California and the Triestmans

 

Eric and I flew out to California to visit Dan and Priscilla and company. We had such a nice time. One of the best vacations I have ever taken. At the time they were in Riverside, California, which was soo beautiful with flowers everywhere and 85 degrees the whole weekend.

There was also a two hour time change which made waking up awesome. The first morning we were there.. we took the kids and walked down to the donut shop and two equally awesome things happened;

First the lady behind the donut counter was just as bad at counting as I am and accidentally gave us 14 donuts instead of 12... why we were getting 12 donuts for 4 adults and 3 itty bitty children in the first place??

Second, as I was eyeing up the donuts, suddenly I heard Bobby behind me sneeze and then start crying hysterically, I turned around and he was standing there looking as devastated as 3 year old can muster, covered in snot, and for some odd reason his pants were no longer buttoned and threatening to fall down. Apparently it was an epic sneeze.

What an awesome kid.

Later we went to a beautiful beach where I decided to go boogie boarding with Dan. The waves were big and crazy and I amazingly managed to collect around 20 lbs of sand in a swimsuit that is much smaller than anything my mother would approve of while the waves kicked my butt every time I made any attempt to do any boogie boarding. Some cool surfer dude walked up to me and was like "first time?" and I was like "Nah.. I'm pretty used to kickin' it on Cedar Island Lake..."

The kids had a great time tiptoeing towards the water and then as soon as the waves got within 10 feet, they would run away with bloodcurdling screams and collapse safely on the sand by their Uncle Eric.. I guess they're more used to kickin' it on Cedar Island too..

 

Starfish as big as my head.

D and P.... feel free to bring this kid back to me anytime!

Teamwork.

My beautiful big sister.

Later we went out for fish tacos.. and then grabbed some gelato.. can a day get any better?

 

Too tired after a long day at the beach to walk.

We went to an citrus national park the next day.

My favorite little orange thief.. eating the fruit was strictly prohibited, Hadassah had a new half-way peeled orange every time I turned around. I may or may not have eaten 25 to 30 kumquats, heaven in a fruit.

 

We went to the famous Casey's Cupcakes and met the Easter bunny..

  and ate the best cupcakes ever.

 

We visited Southern California wine country the next day, and spent some time playing in a park.

Apparently this is what the cool kids were doing....

And just to make his Auntie's day Rocky took his first steps walking from me to Priscilla! What a sweetie!

Pretty proud after his first steps!!

And our last view as we left...

When I was hugging Hadassah good bye before we left and tears were streaming down my face Hadassah said " Don't cry Stephie! Sometimes I miss Grandma and then I cry too!!"

Anyone have an extra pair of tickets to California lying around???