{roadtrip}

so last week, we went on a road trip to camarillo, california to see justin's brother and his family. it was a ton of fun! the car ride actually wasn't bad at all. i got more restless than the kids i think! on the way there, we decided to stop in phoenix and stay the night (phoenix is only 3+ hours away, so we didn't have to wake up early to get there, and we got to relax-go to the pool and have dinner....we took our time and it was great!) ian slept in the car on the way there, but ceci was awake the entire time (she is not a child who functions well on no nap-she's only had one day in her life when she hasn't napped at all)...so we get to the hotel, go for a swim (and btw-phoenix is disgusting weather-wise. 107degrees at 7:00pm...no bueno!), then we went to a cracker barrel that was by our hotel. we ordered our food and ceci was fighting every bite, then all of a sudden i look across the table at her and she was dozing off. hilarious. {side note: my kids NEVER do this! ian fell asleep on the couch ONE time (i promise i'm not exaggerating!) when he was 19 months old and had a fever. other than that, they have to be in bed or in the car.} it was pretty cute how she fell asleep like that.

anyways, we got up early the next day and drove 6+ hours the rest of the way. the kids were so excited to get to "olivia's house". it was beautiful weather there the entire time! highs in the 60's every day. amazing!!! they live right next to a park, so we took the kids to play for awhile, then when wink got home from work, we had dinner and just hung out. while we were there, we were able to go to a little 'farm'-which had a few animals to see and some blueberries to pick...the little people loved that part :), farmer's market, beach, and marina. my kids LOVED the beach! it was so fun to watch them!  we were able to have a lot of down time-and with one 2 year old and two 1 year olds, it was nice to be able to put them to bed at a good time and give them good naps. and it was a lot of fun to just watch them play and interact with each other! the trip was a success, spending time with wink, abby, and olivia was great since the last few times we have seen them-it was with the entire lockwood family (which is awesome to have those times!), but it's also a bit chaotic and you don't really get to 'bond' with the kids! the trip home was a long one, but the kids were amazing. no fits, no nothing! we stopped for awhile in cabazon, california to see a dinosaur exhibit. the kids got a kick out of that!

it is so good to be home! as you may recall, we went to texas in march/april, then when we got back-justin was working and staying in tucson for 2 months, then we left for texas again mid-may, when we got back home-cecilia was sick, then ian got sick, then we went to california. so basically, we've had tons of inconsistency going on in our lives. i'm happy to say that (although justin doesn't go back to work until tuesday), we are starting to live 'normally' again-whatever that means!

in the midst of all of this-our kids have grown so much! cecilia can have a conversation with you-and ian doesn't want justin or i to have a conversation with each other without knowing exactly what we are talking about....and to understand what we are talking about. he asks so many questions-not questions i would expect my 2 year old to be asking! but we love every minute of it.

ceci's favorites: Cars (Lightening), ian, frosty the snowman (yes, i know it's june), woody, jessie, & buzz from toy story, saying "on mark, eh set, GO!", her 'pretties'-all of her bracelets and necklaces, strawberry milk, YOGURT (this child could eat yogurt all day long and gets SO excited about it!), all animals, boots, mommy, attention from anyone, flirting, daddy-and many more!

ian's favorites: space ships/rocket ships/space shuttles (he calls them something different each time), "toy tory free" (toy story 3), caillou, books, mommy, airplanes, trains, helping-with ANYTHING-but especially cooking :), sweet tea ("ohh mommy, tea is yummy!") (it's decaffeinated!), stories, his "yucky fings" (ie: {toy} snakes, frogs, lizards), "ocean friends" (he loves animals that live in the water), and much more :)