We visited Darrell's mom, his sister and her family in August. We had such a great time.
On the shuttle bus to the airport. The flight there was practically perfect and uneventful. (I wish the same could be said for the flight home.)
We visited Darrell's grandma Nellie at the care center two different times.
Emily and Megan both wanted to pull my backpack (a.k.a. the diaper bag for this trip.)
We were able to visit with Nellie in one of the courtyards.
Emily and Tyler loved playing with Grandma.
Tyler helped push "Grandma Allie" (as he calls her) back to her room. (Although she certainly doesn't need any help. She is one FAST 93-year-old grandma--she "walks" her feet along the floor and away she goes.)
Emily had to help with the back pack AND Grandma's bag the second time we went to visit.
One day Brenda treated us to Adventure City. It is a kids' ride theme park. The kids (and adults) had such a fun time. Tyler calls it the circus and talks about going back.
Thomas the Train met us at the entrance way.
The Balloon Ride
Giggle Wheel
Rescue 911
Express Train
Tyler and I rode on the roller coaster. He wanted to go, but he told me afterward that it was scary.
The Carousel was definitely the girls' favorite. They went on it several times.
We brought a picnic lunch and ate outside the park before heading back in for more fun.
Grandma helping Emily and Megan to walk along the cement around a tree
They had a Thomas the Train play land. There were soooo many Thomas trains to play with. Tyler wanted to play here after lunch instead of going on more rides. (Grandma bought Tyler Hiro, one of the trains he's been DYING to have, as well as some Dinosaur Train dinosaurs for all the kids and the lady gave us 3 new Thomas trains also.)
Another day we went on Steve and Brenda's boat out into the ocean.
Our family at the back of the boat.
All of the kids took turns siting on Grandma's lap. (Emily, Megan and Tyler)
Brenda and Megan
We got close to some sea lions
The Long Beach cityscape
The Queen Mary, a retired cruise ship
It was cloudy for the first part of the day, but the sun came out right in time for when we docked on a beach.
The kids loved playing in the sand with the buckets and pails.
The "older kids" loved it just as much. Matt and Jeff helped the kids build sand castles.
Emily and Megan each wearing one of Darrell's flip flops.
Emily enjoying the warm water
Tyler loved running up and down the beach on the tire tracks. He pretended he was a train on the tracks.
At one point Megan tripped or (maybe there was a sudden drop down in the sand). At any rate, she was floating face down in the water. I hurried and got her out. It was scary, but not as bad as it could have been because 1.) I was nearby and got to her fairly quickly and 2.) Matt was in the Coast Guard and I knew he would know what to do. We think she must have held her breathe once she hit the water because she didn't cough or anything. She seemed a little shaken by it, but she just walked around. The life guard saw the whole thing and came to make sure Megan was OK.
Me and Darrell
Matt and Jeff watching their younger cousins
Darrell and Emily
Emily on a canoe on the beach
The day before we left, Brenda and Harley and Roxy met us at the park.
Megan with the "puppies"
Tyler and Emily on the playground
Both Emily and Megan pouring sand on Megan. The sand was so hot and this was the only place they found cool sand.
A picnic lunch
After the park the girls (and Darrell) took naps outside.
One night we ate at Woody's where Jeffrey works. The kids loved the cars the kids' meals came in.
Loving the big bubbles
The girls and their "bracelets" (baby toy chains)
Eating out on the patio
Playing with the older cousins
The cousins (Matt, Jeff, David, Emily, Megan and Tyler)
The whole gang. Oh how we love all of these people. We definitely missed Wayne. The kids don't really understand what death means. Tyler knows Wayne's in a place called Heaven, but he thinks Wayne can come back to see us as soon as he's done with Heaven.
I realize this is a really long post and that I should have broken it in to several posts. But by the time I thought about it, I was too far into this one. So here are the "highlights" of the flight home.
*The flight left at 1:45 p.m. right during nap time, not a problem if the flight leaves on time and the kids fall asleep.
*As the plane started backing out, the computer alerted the pilot to problems with an engine.
*Everyone must unload from the plane and wait for 2 hours.
*Grumpy kids fought over who got to stand in front of the portable DVD player (and block the entire screen) back in the waiting room
*Another plane "is just sitting on the tarmac" and we can board that. We wait in line forever with 3 cranky kids who only want to fight with each other. The flight left 1 1/2 hours later than scheduled.
*Emily screamed for 30 minutes straight during take off and the first part of the flight.
*Smarties and chocolate Mexican cookies sent back from 2 different people in the row ahead of us didn't do one thing to get Emily to stop crying.
*After the seatbelt sign turned off, I sent Emily over to Darrell. She still screamed. And to top it off she had made herself so sick that she made herself throw up.
*I went to cross the aisle to get to Emily and practically got whiplash because my headphones were still plugged in to the armrest (gotta love Jet Blue's TVs under normal conditions)
*All I had to clean up the barf was wipes and a barf bag.
*I unknowingly sat on the open wipes during "the clean up" and had a wet spot on my bum for the rest of the trip.
*Throwing up did not help Emily to stop crying. She finally calmed down after I took her to the back and held her (all the while very CONSCIOUS of my screaming child and wet-spotted bum.)
*Emily fell asleep in my arms after we made it back to our seats. That was just in time for Megan to announce, "I stinky!"
*Darrell took Megan to the bathroom to get her diaper changed. Tyler wanted to go with them to the bathroom too and threw a fit the whole time while they were gone.
*Emily slept the rest of the way and Megan fell asleep the last 10 minutes of the flight.
*After landing, getting our luggage and taking the shuttle back to our van we went to Arby's to eat. The kids didn't want to eat their chicken tenders. They kept wanting to get down and run around. After we were done, I sent Darrell out to the van with Emily and Tyler and I tracked Megan down in the "attached" convenience store. A man who must have been watching us the whole time opened the door for Megan and me. I said, "Thank you so much." He said, "You're welcome. Good luck!" (Yes, thank you, sir, we'll take all the good luck you can send our way.) This really isn't our summer for
return trips.
Having said that we can't wait to be with these fabulous people for Thanksgiving.
