California Trip Days 1-3

Back to my regularly scheduled programming...after my depression blog and reading a book about how to be a great teacher I can now give you all the 411 on our fabulous trip to San Diego!  Unfortunately I wasn't a massive camera whore and neglected to take ANY pictures of my aunt with Audrey, my Grandma or anything of the sort.  Fail in that area.  Now onto the good stuff!  We were very fortunate to trade in Elijah's truck and get a family friendly SUV.  I am just saying now, so glad we did this on the Wednesday before the trip because it would have been SOOOOO uncomfortable sitting in the access cab of a truck all the way to Cali!  We've had a few glitches with the 4Runner and are still working on getting some scratches removed from the door, but overall it is a beautiful vehicle and was a great ride!

  So we left on Friday, the 24th.  Our goal was to leave around 11 or 12 because Elijah still had to get work done.  Well 11 turned into roughly 2:15 when we finally left!  Audrey did a great job and our first stop was at the "fabulous" Hopi Travel Plaza in Holbrook, AZ.  This place is SAAWWWEEET.  It even comes with a room with an old school big screen TV where you can cuddle up next to a trucker and watch a fuzzy USA channel because that's all the will come in.  We passed on that and just used the potty.  We did manage to walk out by the road and get up close and personal with some dinosaurs.  These dinosaurs are all over the side of the road half way to Phoenix.  Some are eating people, other dinosaurs, and I think we even saw a tiger eating an elk or something.  Why these are all across the desert?  Not too sure!

Daddy, Audrey, and T-Rex

Feeling T-Rex's fingers or appendages. 

Hi guys!

Peek-a-boo

Nice pearly whites sir

We got gas in Flagstaff and one of many diaper changes along the way!  We then moved on to Phoenix!  We had the pleasure of staying with a former student...yes, a previous kindergartner of mine!  His mom and I became close during the year Jake was in my class and they moved back to Arizona the summer after kindergarten and we've kept in touch since. He will be a 4th grader come August!  Jake made that kindergarten year interesting to say the least.  He loved green and would hoard random things from the classroom in his desk.  Too funny!  All the while he never rubbed me the wrong way and his smile made me melt.  He is an unforgettable human being and I'll never forget him! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at their house and I loved hearing Jake talk about his video games and he even pulled out the class book I gave him and the CD I made!  I'm pretty sure I made an impression on him too!

Here's Jake in kindergarten!


And here we are now....3 years later!

Isn't he handsome?

Day 2 was spent driving to San Diego.  Pretty uneventful.  Naps, diaper changes, gas, etc.  Elijah pretty much drove the entire way to California.  I did however drive from Yuma to San Diego, thank you very much.  We were so excited to see my family!  We stayed with my aunt, uncle, and Grandma at their house.  This is my mom's side of the family and since my mom is in Heaven, my aunt has become more of a mom to me.  She is Audrey's Nana!  We had our own room set up and I always feel at home there.  This is what Audrey was given when we arrived.  Spoiled??  Yes.

Thanks for all the clothes Nana!!

Hi Dad!

We spent the evening hanging out at home with the family and Audrey's cousin Gia!  They had fun together!  Day 3 consisted of a trip to Target and Babies R Us for some essentials for our visit.  We then ate delicious In N Out burger and then went for a BBQ at my cousin Renee's house.  Audrey got to play with her cousin Colin who turned 1 in January.  They had a blast and we took home a car walker for Audrey to practice on! 

At home walking around.

This sums up our first leg of the trip.  Lots of visiting, relaxing, and enjoying the nice weather!

*Editors note: This blog entry was interrupted by blow out number 2 of the day.  Oh how I love to clean the things you have pooed on.  Just thought you all would like to know!