California Trip- Part 3

Jan 12- We went to church in La Canada. The girls did really well. Ja had to take Anna out of sacrament because there are no babies in their ward so any peep she made was really loud. I took Macy into Primary and they had sharing time first. There were already two girls her age sitting in her row so she felt at peace and let me leave her there. They practiced the song "He Sent His Son" and she told me that our primary in Beegina (aka Virginia) should sing it too. Anna allowed me to stay through all of Sunday School (Dorothy gave a great lesson) AND all through Relief Society. I sat in front and she was happy walking around. The way the class was set up it wasn't disruptive. We had dinner with Nathan and Kiersten and boys at Dorothy's that night. It was so great having cousins that played with Macy and Anna tagged along. Henry and Macy got married :)

Jan 13- We drove to YL to spend the rest of the week there. (We went back and forth so much we never fully unpacked.) While Ja worked my dad and I took the girls to Tri City Park. We brought bread to feed the ducks which quickly surrounded us. This scared Macy a little, and me too quite frankly. The girls read books out in the backyard too.

I love, love, love this smile

Anna's hair got really static-y from the slide

Jan 14- We went to the beach! In January! And the weather was perfect! How spoiled were we?! It's great having a dad who is retired and can do all the fun things with us! The girls loved having him there- especially Macy because he made her sand castles. When I asked what her favorite thing of the day was she said, "Smashing sand castles." We dug holes, built sand castles, climbed on the rock jetty, threw a beach ball in the water and chased it, and had a wonderful time. 

Anna wasn't too keen walking on the sand so she sat in this one spot for a long time shoveling sand into her pail. It was easy to keep track of her!

We had four chairs but the girls liked sharing! They are so adorable! And very well behaved that day.

Jan 15- I was looking for a morning activity for the girls and we settled on Chuck e Cheese. Again, retired Papa could join in on the fun!

I love this picture of Macy. Her smile is so genuine and happy! She loves Chuck E Cheese's!

When we weren't having fun going somewhere we were having fun at home. We took walks around the block, played in the backyard, and Macy ran through sprinklers. 

California Trip- Part Two

Jan 9- I took Macy to ride the horses at Griffith Park. The first ride she chose the slow path. She got to pick her own horse and she choose Duchess, a furry donkey (at least it looked like a donkey). Duchess decided to stop in the middle of the track to pee but then wouldn't start back up. Macy patiently sat there and didn't get scared.

The second ride she choose the "fast" track. The horse trotted around the track twice. I love Macy's smile of her getting on the fast horse. It's her smirk she does when she's happy but doesn't want to show it. My favorite thing she said that day was when she got off the fast horse and said, "It didn't stop mommy!" It's so sweet that the thing she loved the most was the horse actually ran the whole time. For some reason it was so cute and brought tears to my eyes.

We also rode the little train ride there.

 And Macy enjoyed a frozen treat. I don't know what the ingredients are, that's a little scary.

Jan 10- This day probably deserves it's own blog post. We drove to La Mirada to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Seymour. Ja wanted to shoot off grandpa's bottle rockets and Uncle Steve filmed it all. My dad came down too and it was like having four 10-year old boys there. They had a lot of fun shooting different things and trying different configurations of air pressure and rocket position to see how high it would go. At one point Ja shot it from the backyard and over the house to have my dad try and catch it in the front yard. 

Macy tried pumping the bottle rocket up with the bike pump. It was quickly discovered the air compressor is the way to go!

Macy pulled the trigger to have to rocket go over the roof.

Ja thought it would make a good video to have the bottle rocket shoot different things thus the bazooka style hold.

He first tried this empty soda can pyramid. Then it was a full soda can. That did not explode as hoped. The bottle would hit the can and break but the can wouldn't be harmed at all. They shot a cardboard box full of leaves hoping the leaves would fly in the air and make a cool slow motion video. But the rocket was so powerful it shot straight through the box without disrupting the leaves.

I have many childhood memories of me and my cousins sweeping sawdust in grandpa's garage. He was always working on something and consequently he had lots of sawdust. I loved the feeling of the soft bristled broom on the smooth garage floor. Every time I smell sawdust I think of grandpa's garage. The little broom was still hanging in the same spot as I remember it. It's on a hook which is right at Anna's level so she took it and started sweeping. 

seriously, I just love that face!

Macy also loved sweeping. I hope Macy can remember doing in with her great grandparents. I'm glad it's a memory we can both share. 

Macy's hair is getting so long!

Grandpa's garage looks the same as when I was a kid! Except he now has an updated mini fridge. It used to be a old brown one that would be stocked with sodas I didn't recognize. 

Grandpa explaining to Ja how to put the fins on the rocket

This is a trike grandma borrowed from the neighbor. It had a squeaky wheel so Macy told us it needed oil. She thought that was funny.

Jan 11- We drove up to Valencia to watch Henry's first basketball game. Afterwards we ate lunch at a park. Henry is 6 but he is very sweet and plays well with Macy. She also enjoyed playing with Charlie.

Macy, Charlie, and Henry

After the park we went to Nathan and Kiersten's house. Henry got a bow and arrow for Christmas so Macy and Charlie practiced (Henry was at a baptism).

Back at Granny Dot's house that night Anna discovered the box of ziploc bags and proceeded to take all of them out. It's impossible to get mad at the sweet little face!

California Trip- Part One

We left for California on January 1st and didn't return to Virginia until January 25th! It was wonderful to be able to stay for 25 days and enjoy the warm sunny weather for 25 days. It was record cold in Virginia and I was very happy we missed it. It was also great to visit with so many ward members and family members. We even had time to have relaxing days where we didn't go anywhere. The girls loved playing at their grandparents homes with all new toys and having a backyard was amazing.

Since we were there for so long I'm going to break up our trip into parts. I'll do it in journal entry fashion.

January 1st- The girls were amazing on the flight! I couldn't believe how well behaved they were. Macy watched movies on the iPad, watched the TV, or played with her princess dolls the whole time. Anna ate Pirate booty and switched between seats a lot. I can't remember any crying! We had Jacob with us so he could visit Granny Dot's house for his birthday. He was anxious to get there and asked many times if he could have inn-n-out fries and a strawberry shake when we landed. We had six seats so share between us which was great. We didn't get to CA until 11 p.m. east coast time so the girls were tired but stayed up late to play with toys.

Jan 2- We stayed the night in La Canada because my dad was sick. The girls slept in until 7 a.m.! I was expecting a 5 a.m. wake up call so I was throughly impressed! I drove the girls down to Yorba Linda to spend time with Jill before she left for her mission. The girls had zero warming-up period with Jill and my parents since they saw them only a few months ago. This was a nice surprise. We walked to the park by my parents and played outside in the warm sun. After Anna's nap we went to the Discovery Science Center with Jill. We went to Inn-n-out for dinner and discovered that Anna loves dipping french fries in ketchup.

Playing with light and vibrations at the museum

Anna was kind and shared her fries with papa

I love this face!

loves her fries!

Jan 3- We drove down to YL again this time to spend the night there. Macy and Anna hung out in the morning with Jill. Macy was excited to wear her bathing suit and run through the sprinklers. The girls loved being able to walk directly outside into the backyard. It's so convenient! Macy, my dad, and I washed two cars. My dad was so impressed with Macy's car washing skills. She was great little helper. Tonight was Jill's farewell party. We saw a lot of ward members and family members. It was a fun night and meant Jill left in only 3 days!

Jan 4th- Ja, Macy, and I went to the Pantages theatre to see The Lion King musical. It was Macy's first experience at the theatre and she did really well. She was a little confused at intermission as to  why we weren't leaving. In the second half she asked to leave when ever a song was over but forgot about leaving when another one started. 

Jan 5- We went to church at the YL 3rd ward with my parents. Ja had to take Anna out during sacrament meeting because she was loud. My dad took Anna into nursery since there aren't many kids in there. It was nice of him since he's in the bishopric and busy! I sat with Macy in her CTR 4 class but was able to leave her and go to RS during the 3rd hour. She was ok leaving me when she saw that their primary is just like hers at home! My mom took Anna back to nursery during RS which was also nice. That afternoon my grandma and grandpa Seymour came to visit with the girls. Grandpa won over Macy's heart by reading her a book. 

decorating the doll house

Great Grandpa reading a story and Macy being shy

Macy loved watering grandma's plants

Oh, and Anna fit in a bucket

That night Jill was set apart as a sister missionary! Lori Sharp came over to stay with the sleeping girls so both Ja and I could go. I can't believe my baby sister is a missionary!

We stayed up really late telling stories together. Jill was leaving the next day and I didn't want to waste any time with her.

Jan 6- Jill left for Utah today! My parents drove her up a few days early so she could say good-bye to Kenny and Elle. We drove to La Canada to stay there for the week.

our last picture with Jill for 18 months!

 Macy discovered the Jeep at Granny Dot's house. She drove Anna around for awhile then had me pretend I need help so the rescue truck could help me. My cat got stuck on the roof, I got trapped in the hose, and I needed rescuing from the top of the stairs. She did great driving forward and did well most of the time backing up. The best was one time she was backing up and ran into the wall by the pool. She looked at me and said, "This is a parking spot!" as if she meant to run into the wall.

watercolor time

Jan 7- We spent most of the day playing around the house. There are so many toys to play with the girls kept busy all day. Anna loved walking all around the house and wandered everywhere. Amazingly she taught herself how to go down the stairs sliding down on her tummy. This was a lifesaver, literally. I was so happy I didn't have to follow her around to make sure she didn't fall down the stairs! Anna found a baby doll that was almost her size that she insisted on carrying around. She pointed to it every minute and told whoever was around that it was a baby. She loved that doll so much and I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her carrying it.

the organ is entertaining

 We eventually made it to the Griffith park train museum after Anna's nap. However, it closed 10 minutes after we got there so we couldn't do much.

Jan 8- Jill reported to the MTC today! It's very exciting for her! Granny Dot took us to KidSpace today. We love that place! I love that half of the museum is outside since the weather is usually warm and nice. We played for 3 hours then had lunch. We went home, put Anna down for a nap, then Macy and I went back for more! We played at KidSpace for at total of 5 hours and it was so much fun!

Macy was able to take Anna for a ride on the double tricycle. Anna was happy and any time Macy stopped she rocked back and forward as if she could push herself forward for more. 

This was my favorite! Macy riding with Anna in the chariot looking trike. Anna stood up halfway through but held on tight! Seeing Anna in a helmet is hilarious.

Anna tried to walk with the bike. She didn't quite get it that she was supposed to sit on it.

washing their fruit

sitting on the pulley chairs

Anna playing with the kinetic energy ball bouncer

climbing up the tall climbing tower

That's the end of our first week in California! We had fun and there was so much left to do!

Macy I want you to know...

You refuse to blow your nose!! You will sniff and sniff and sniff until you can't sniff no more. I have no idea why you're afraid of the tissue but you won't use them. I bet one day you'll think this is funny (and a bit ridiculous). 

Love you Macy!