2016 CA Roadtrip Adventure

As most of you probably already know, we're crazy.  So when our friends asked us to be godparents in Northern CA and settled on a July date, we planned an insane roadtrip to make it happen.  And since we were already going to be in California, we added a few more "stops" along the way.  

We left around 4am last Thursday morning.  Chris drove the entire day and we made it to my grandmother's house in the foothills in Northern CA around 8:30pm-- a 17 and a half hour day.  The girls were rockstars.  They read, played and talked, shared the V-reader for a bit, and colored for the entirety of the trip.  There was a little sleeping that occurred though Elise and Ava got the least since they were constantly having giggle fests and wouldn't calm down enough to get some good shut eye.  Sophie was in the middle seat and slept, read, and looked out the windows (and played a little peek-a-boo with me now and then).  Seriously, we have the most amazing kids ever because they were all so good.  

But it was definitely tiring and we I looked it.  haha

The salt flats in Utah looked like snow.  

And then we arrived, just before sunset at Grandma's.  

We spent Friday with Grandma.  The adults had some chat time and the girls played with grandma's trikes and scooters and hula hoop and jump ropes.  And of course, they got into the toy box which has many of the same toys I played with at Grandma's house when I was a little girl.  

 

 

Grandma made a cherry pie

Go Fish

picnic lunch

The following day was the baptism (sorry I have no pictures, but luckily I got the ones below from Becky later) and then we hung out with our dear friends Eric and Becky and their kids for the afternoon.  

     

kiddos minus the littlest girls from each fam

This was the only picture I got

And we stopped by for a quick meal of In-N-Out before heading to see a few friends from our old Foresthill church family.  

 

On Sunday we got up and had a nice leisurely morning with Grandma before heading out to Porterville to see my brother and his family just before noon.  The trip down took about 5 hours (all of which Chris drove as well).  

We arrived in time for a yummy dinner, and then we all headed to the evening Mass.  Not surprisingly this was somewhat of a disaster with the kids, but we made it through and got the kids home for bed.  Father Scott (the parish priest and the one who married Chris and I) and a few other friends stopped by for a little visit which was lovely.  

This is my Sunday best for this week.  A comfy navy maternity dress (I wore it a couple weeks ago) and my new teething necklace from Organic Mamas Shop.  Sophie actually enjoyed playing with it and chewing on it a bit at Mass, though I'm sure it see much more use with the next baby since Sophie has all her teeth already except her last molars. 

The next day we hung out poolside at David and Jennie's house with their family (5 boys) and Robbie and Priscilla's family, and my sister Christy and her kids.  We finally got to meet our newest niece on the Cruess side, Roisin, who was born the day after we left the central valley on our last trip before we moved to CO.  

One of the best couples ever.  Love them and cherish their example of love and prayers and support of our marriage. 

me, Jennie, and my big sis

All the kiddos minus Roisin who was sleeping and Robbie and Priscilla's 3 who had to jet out before we snapped the picture.  

While at the Coxes, Kayla decided she wanted to pull her loose tooth out.  She had a crowd of friends and cousins chanting, "Pull it out! Pull it out!" as she stood in front of the mirror and did just that.  Then her cousin Sorcha (they are just 5 months apart) decided to pull out her loose tooth as well (it just so happened to be the same one), so of course we got a picture of the cousins with their missing teeth. 

We spent the night with my sister about an hour south and got to spend just a little time one-on-one with them before heading out at 3am on Tuesday to make the 15 1/2 hour drive home.  Chris drove the whole way again.  I am so blessed.  I was able to finish an entire book on this trip and dive into another.  My job is kid control and passing out food/snacks and keeping Chris awake.  It's actually pretty tiring as well, but certainly nothing in comparison to driving all day.  

This is how Sophie road trips.  Blanket on head, sucking her thumb, reading a book.  Lol

We arrived home safe and sound though my feet and ankles were a bit swelled up from our crazy (and quick) adventure and too much car travel in a short time period.  I'm pregnant enough that this trip hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm totally beat.  Our only adventure today was going to the nearest grocery store to grab a few food essentials (one of them was definitely ice cream) and I plan to do nothing but lounge and fold all the laundry I've been throwing into the wash today.  And drink water.  Lots and lots of water.