California Part 4: Sparklers

Nothing like sparklers to celebrate the last day together. The kids LOVE them. I LOVED them. Sparklers are just so much fun. You can spell your name, swirl it around, and feel like a fairy; so pretty much the greatest thing ever invented. The younger girls were so much fun to watch as this was their first experience with them, at first they were unsure but after that first spark they were sold.
I am so very glad to have had this time with my whole family and finally have everyone meet Charlie. Until next time.

California Part 3: Yosemite

Andy has this thing where he can never open his eyes for pictures :)

Yosemite! We decided to have a little day trip to Yosemite. It just ended up being one car load and a long curvy road. It was fun! For being such a short trip we seemed to see quite a bit, including a car flipped over! I'm not exactly sure how it could have happened as the speed limit is seriously 20 mph, but anythings possible. Just driving through made me want to go camping so bad! Good thing we are planning on going in a few weeks. Oh, summer, how I love the activities you bring.

Ben waded to the other side and I so wish I could have joined him.

Poor baby had a fever for a few days, but it was fun to snuggle with him :)

California Part 2: Food and Family

It's not a big surprise that we went to In-N-Out Burger while in California. It's just something that you do and is expected. But, this was my first time trying the protein style burger. The first time I got a cheeseburger animal style and it wasn't that great. Not enough meat really. So the second time I decided to get the double double and no animal style and it was delicious! I could have shoved my face full of that burger all day long. Yum.
One thing my family is great at is snacking. We are pros. We can sit there and snack ALL DAY LONG. And that my friends, is exactly what we did. It was glorious. Andy and I don't ever really have snacks or sweets in the house so whenever they are around I can't help but eat nonstop until they are gone.

My oldest brother, Richie, with his newest addition, Jackson.

Hudson Richard who is only a few days old here. Adorable.

We had to get a picture of Charlie holding his newest cousin :)

Trying to get the hang of feeding himself. Not really making it INTO his mouth at this time.

He just has the best pout face ever. I adore it.

California Part 1: Charlie and the Pool

We just got back from a trip to California to visit my family. The last time we were all together was for my brothers wedding. And that was 2 years ago! It has been WAY too long. I have seen some of my siblings here and there, but it had been the full 2 years since I saw my eldest two siblings. I am so happy that this trip was planned, and that my sister had her baby a few days before we arrived! We ended up all staying together at this house up in Sonora and it was gorgeous! The house was big enough for most of us to have our own rooms and the AC was much needed in the 100 plus heat. We swam in the pool (and played some mean Marco Polo) and had some corn hole tournaments as well as basketball here and there.
This was also Charlie's first time in an outdoor-not-90-degree-pool and he did great! He did cry a little at first but quickly got over it. I'm excited to do some more swimming this summer with him!

This was Charlie's first time in a colder than 90 degrees pool and he did great. Cried a few times, but he chilled with me for a while in there.

Not a fan of the floatie though :)

That floatie was almost impossible to balance two people on, but it did not stop us from trying. And then having a competition to see who could stay on the longest.