Walk on the Beach

Jill's Journal: Kristi and I took the kids and Cobin the Dog to Cayucos for a nice walk on the beach and quickly found, to our utter amazement, that it’s easier to take a dog to the beach than it is kids. Who knew? One by one, the girls face-planted into the water (or the sand) until they were all caked with sand and salt water. They quickly became, as Madelyn put it, “Cold and miserable.” The dog, on the other hand, was merely a little damp but happy to the end (and I guarantee Kristi was finished cleaning him up in a fraction of the time it took me to clean up the girls). Hmmm.

Family Fun (with silly string)

Jill's Journal: It took us a day to dry out and defrost our toes from the Safari Park, but then we enjoyed some fun time with Kristi and Adam (and constantly-growing puppy Cobin) over the weekend. Uncle Adam made the trip down to San Diego to join in the fun as well.

First up? A silly string fight. Uncle Adam is always a good sport when his nieces are involved.

Adam’s friend Forrest gave the girls the silly string; I don’t think he quite expected to find himself a target.

The adults may have had more fun with the silly string than the kids did…

…or maybe not. Erika was on a mission to get Adam. We need to work on her stealth factor.

We always, always have fun with these people. We are blessed to have such great family.

Madelyn is hugging her future cousin. It won’t be long now! Kristi is pretty much the cutest pregnant woman in history. I hope she has 10 more. :)

And we have another sick little one on our hands. Poor Victoria. Here’s hoping no other family members or any of our visitors catch whatever is going around.

It’s a New Year

Jill's Journal: It’s been two glorious blog-free holiday weeks since I’ve written and we should be wrapping up our time in Las Vegas right about now. Because, if you know Southern California and the Barstow/Calico area I wrote from last, you know there’s really no where to go but Vegas from there. And that was our plan. Really, it was. But, as I told my Mom, this trip seems to change our plans more often than a 10-year-old boy changes his underwear.

Long story short, we didn’t make it to Vegas. No, instead we ended up seven hours west of there on California’s Central Coast. The night before we left Calico, my sister called and mentioned how nice it would have been if we were on the Central Coast instead of Vegas for her birthday on the 21st. That got the ball rolling…

We stopped over back in Tehachapi for two more fun nights with my parents…

…before continuing to Templeton/Atascadero near the California coast to surprise the girls’ Aunt Kristi for her birthday. It was quite the surprise! The girls were sipping chocolate milk at a table in her local Starbucks when she walked in. So, so fun.

And then, since Kristi and Adam were hosting Christmas this year and the rest of the family was arriving a few days later, well, it just made sense to stay and enjoy one more holiday with these wonderful people.

One of the highlights for the girls was coercing Beppy, Grandpa, and Uncle Adam to do a craft with them. I don’t think I’ve seen my Dad or brother do a craft – EVER – so it was quite the picture-worthy moment. (It may have sent me and Beppy into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Just maybe.)

There was a highlight for me too…the Central Coast is all about a casual, outdoorsy, wine-tasting lifestyle and would you believe some of the wineries welcome horseback riders? My lovely sister had an extra horse for a few days and we stole an afternoon to go riding among the grape vines. Sweet. Last year she took me riding on the beach and this year at a winery. I could get used to this.

An afternoon spent on a little hike with Kristi’s Adam and Cobin the puppy ranked pretty high up there too. Our girls are seeing it as their personal mission to ensure this puppy gets plenty of kid practice before Kristi and Adam’s baby arrives in the spring.

So yes, it was really a wonderful Christmas season for us. And while Vegas can maybe rival the occasional 75 degrees (in winter!) we saw on the Central Coast, there’s absolutely nothing that beats family.