Easter

We spent Easter weekend with the family. Craig and I took Kai to pick up Justin while Courtney hid eggs and baskets in the backyard. We enjoyed an egg hunt and a family dinner. I didn't get any pictures of Easter, but I got took a picture of my Easter gift - silly putty!



And I got a few pictures of Kai enjoying her favorite Easter gift - a bubble machine:



Of course, I also spent quite a bit of time with Kai while she had a cold this week. During the cold, we encouraged her to breath as much medicated air from the humidifier. So we spent a fair bit of time playing in the humid air. I like this picture:



I also took Kai to the storage unit to get something Craig sold on eBay during our move. We had a few issues getting into the unit. So while we worked those out in the office, Kai guilted them into giving her a Kai-sized bottle of water. And when I found the item in the storage unit, I used my favorite measuring unit - Kai - to send a picture to Craig to ensure I had found the right thing. She was happier to "help Laura" than to show off her water.

Easter Prep

I do have one fun picture from Easter. This is Craig helping Kai dye eggs:



We sure enjoy that little girl! She was being "so careful".

Yosemite (part 2)

Before we got to our hotel, we had to pull over to take in the view. Someone took this picture for us:



I think Craig took this one of us:



And I'm sure he took this one:



As I mentioned in my first post, we were celebrating our anniversary-ish. In addition to our picnic-lunch, we went out for dinner. Here is a picture of us dressed up for dinner:

Yosemite

My parents had barely left and Craig and I were heading off for a weekend at Yosemite. We'd been planning this weekend away for months now, but we had to reschedule it several times. It started with a long drive (about 6 hours). I took a picture of the road here because suddenly the opposing traffic was on the wrong side of us.



Just as soon as we were in the park, we stopped at a public restroom. I'm not sure what it says about people who go to the park when you have to padlock your single-ply toilet paper, but it did make an interesting picture.



The hotel we stayed at, The Ahwahnee, was marvelous; however, I'm still bewildered by this soap.



Now, I don't know what happens to the middle of the bar at your house. But at our house:



Yeah, we are thrifty like that. Anyway, we did see a few other odd things on our trip. First, a kit for Courtney (who loves S'mores):



And for Rebecca, who introduced me to these combination utensils:



Unfortunately, I injured my foot during the move. Despite the limitations on my walking ability, we did go on a few adventures beyond shopping:



And, of course, we found time to celebrate our "anniversary-ish" in our traditional style (that is, an indoor picnic/snack lunch:



It wasn't our most expensive meal, but it was the most meaningful. It's the little things.

The Happiest Place on Earth

On Sunday, we took my parents to the happiest place on earth - Disneyland. We decided to go in the afternoon, allowing my parents to attend church in Upland that morning. They found a very small, but welcoming congregation here.

Sunday afternoon, we headed to the park. We decided to go to Disney's California Adventure instead of Disneyland, because my parents hadn't ever been to DCA. Courtney drove herself, Kai, and Mo so that they could leave early if necessary. Unfortunately, traffic and road closures set them back an hour. That gave us more than enough time to rent an electric scooter for my dad at the park. I do not envy people who drive those around all the time - they are not easy to maneuver in a crowd. But I will say my dad did far better driving his than the majority of people pushing strollers in the park - and those people presumably have more practice! One man ran his stroller into Craig three times!

But we had a nice afternoon in the park, managing to fit in most of our favorite rides (Soarin' Over California!) and a few shows (Aladdin - again with the carpet flying over the audience). Courtney did leave early with Kai, but the four of us stayed for World of Color. Here they are, waiting for the show:



On Monday, my parents came back to the house to spend the day with Kai and I. We had another lovely day, just talking and playing. I got one fun picture of my parents in our backyard:



One final meal that night, and they were off on an adventure that was their return trip home (rescheduled flights, rental car returns, and so forth). But they made it safely home. And we are so glad they were able to come visit us!

Exploring LA

On Friday, I took my parents to Gamble House. Getting there was something of an adventure. Their rental car had "never lost" - but the stupid thing caused us to take a 7 mile detour (by telling us to keep left when the highway split but failing to mention that we needed to take an exit on the right side half a mile later; there was no way to get across 5 lanes in LA traffic in that amount of time) and at least 6 u-turns (because the street names it used did not match the street signs). This is dad and I outside the Gamble House:



We got a late lunch at In-N-Out Burger. Then we drove to Craig's office. After a tour of Thinkwell, we got to sit in on "show and tell" which was really interesting. This is Craig, me, and my dad at the office:



We ended the evening meeting Jason and his family for dinner. Bryce and Courtney drove out to meet us. Courtney really enjoyed Jason's girls. We only got a picture of my parents and I with Jason and his family:



On Saturday, we took my parents into L.A. We went to the Petersen Automotive Museum. On the way there, we saw the most "interestingly" dressed person. Initially we thought a woman was standing at the bus stop in an unfortunate bikini, but no, "she" was a he. A nice taste of L.A. for my parents. We stopped for lunch at the Johnny Rockets in the museum - if you have food allergies, I highly recommend this place. They have their entire ingredient list available online - in full, easy to find. And the food was good too. Here's a picture of Craig with an old Helmes Bakery truck (his grandfather drove one of these, a slightly newer version, though):



From there, we drove out to Santa Monica. My parents weren't interested in going down Third Street or out on the Pier, but my mom did want to look at the ocean. We weren't able to find parking, so Craig stayed with my dad in the car while mom and I walked out to the water. My mom insisted on tasting the water (to make sure it was salty and not just a big lake) and then insisted I do the same. I took a picture of the water - you can see that it was a rather grey and dreary day:



The weather does not explain the traffic, which was miserable all day long. We spent over 4 hours in the car that day, so we met the kids for a late dinner before crashing.

"Grandma" & "Grandpa"

My parents came into town late Wednesday night. Craig and I met them for dinner (after their adventures at LAX). They came over to the house Thursday morning. I gave them a quick tour of the house. I'm told it looks bigger in person than in pictures, but I think that might be because all the pictures I've taken included unpacked boxes. I need to get on that.

While Courtney is at school, I have Kai. So she kept us entertained at the house most of the morning. She took my dad up to her room and, in my dad's words, "showed him every single toy she owned." She also showed him how Courtney puts on her makeup (mimicking mommy with her own plastic set of pretend makeup), which was somewhat disconcerting to my father (I don't think he had any idea what a makeup routine can look like).

But having my parents and Kai together, I learned I have a habit of referring to my parents as Grandma and Grandpa - a pattern of speech I learned for my eight nieces and nephews, I'm sure. And my mom has the same speech pattern. So it wasn't long before Kai was calling my parents "Grandma" and "Grandpa" which isn't technically true. But it doesn't seem to bother anyone, so I guess it works.

I took my parents and Kai on a short driving tour of Claremont. I showed mom where I usually walked when I called her on the phone. She was able to see the views where I frequently stop to take pictures for her. We ended up at IHOP for lunch. Kai really enjoyed her syrup-delivery device (pancakes) and bacon; my dad enjoyed Kai's sausage and eggs and strawberry topping as well as his own pancakes. My mom ordered a half-sandwich, but she enjoyed the enormous hot fudge sundae far more than her meal.

When we got back to the house, I put Kai down for a nap. My dad stayed to listen for her (he had a book) while mom and I ran to the grocery store for a few things. When we got home, we started dinner in the oven. After cooking my roast for just over an hour, the oven decided it was done. The roast wasn't done, but the oven displayed an error code and shut down. I ended up cooking the roast on the stove and homemade rolls in the toaster oven. (The oven promises to be another washer-like drama, stay tuned).

After dinner, I found my mom sitting with Kai in the living room. Earlier, while I was making dinner, I had overheard my mom say "I think we might have to ask Laura for help playing that game" followed by Kai's reassurance, "No, we've got it." I didn't follow up because dinner prep was getting creative without the oven. Kai is in a fun "pretend play" stage:

Kai pulled out the lapdesks that Craig and I use for our laptops. She put one on my mom's lap and one on her own. She helped Grandma open her computer. They typed for a bit on their imaginary computers before Kai asked, "Can you help with my game?" My mom leaned over to peer at her "screen" and said, "Oh, I think this one wants you to count the apples." Kai tapped various places on the lapdesk and counted, "one, two, three, four." My mom replied, "Good job!" After a moment, Kai said, "What do you think about this one?" My mom considered a moment before saying, "We have to count the socks!"

Way better than any app!