Oceanside, CA

Warning: I just printed my first blog book and realized I wished I had blogged slightly differently. So this is going to be long and detailed. Continue at your own risk.

Mike's family had a family trip to Oceanside, California. We decided last minute to go. Why always last minute? Anyway, his entire immediate family was together for this one and we had a great time. The family is growing up so much! It was so different with mostly older kids. There are 3 little ones Isabelle's age and then just Michael. Everyone else is from 5-11. It was so strange with only one in the diaper/tantrum stage. Overall it was a very peaceful trip (minus Michael).

I was pretty nervous flying and traveling at 36 weeks pregnant and having contractions, but Mike was super helpful and that helped my stress level. In fact on one flight, it was a two by two plane, Mike had both kids and I was in the row ahead by myself! I was so strange! Michael is still free which is convenient, but horrible at the same time. We don't have to pay for him, but he's a NIGHTMARE to keep in a lap for a flight. Walking along the beach in sand was always a contraction starter, along with not quite getting enough water, I had a few moments that I thought I wouldn't make it home babyless. The week before the trip, Mike made sure I did as little as possible, no gym, no cleaning, a tiny bit of packing and that was it.

Anyway, Isabelle had so much fun with her cousins. She's been saying how much she misses her cousins. It's been since Christmas since she saw them, and after living by most of them, that is a LONG time for her. We shared a condo with Mike's parents. It was nice to hang out with them and have lots of help and love from Grandma and Grandpa.

We spent some time at the pool. Isabelle loved the kiddie pool. She also loved this floatie ring. She just swam up and down and up and down. She practiced her "back and front kickers" and "front arm and back arm scoops." Michael wanted nothing to do with the water. Almost every time we put him in he climbed out. He spent his time chasing around this Nemo ball. If it fell in the pool, he would stand and scream on the side until someone got it for him. The kids also played with the sand buckets dumping all the water out of the pool.

We spent lots of time down at the beach. It was so peaceful and relaxing, but not very comfortable for lounging largely pregnant. Sitting wasn't very comfortable, so I spent most of my time standing around. At one point, Cherie dug me a belly hole so I could lay on my stomach for a bit. It was so nice to lay on my tummy, but wasn't comfortable for very long!

The first time we made it to the beach, I had Michael and said, "YEAH! We are at the beach!" He said back, "I no like beach." I thought it was funny because he didn't know what the beach even was and doesn't use whole sentences very often. I put him down on the sand, "YEAH! Sand!" "I no like beach!" So I took him to the water, "YEAH! Water on your toesies!" "I NO LIKE BEACH!" and he took off running. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, so I think that was part of the problem. He just kept asking for more and more baby powder to keep his hands clean. He found some rocks and stood on the edge of the tide and threw rocks in. He liked doing that until he got his feet wet, and then wouldn't go very close to throw his rocks. He tolerated the beach, but unless he was eating, he was whiny.

Grandpa brought a few kites, just your simple, basic kite. Isabelle was in heaven! She held on to that kite for over an hour at a time. She ran around some, and played in the sand a little, but was still just holding on to that kite giggling. I think it's all that Mary Poppins. :) The rest of the time, she built sand castles, jumped waves, ran away from the creeping waves, and screamed and giggled in pure delight. Isabelle never wanted to leave the beach. She always wanted to stay longer.

One morning we went to the Lego Land aquarium. It was a fun short little trip. Michael ran around yelling "NEMO!" Sometimes, I think he thinks all fish are named Nemo. He was even more crazy when we actually found fish that looked like Nemo. This tank was the big hit.

Isabelle got to touch star fish in the touching pools.

Michael found a new way to hold on for shoulder rides this trip. He now sticks his fingers in your ears, instead of gouging out your eyeballs. What was even funnier, if Mike turned his head at all, Michael would pull his ear to direct his head back straight. He does NOT like you to turn your head during a shoulder ride.

You can never have too much fun with cousins!

If you found Jonathan, you would almost always find Michael. These two were fun to watch. Jonathan was great with him and very helpful to me.

As always, we ate yummy food, stayed up too late, visited, and played games. It's always a fun time with Mike's family.

Our flight home included a 4 HOUR layover in Salt Lake City. Any other place and I would have paid more money for a different flight, but Salt Lake I can handle. I arranged with my sister, Jill, who lives in Provo, for them to pick us up and take us to a park for a couple of hours. Just so happens, my other sister, Melanie and her family, were at Jill's and my parents in prep for a family reunion on my Mom's side. So they all met us! It was great to get out of the airport for a bit and I got to see my sisters! We haven't been together for over a year! Of course we had to take a couple of pictures. Melanie enjoyed being the one not pregnant and chased my kids and bent over for me. It was great! And yes, I am ginormous.

We got back to the airport for a final flight and took the shuttle back to our truck. The park and jet we left the truck does a free car wash on your way out. It was so late, and we were so tired, it wasn't until the water started that we realized our luggage, the stroller, and Isabelle's booster seat were in the bed of the truck...Mike and I laughed the entire car wash dumbfounded how tired we were! Turns out Mike's carry-on is much more water proof than mine and the stroller is a new shade of green.

This is how we all felt by time we pulled into the garage. It was an exhausting, but fun few days.