California Trip

So this last week we traveled to Sunnyvale, California.  Alex was taking a business trip out there and we decided to join him.  However I could not justify spending over 500 dollars on air flight for the kids and I.  His company was willing to pay for a rental car and the gas to get us out there so we went for that.  I was really nervous about the drive out and back.  We split it into two days (about 7 hours each day) but I was still scared of how it would all go.  My kids are movers and Clifton is still new at being potty trained.  HOWEVER it went so well.  The kids did great in the car.  It was a fun road trip.  We took it slow and enjoyed the scenery around us.  We talked, sang, laughed, napped, and played in the car. We got to visit some good friends along the way as well, which is always fun to do.

Sunday we finally made it to California and on our way to Sunnyvale we stopped at the Oakland temple.  It was a beautiful day and the the temple and temple grounds were breath taking.  I was blown away by its beauty.  The kids were excited to get of the car, that the sun was shining, and the water to walk by.  This was probably my number one favorite thing we did the whole trip.

Monday we spent the day exploring around the hotel and around Sunnyvale/Santa Clara.

Tuesday the rained followed us and it rained all day:(  I was keeping my eye on the weather so I planned to spend the morning at the Children's museum.  It was a fun museum.  McKay and Clifton loved running around to all the different things they could play with.  We spent about 2 and a half hours there and they both did not want to leave.

The water part of the museum was their favorite place to play.

Wednesday while Alex was at work we spent the sunny day at the Park.

On the way out there were crunchy leaves all over a hill.  Since the kids are only use to wet soggy leaves I took them over to crunch in the leaves.  They loved it!  And that may be an understatement.  We spent an hour going up and down the hill crunching leaves.  The simple joys in life:)

After Alex got home we hit the road and drove to the coast.  We went to Santa Cruz.  I was sad that none of the rides or anything was open.  However we still had fun playing in the sand.  I should have came a little more prepared with shovels and things.  But the kids enjoyed chasing seagulls and running around.  Clifton really wanted to get in the ocean, so I agreed he could get his feet a little wet.  He went in a little and the wave came crashing in more then expected and he got pretty wet.  He was very unhappy about it.  I had to laugh though, he really wanted in and I warned him it would be cold.

Thursday morning while Alex was at work we visited a duck pond that was just a couple blocks away from our hotel.  I LOVE feeding ducks.  I know that sounds silly but it seriously is one of my favorite things to do. So I was very excited to take my kids to share the excitement and love. Oh and they did not disappoint.  They were so excited and LOVED it. They are definitely my kiddos:)

That night we visited the Winchester House.  The house belonged to the man who owned the rifle company.  And when he died he left his wife with a load of money.  She was paranoid!  She thought that the ghost of everyone who died by a gun (that her husband created) would come back and haunt her.  So she kept adding additions to her house.  Along with that she made stairways and doors to nowhere.  She thought if she made more house and a confusing house the ghost would have a hard time finding her to haunt her.  The house was huge and really crazy.  We just walked the grounds because we did not want to pay for the full tour, but just the grounds were crazy.

After visiting the Winchester house we spent the evening walking the streets of Palo Alto.  We got dinner and enjoyed the small little shops.

Friday we traveled to San Francisco.  I could have spent a whole week there and not been bored.  There was so much to do and see.  We could only choose a few things and we did not really get to them all. We visited Pier 39 and saw seals, Alcatraz (from afar we did not do the tour), and walked the docks.

Then we went to find a trolley cable car for Clifton to ride (he loves him some trains).  Come to find out it is nothing like the movies.  In the movies they are just going along the streets and people jump on and catch a ride.  It's quite different.  They only have a few stations and only go on a few roads.  We were running out of time so we could not do the full hour trip on the trolley.  Clifton was sad about it and I really wanted him to experience it.  So the driver let us sit in one and he even drove it like a block so Clifton could "ride" the train.  It was so so so very nice of that man.  I am not sure he knows how much he made Clifton's day and mine too!  If we ever make it back to California again I will make sure we have enough time to do the whole train ride with Clifton.

The last thing we did was cross over the Golden Gate Bridge and then stop at the view point.  McKay missed out; she was very tired and fell asleep in the car.  But Clifton was very excited to be on a big red bridge.

We were on a time schedule so we could make it to the Jelly Belly Factory before it closed.  So we drove over to Fairfield and did the tour.  It was a cute little tour and we got some yummies along the way.  McKay has a little thing for the Jelly Belly guy.  She kept hugging him and giving him kisses.  A fun time:)

The Jelly Belly Factory also had a chocolate shoppe.  So we had to go try some chocolates:)

We stayed in Fairfield that night to get a head start on our travel home.  Our hotel was right on the harbor and next to a cute little park so we spent the evening playing in the park and walking the water front.

Then Saturday we started our travel home. That night we stopped in Eugene.  Finally a hotel with an indoor swimming pool.  So we got in our swimsuits and spent the evening swimming.  This was McKay's first swimming adventure.  They loved it.

We finally made it home Sunday afternoon and all went smooth.
On our way home I was thinking about the trip we just took and thought that it was probably one of my favorite trips.  I then thought to myself, why?  We did nothing super special or out of the ordinary.  But it came clear to me... It was my favorite trip because I was not worried about cleaning the house, doing laundry, making dinner, having meetings, my calling, or about anything.  I had nothing to do except play and explore with my children.  I love being a mom and sometimes I get burdened with the things that need to be done that I often do not just play all day with my kids.  So being able to play all day for a week with them was great.  I learned more about them and their little personalities.  I enjoyed doing the things that they wanted to do and just focusing on them.  I love my kids and am so blessed to have been able to go on this business trip with Alex.  All in all it was an AMAZING trip:)