Our Big April

First there was Easter. We painted eggs, hunted eggs, ate eggs. Found Easter baskets. Wore Easter-type clothes. The whole thing. Here is an impromptu photo we talk on our morning walk to church.

And then, as any decent self-respecting parent would do, I loaded the kids in the car and drove them out of Utah. It was originally planned to be Randy and Brooklyn's wedding the weekend of the 14th, but some snags have pushed the wedding date back a little. But what the snags DIDN'T do was to change our reservation we had set at the Capo Beach beachhouse. So here it is. Our "For-No-Apparent-Reason-Trip-To-California-And-Everything-That-Entails".

We pulled in Friday and stayed with Brandon and Meghan Brown in Laguna Niguel. I always try to spend one night a trip with these guys. They are just too nice to not visit. The next day I took Addie to her first Dodger game. She even got to wear her LA helmet I won her so many years ago!



Then it was a luxurious rest of the week sitting on our butts enjoying the sunny and 75° conditions that Southern California was offering. Rick and his family, Gary and his family, and my parents shared with us a 6 bedroom 4 bathroom 2 kitchen home right on the sand. It was the same place we stayed last year when Mike took us for Christmas in March.

Reggie somehow spotted this toy truck about 1/4 mile away and took off for it one day. We finally tracked him down, but I think he was hoping to bring it home with us.

We rode our bike down to San Clemente Pier a few times. Addie and Reggie tolerated the ride knowing I would pack treats and let them chase those dirty pigeons.

I even let Adelaide fish with the Old Man who sits at the pier all day offering fishing lessons to kids. She set up her own pole, baited the hook and even caught a fish. It jumped free before she could reel it in but she had a blast.

And then, of course, it was time for my 6 year-old to hit Disneyland. We had high expectations on ourselves this time. Last year we did 28 rides and spent 11 hours at the park. We knew we could beat that this time, we just had to focus. 14 hours and 33 rides later, we kinda had to pat ourselves on the back.

The beach also provided us with tons of time to explore, play, and be with with family.
Reggie was a big fan of shovel and buckets.

He is also a big fan of his Pa. Whenever he saw my dad he would say, "Hey Pa". Hmm, maybe he thinks his name is Heypa. We may never know. Another Reggie-ism perhaps.

He carried a flier for LegoLand around with him ooo-ing and awe-ing at the pictures and probably wondering why we weren't going there.

Addie couldn't get enough of her cousins, playing dress-up, and getting free makeovers from Ma.

Adelaide even loved to practice paddle-boarding.

So I let Uncle Rick take her real paddle-boarding. The water was cold and re-entry through the surf was a little rough. But Rick did a great job and I THINK she had fun. That night when I asked her the favorite part of her day, she responded, "NOT being in the water."

As part of my groceries for the week, I bought a bucket of red vines. I am still waiting for the red stained lips and cheeks to fade from Reggie. As you can tell in this picture, there was hardly a moment where he didn't have one in his mouth and one waiting its turn in his hand.