California Trip - Spring 2011

Simon working intensely on his Chuck E Cheese gaming skills.

Emily and the boys visited California from May 10th until June 8th. They spent the majority of that time in Suisun City with Em's sister, Ange, and her kids. It was a lot of fun even though the atmosphere was a bit crazy at times (2 moms, 6 kids, 0 dads). With all the activities going on (3 kids in school, 2 moms working on classes in the evening, 1 potty-training toddler) the time flew by. James, Simon, and Benny spent a lot of time playing in the backyard and tracked an inch of sand into the house nearly every day.

The reasons Ange and I spent every evening cleaning up sand and wood chips.

They also spent many hours playing with their Thomas trains. It was a great trip and we were all sad to say goodbye. James started negotiating a return trip as soon as we arrived at Grandma’s house. He somehow got the idea into his head that Benny was coming to Grandma’s house too and was not pleased when he didn’t show up.

Racing in a muddy ditch. You'll notice that James is mostly clean. Benny and Simon are filthy. Pretty typical.

While in CA, Emily and the boys took advantage of the opportunity to visit one of Em’s freshman year BYU roommates (Stephanie Huang Porter) and also drove down to visit the Urmstons (Jay’s sister’s family). The 4 hour drive to and from Bakersfield was surprisingly uneventful. James and Simon had a great time playing and wrestling with their “big boy cousins”: Porter, Tanner, Garrett, and Talmage. Porter even managed to squeeze in a few swim lessons with James…with mixed results. James loved playing in the water but he found it too chilly and resisted any attempts at submersion. In spite of the whining and bargaining, Porter was very patient. Emily had the opportunity to attend Tanner’s graduation on June 2nd which was fun because he gave one of the speeches.

Staying at Steph's house was like one giant food-fest. She completely spoiled us and we didn't argue. Yummy! How could we not have a great time at a house with a trampoline in the livingroom.