so proud of him because I can hardly walk up those hills!

Reily had a good time playing with cousins Shane and Soren...Reily thought they were the coolest kids in the world!

These pictures were from the carnival on the 4th of July--it was SO much fun! They had games and blow up castles and fun snacks, and then a parade at the end. It was a blast! Reily loved this basketball area and kept going back here to play, over and over again!

Except when he was eating cotton candy, that is...

And fishing with Daddy...

Sliding down the jumpy castle with Grandma...

Look at that smile!

Watching the parade with Hans' cousins Krista and Laura and his Aunt Jeannie...

Reily got to be in the parade--the nursery workers decorated his stroller that morning, and Grandma Ellen pushed him in the parade!

After a long, tough day, Reily and Daddy took a 5 hour nap! Reily slept for 15 hours total...that's when we realized he was getting sick. Luckily, Hans woke up in time to watch the fireworks in the valley from the roof of Hans' grandparents' house with his cousins. No pictures of being on the roof in the dark...but it was a wonderful 4th of July memory! We managed to make it to the ocean a few times. Hans and his Dad ran along the water while the boys and I people-watched. Here's a picture of Lee after his run...I had to take a picture of him because his shirt looked like a smiley-face sticking out his tongue. Maybe it's because we had just eaten at Bubba Gump's and it reminded me of the movie...We took a trip to see the huge redwood trees. Reily enjoyed the hike, even though he wasn't feeling great...The boys in front of a huge tree...Reily really liked the bark...We also went to see the trains at a nearby town. Reily loved watching the choo choo's! He wanted to ride the train so much! Luckily he settled for a picture by the train and didn't throw too much of a tantrum!We spent our last night at the Santa Cruz Wharf and Boardwalk...so much fun! We had dinner (including clam chowder, of course...) with his parents and grandparents on the wharf, and then went to meet his cousin Krista, Hans-Erik, Hans-Erik's mom, and George on the boardwalk! Reily enjoyed looking at the sea lions (seals?) on the wharf after dinner...

And he got up close and personal with a pelican...Isaac wasn't too sure about all of it...Reily and George on the whale ride...Reily was all smiles once they finally started the ride! When it wasn't moving, he was trying to climb out of it!

After a fun-filled trip, we flew back home. Isaac was a little fussy as we got on the airplane, and I got to walk down the aisle with a screaming baby when we boarded the plane. We were the last to get on, so everyone was staring up at me and I could just see them groaning quietly...luckily, he did fine after a few minutes and both boys had a good flight back!


We had a great trip, but it's good to be home, too. The boys are getting back into their routines and we finally finished all of the laundry! Now I'm exhausted from blogging and need to go comfort a screaming baby...hope you all enjoy this huge post about our trip!