Check out these cute pics of the kids on the beach . . .
Yes, I was there . . . not looking as cute as my kids, but just happy to be keeping everything together and glad everyone was enjoying themself.
We took a trip down to Crystal Cove State Park to check out the tide pools. It wasn't great, but it beat spending the morning in the beach house while it was still too cold to get in the water. :-)
Check out this lizard!
My little scavengers . . .
I was lucky enough that Dennis' sister Wendy and her daughter Ellie agreed to come with us on the trip. It's always nice to have an extra pair of (adult) hands on these outings. Plus, Ellie and Aspen are the best of friends (well, until the end of the trip when they've been in a car for 20+ hours that week and have had all the cousin time they can handle).
Aspen wasn't keen on the tide pools because she was wet and had sand in her shoes, but it was too rocky to go barefoot.
Devin has a keen eye for all kinds of interesting creatures (and being the handy photographer I am, I was able to capture it on film for y'all to see).
Yes, I was there, behind the camera most of the time . . . carrying a sleeping Connor and a fitful two year old who was tired, cranky, and hating dirty feet.
Look how big he is!!! Sitting up already.
We made our traditional excursion to the Old Spaghetti Factory while we were there.
Check out this flexibility!
On our last day, Grandma and Grandpa Pearson took us to breakfast at IHOP before we headed out for our 13-hour drive. Woo hoo! It was delicious, thanks! They enjoyed meeting Connor (their 7th great-grandchild), and we always love getting to spend time with them. They were cleaning out their condo and gave our kids some fun toys as well (a jump rope, bubbles, picture viewers, a pink vacuum, and a green easy bake oven from the '50's that still works--the kids have really enjoyed making single servings of carrot cake as an after-school snack).
We decided to drive the whole thing in one shot rather than trying to break it up in Mesquite, unload the car to stay in a hotel, and then get back in the car for 6 more hours the next morning. It worked well. I drove, Wendy handled the kids. Thank heavens for portable DVD players!!! The kids did really well until the last hour. On the way down, we stopped in St. George for a long lunch. On the way back, of course, we stopped in Vegas for In N Out. YUM!!!
We hope for a repeat trip (with Dennis) next year. :-)
