Our Spontaneous Thanksgiving in Cali

We usually make our annual Cali trip towards the beginning of the year, unless their is a wedding of a certain bil that we had to be at ;) Our plan was to be in Cali in April, but with our house not selling and whatnot we did not see this being very likely. On the evening of the 19th (which was a Thursday night ;) i asked my hubby as we were going to bed what he thought about a spontaneous trip out to Cali for Thanksgiving. He had all that week off from school and after an all day money check and school things that needed to be taken care of on Friday we decided that it was possible - so we "I" packed all Friday night (i love, love, love making lists and i usually have my "Cali" list prepared weeks in advance, i don't keep a hard copy on purpose just so i can do it again - sick - huh?) anyhow, i packed all night waiting for my mom to have her automobile available for us to take, Gabe went and picked it up along with my lugage, after all was done it was 1am and we were headed off to bed just so we could wake up 2 hours later, feed the baby, get kids up and get out of the house by 4am.... They were so excited - to say the least - and didnt fall back to sleep. They were up from 4am to about 9 or so in the morning. Ugh is right... It took us almost 17 hours to get there - YUP!! That's 4-5 more hours than normal. I did have a 3 month old and then at our 10 hour mark our Crazy Cora started to appear. She went nuts. Slamming her hand up against the window yelling for HELP, kicking her feet up against Charlet's seat and screaming out of control. She big time lost it. It wasent till we were almost to Mojave when we decided to stop for (Mcdonolds) dinner, so we played "Who can find the McDonolds sign first?" That seemed to calm her down and then the rest of the drive went ok. Anyhow, here are some pictures that show just some of the wonderful highlights of our trip. It was so good - we didnt get to see everyone who we (I) wanted to but it was wonderful all the same. Here we go!

This was about noon - see two happy kiddos ;)

Charlet did so well during the longest drive EVER... She whinned when she was hungry and/or needed her diaper changed... She was very pleasent.

Check out the hair people..... Whoa!

Gabe's eldest brother (UJ) got enganged the previous month to a very wonderful girl who we are proud to call Auntie. Eli and Cora fell in love with her as did i. She would go up to Eli and ask if she could read with him and then was caught singing the ABC song with Cora. Her and Uj also asked if Eli and Cora could be in their wedding - which Eli is so excited about.
Cora getting some one on one time with Papa H, loading a gun... What else would they be doing ;)?

its a fake gun, just so you don't think that we actually let our kids play with REAL guns ;)
We also got to meet my sweet friend's new baby girl Hannah. She turned one month old on the day we met her - Her and Charlet are 2.5 months apart.... She weighed 10 lbs when she was born and is so wonderfully made. I was able to cuddle her and give her a bottle... I loved it.
Every time we go to Cali we get to stay at my brother in law's (my sis's hubby) parents house. It is always so wonderful. They are so very sweet to us and our kids. My kids call them Grammy Laurie and Uncle Mike... The Grammy Laurie part they get from their cousins, the Uncle Mike.... well, Cora started calling him that on this trip and it sort of stuck...

Gabe's sister had a new baby who was born a few day's before we got their.. Her name is Katie and is beautiful and sweet as can be.. I didn't want to let her go...

Eli and Cora had a GREAT time playing with their cousin Emma who they only get to see once a year - they all get along so well, it was so much fun to watch them.. Aunt Bethie bought a trampoline and the past few times we have been their that has been the activity of choice... Eli and Emma enjoy it more the Cora does, but she did get her fill.

The static alone was reason enough for me not to go in.....
This was Papa H. first time meeting Charlet.. Papa loves the baby stage and couldnt wait to get his hands on her... Cora couldnt wait to get her hands on Baby Katie...
We had Thanksgiving at Aunt Bethie's house. UJ and Auntie made all of the food and it was so so good.... and so so nice that we got out of everything ;)
Papa got his picture with all of his Grands.... He was one very happy Papa that day.
Uj and Auntie needed a nieces and nephew picture...

Uj also scored major uncle points for bouncing on the trampoline.. He would go so high and then make Eli and Emma bounce high - they had a great time.. Cora choose to stay with Auntie, she felt safer that way..
Then UJ became "KING OF THE TRAMPOLINE"
Papa's sister and her husband were in town and took us out to lunch.. I am so sad that we did not get a picture with them - i am usually alot better at doing that. Anyhow, after we moved to ID they built this little pond thing with a bridge and a sculpture of birds flying away - its bizzare, but whatever ;)
A baby in the sunlight.....
Then what's a visit to Cali if we don't get to see the "I" family... So since our trip was so spontanious and plans were not properly made in advance we didnt get to spend as much time with them as we would of liked - we did however get to make a breakfast date with them that put some time into our drive - but it was well worth it.

Gabe and Dave with all the kiddos
Best Buds - 6 months apart
Sweet Girls - 1 year and 24 day's apart
Little Ladies - 3 months apart
Because our drive there was so NOT enjoyable, we decided to make a stop at the dollar store for some goodies on the way home... this is one that Eli picked and wore with pride....Overall our trip was fantastic.. We got to meet some new little babies, meet our new niece Katie, our new Auntie got to love on our sweet niece Emma and got to visit with Gabe's grandma and brothers, sis in law , sister and brother in law... What a great holiday... Hope yours was a blessing to.