California: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

What would a family trip be with the good, the bad, and the ugly?? Actually, we did have a good time in California despite all that tried to take our fun away. The trip there was very eventful to say the least, but we made it safe. The house we stayed in was perfect. It was literally right on the beach!!! We got to see the sunset almost every night, and for all you Pirates of the Caribbean fans out there, there really is a little green flash when the sun finally dips below the horizon. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen!!! So, here goes...our trip (disclaimer: this may be a long post as a lot happened and I want to try to remember everything)

Saturday: We arrive...it was freezing!!!! Seriously, Southern California is supposed to be all sunny and warm. When we got to the house we walked out back for about 3 seconds and then decided that it was way to cold and way to windy to be on the beach so we spent most of the afternoon in the house.
Sunday: Despite keeping the Shelby and JP up late the night before (in hopes that they would sleep in), JP was up bright and early...3:30am to be exact and Shelby followed shortly behind. They were hungry, after all, their internal clocks said it was 6:30am. Thank goodness Pratt and I went to bed at 8:00 the night before. We decided to brave the cold and head out to do some exploring. We walked down Venice Beach. It was good to say that we did it, but afterward, Pratt and I decided that we really love living in our wonderful little bubble called Bluffton, SC. There are some different people out there and Shelby was shaking like a leaf most of the time we were there from being cold and from being scared of a creepy old clown and some weird guy, well, acting weird. After that we loaded up the cars and headed to Santa Monica. Unfortunately it was way to cold to think about walking down the pier so we walked down the Promenade until Shelby and JP couldn't stand it any longer. Pratt and I walked back to the car and headed home. If you would have asked me what time I thought it was when we made it back to the car I would have said atleast 8:00pm, but it wasn't even close...5:30 to be exact. Oh man were we tired.
Monday: Up again at 3:30am!! I can't remember 100% what happened that day, but I think that it rained a lot of it. Pratt and I decided to that it would be a good day to go to the aquarium since there wasn't much appeal to being outside. It was fun and we got to drive through Long Beach which was a really neat little place. That afternoon I went out with the girls and Shelby and JP slept for nearly 4 1/2 hours.
Tuesday: We got to sleep in...until 4:00am!!!! This was one of the best days by far!! DISNEYLAND!!!! All the way there Shelby definitely wasn't convinced that this was a good idea. She even started to cry and begged us to take her home when we parked the car and started to get unloaded. "I want to go home, please. I don't want to see all the people." she would say. After the initial panic of it and once we got her in the park, she had a great time. Of course we avoided all characters and princesses at all costs. We even walked around the castle as she was deathly afraid of it. We rode several rides. The teacups and "Its a small world" were the biggest hits. At the end of the day, JP passed out in the stroller and Shelby talked and talked about how much fun she had. It was a very successful day! That night Pratt went to the Lakers/Nicks basketball game with the guys. They had a great time and got to see all sorts of celebrities....even Zach Efron and Vanessa!!!! I have to say, I was so jealous!!!!
Wednesday: Up again at 3:30am....this by far was the nastiest day there. It poured the whole day and I promise you the temperature never got above 45. Meanwhile, I heard that the weather here was beautiful...go figure. I actually went back to bed at 9:00 and slept for a few hours this day because I was so exhausted. Pratt woke me up around 11:00 and we got ready to meet my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy for lunch. We spent the rest of the day at the house.
Thursday: Another 3:30am wake up call...I really thought that the kids would be used to the new time of things in California by then, but they weren't so we made the best of it. I guess the good thing about being up that early was that we got to see the sunrise every morning, well sort of...we were facing west so we didn't see it rise over the horizon, but we were up to greet it...ummmmm...okay, mental block, I can't remember much of anything from that day. Oh, we went to Long Beach for lunch, we ate at PF Changs. It was really good. Oh yeah...the best part of that day happened about 8:30am. Pratt and Patricio decided to test out their surfing skills. Let me start by saying that it was only 41 degrees out!!! I was laughing so hard at them that I could hardly take pictures. Everything was cold, the air, the sand, and especially the water and to see those two crazy kids in wetsuits....oh, it was hilarious!!! This day the weather started to get nicer. In the afternoon I was sitting in the window watching the water and saw one of the most amazing things...dolphin playing in the waves. You could see them through the water surfing the waves. It was just amazing. Then they would jump out and do all kinds of tricks. It was like they knew that we were watching them and they were putting on a show for us. I can't tell you how cool it was. That night was Jake's graduation party, since Shelby, JP and myself were coming down with some kind of cold we decided that only Pratt would go and I would stay back.
Friday: They finally get it....both kids slept until 7:00am. I felt like a new woman!! Also, it finally started to warm up. I think that the temperature was in the high 50's and the sun was shining!!! We went back to Long Beach and had lunch a great little mexican type place. Friday night was Jake's graduation. It was great. Lee Strobel was the commencement speaker and I wish that I could have heard him talk. He wrote The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for the Creator, etc.
Saturday: Up at 6:00 and then we had to wake the children at 6:30 to head to the airport. Thankfully our trip home was without complication and the flight from California to Atlanta was only 3 1/2 hours instead of the 5 hours that it took us to get out there. It was great touch down in Savannah and know that we would be sleeping in our own beds that night. A super special thanks to Rob for picking us up and going grocery shopping with Pratt that night!!

Some additional thoughts: Shelby and JP shared a room the whole week!! I was a little bit anxious about this because Shelby likes to sleep with the light on, but she did great with just a little night light and JP only got out of his bed once...yes, he slept in a big bed. We requested a crib/pack-n-play, but when we got there it wasn't there and the rental company told us that we wouldn't get it until later so we just put JP in the bed, surrounded him with pillows and crossed our fingers. The house was amazing. It was on the beach in Sunset Beach, I mean literally right on the beach. I spent most of the day in a chair looking out on the water. There were oil rigs right there, some of them so close that it looked like you could swim out to them. There were also oil pumps in the middle of neighborhoods. Growing up we went to Wyoming a lot of visit my grandparents so I know what oil pumps look like, you see them all over there, but in the desert. It was just wild to see them in the midst of houses and such. The beaches were awesome. They have tons of public parking, garbage cans every 500 ft., volleyball courts all down the beach, board walks, etc. I can't imagine how much fun it would be in the summer. Shelby and JP were such troopers. We really pushed them well beyond their limits and they responded well and went with the flow most of the time.

All in all it was a fun trip. I think that nearly everyone ended up with a cold, but we had fun and the memories will last a life time. While at this point I am not too eager to make the trek again, I know that one day we will be back and I can't wait.

Pictures to follow shortly.

We Made It!

Well, while it is fresh on my mind, I thought that I would post about our most adventurous flight out here.  I am not usually one to complain to much about flying because I really like it and I always try to go with an open mind that things probably won't go as planned and there are probably going to be delays.  Can I just say that despite my willingness to be open-minded about travel, yesterday was almost enough to make me want to rent a car and drive home!!! Truthfully, it really wasn't that bad and so I am blaming part of the day on just being tired.  Everything from Savannah to Atlanta went great.  Once we got to Atlanta, they changed our gate two times, despite that, we did leave on time. When we got on the plane I was expecting a four hour flight, but I quickly figured out that it was actually a 5 hour flight!!!  No big deal, I thought to myself.  So we took off and things got underway.  They passed out menus for lunch...there are no more freebies when you fly.  Pratt and I talked about what to get the kids and then we waited.  By the time they got to us to see what we wanted, they were out of food!!! All they had was peanuts and cookies!!!  I had some snack food for the kids, but they were hungry.  Poor Shelby kept saying, "Mommy, I am so hungry!  Mommy, I am starving!"  The thing that was so frustrating was they knew before they started doing lunch that we were back there with two children because a couple of times they said something to us about them being in their seats etc.  And one flight attendant came over and told us to turn off the dvd player because "not everyone wanted to enjoy that lovely movie."  Now, I am all for sarcasm, but really only when it comes from friends and is meant to be funny.  Pratt decided to go up to first class to see if his dad and Sandi had anything that we could give the kids and the flight attendant up there told him that it was against the rules to allow anyone in coach to have food from first class!!!  The thing is, we weren't looking for food for us, were we hungry? yes, but really we just wanted to feed our children!!!  Oh the joys of flying!!  I remember when they used to give everyone great meals and all children got wings and if you asked they would give you a deck of playing cards.  What happened to all that great customer service??

Let the Fun Begin

The title of this post has two meanings....one, the holiday season is upon us. Next to Easter where we celebrate the resurrection of our savior, Christmas is my favorite time of year. How much fun to celebrate the birth of our savior with so many friends and family....second, we are slowly testing the waters of the wonderful world of potty training a little boy. Today during church I found my mind wondering to the thought of if we should train JP standing up or sitting down.

He has gone tee-tee in the potty twice now. The first time was earlier this week. Every time we put him in the bath the first thing he does is christen it so I thought, you know, we need to see if he will sit on the potty and go in there. Sure enough after much wiggling around and me admitting defeat in the whole process before it really ever got started, he did it!!! I truly couldn't believe that when I put him in the tub and looked back to see if there were any surprises, there actually was tee-tee in there. We got all excited and JP just looked at us like we were a bunch of chickens running around with our heads cut off. So this morning, same thing...sat him down on the potty before going into the bath and he actually sat still this time....I don't know, maybe we have already made great strides because he didn't move at all until he was done.

Since about a week before Thanksgiving we have been so busy. Sometimes I just can't believe that here we are at the end of another year and I feel like I still have so much to accomplish before it all comes to an end. Oh well, what will be, will be. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks to my super creative friend, Erin, we had a wonderful mini Thanksgiving feast complete with the Mayflower and a Tee pee. Of course one of the things I am most thankful about is my wonderful family and friends, but not to far behind that is the fact that Clemson beat South Carolina again!!!! It was great. Thanks to our wonderful family, Pratt and I got a night away and went to the game. We had such a wonderful time. It was nice to be husband and wife for a while without having to put on the mom and dad hats at all. We get bragging rights again and what really makes it great is that our super-fabulous new head coach who had no head coaching experience until about 6 weeks before that game beat the heck out of their seasoned, Heisman winning, national champ winning head coach. Nothing better than that!!!!

Since then I have been frantically trying to tie up all Christmas to dos before we got out of town next week. We are heading to CA to celebrate with Jake that he has made it through his college career!!! YAY JAKE!!! We are so proud of you. In between all that running around, we made an Advent wreath to celebrate the Advent season at home as well as in church, we have built a gingerbread house (actually Pratt and JP built it because Shelby refused to go in the room as there was a slight possibility that Santa would be there...poor little girl shook like a leaf for about 30 minutes and wouldn't let me make a peep because she didn't want Santa to hear us hiding in the corner of the other room), gone to a super fun dance party in which Pratt actually danced the entire time, went to the Bluffton Christmas parade (Thanks Rob-a-Dob and Aunt Lala for all your help with that), and celebrated my dad's 65th birhtday!!! It is just amazing all that one can cram into a day!!! Here are some pictures that we have taken along the way.

Housekeeping and Such

Shelby Story: Last night while we were sitting around the table eating Shelby got the hiccups. We were all chuckling over that and Pratt all the sudden faced her and yelled, "Roar!!!!!!" really loud. It scared her so much that she tooted three times. We all fell on the floor laughing!!! Oh, and it solved the hiccups too.


JP is talking so much!!!! Here are some of his favorites...
See datty, mom, see datty. (See Daddy mom, See Daddy)
Hane ou mom, hane ou (which if I don't respond with a your welcome gets louder and louder)
Bane, mom, bane (plane)
Helby (Shelby)
Datty funny, mom, datty funny
Doe, mom, Doe ("go mom go"-he says this everytime the car stops or slows down and gets louder and louder until I go)
Pretty much everything he says is followed by "mom" and then repeated.

Add Farmer To My Resume...

Yesterday afternoon I decided to get all cozy in a pair of overalls that Pratt so kindly pointed out to me that I have had since college. When I walked out of the room to check on the kids the first thing Shelby said to me was, "Mom, you look like a farmer!" She had the funniest little smirk on her face. To me, the fact that she made that connection was funny!!! I tell you, these kids grow so fast!!!

We have been running all around lately. Last weekend I took the children up to Clemson for our annual mini family reunion/homecoming trip. It was a blast. Shelby and JP sat through the game right up to the middle of the 4th quarter. It was great. The three of us shared a hotel room, which really made me nervous, but of course proved to be wonderful. I can't tell you how great they did.

Unfortunately, I was a bad mom and didn't take any pictures, but they were cute as buttons. Shelby actually wore her orange Clemson sweatshirt!! I couldn't believe it. Of course, it was so cold that she probably would have worn anything that day.

Halloween Pictures...Finally.

So, did you vote today? I hope so, because you know what they say...if you don't vote you can't complain....I don't know who they really are, but after only 45 minutes in line I was done. Shelby and JP did such a great job. They both sat patiently in the stroller and were really very good. Of course, I did entice them with lollipops so maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, onto Halloween.....

We had a wonderful time on the hayride through the neighborhood. Shelby really shocked me with how she ran up to the houses for trick-or-treating. There was only one house that I had to walk up with her because she wasn't so sure of the skeleton on the porch. Here is a picture of Shelby, aka: Ariel, and JP, aka: Coach Swinney, on the hayride. The funniest part about Shelby's costume, well, there are two funny things...the purple part which is supposed to be Ariel's bathing suit, Shelby kept calling her braids and then she also insisted on having the one side hanging off of her shoulder. Everytime I tried to fix it she would put it back and give me a stern, "that is how it is supposed to be mommy!!!" with a look and hand gestures to go with it.

I couldn't do a post on Halloween and not show you the artistic ability of my husband. This was the first year that we carved a pumpkin. All the years we have been married we have always bought pumpkins, but we never did anything with them. I was so excited to carve a pumpkin this year. The children loved watching and they both even touched the "guts", although, I don't think either one of them really enjoyed that too much.

This final picture I had to include. Lately, JP has been falling asleep while we are in the carpool line waiting for Shelby to get dismissed from school. This is a classic JP picture right now. It really sums up a lot about him. First, notice the hair twirling, yes, he even does it in his sleep. Second, notice the death grip on the box of raisins. This is by far his favorite food right now. The dentist is going to love me!!! Finally, notice his mouth. It is kind of hard to tell, but he is sucking on a mouth full of raisins. He packs his mouth full of raisins and then sucks on them. Thankfully he hasn't choked yet and hopefully he never will.

I can't believe it is alreay November

So, apparently I slept through the month of October because I have absolutely no idea where it went. We are a busy family, but not so busy that a whole month can slip by just like that.

Let's see....since my last post...we have been to two pumpkin patches, a church fall festival and a trick-o-treating hay ride.

The first pumpkin patch was at Cahill's Market. We did our annual family trip to see the pumpkins and pick out the perfect pumpkin to grace our door step. As you can tell by the picture it was warm and we had a great time. Shelby and JP found a beautiful pumpkin with a great stem on it. JP wasn't too sure about the hay in this picture, but who can blame him...he had shorts on and we made him sit on it.

The second pumpkin patch we went to was at Hampton Lake. They had a really fun Saturday planned. They put 500 pumpkins in a field and asked that you make a minimum of $3 donation for each pumpkin you took. It was amazing, I mean, these were really nice pumpkins. All the donations went to the Bluffton Fire Department. They were on hand for the event with a firetruck and their dog mascot. Shelby was scared to death of that firetruck. We almost didn't make it to the pumpkin patch because we had to walk by the firetruck to get there.

I will have to leave you hanging with that as my camera is down stairs with the pictures from the church fall festival and the hay ride. Hopefully I will get those pictures up this week as there are some really cute ones...well, I am a little biased; they are my kids after all.