Cali Trip Part VI

Grandparents

They sure are special! They love their grandchildren like no one else. It's funny, and I know don't understand it yet, but grandchildren bring a different side out of our parents that we've never seen before. It's like they become completely different people than those that raised us... either way, they love our kids, and our kids sure do LOVE them!

Grandpa at the piano, Ty at his feet watching and listening-with an occasional tap on a key 

Kailee and Grandma

Ty and Grandpa Cliff

Ty with Nani. I'm guessing drinking a slurpee from Sam's Club. I'd MUCH rather her have a slurpee than whipped cream on her cereal!

The kids at Grandma's house

No matter how you look at it, a trip isn't a trip with a visit with grandparents. They make it complete. Besides, how could we go to Cali, and NOT visit someone like this???

We love you Old Folks!

Cali Trip Part V

HB (Huntington Beach)

WARNING: The following pictures are quite graphic.

View at your own risk.

This is HEAVEN... one thing Bec and I were REALLY looking forward to was going to the beach. And so... we did!

We spent the day at HB. Although it was chilly when we got there, it warmed up nicely, and was quite enjoyable. The kids had a ton of fun. It was Ty's first time going to the beach. When we took her water sandals off, she just stood there digging her toes into the sand, taking them out, and doing it all again! 

D ran straight for the water, then ran away even faster screaming when he realized how cold it was. After doing this about two or three times, it became a game to him and Kailee; trying to see who could get the closest to the incoming waves without actually getting wet. Of course, while doing this they were getting wet, and getting used to the temperature (as usual). At one point, Dallin SOMEHOW managed to have fallen into the water-I think a wave took him out. I missed it, but Bec got a good laugh out of it. Wish we could've caught it on camera... 

After a while of playing (kids) and laying out (parents) we cleaned up and thought it would be fun to head over to the pier. While we were cleaning up, we looked and noticed Ty had bundled up under a towel, and all you could see were her little feet sticking out. She kept swaying her feet back and forth as if she were listening to music under the towel... 

For a little while there, we thought we could've stayed there, laying on the beach forever! And now that we're back to higher elevations, I still wish we were back on that beach...

(insert sigh here)

Cali Trip Part IV

Happy Birthday Dallin!!

One of the main reasons Dallin was so excited to go to LA was that he'd would turn 6 while we were there. The weeks and days leading up to the trip we'd tell him he only had "so many" days of being five... he was excited to celebrate his birthday there. And who blames him? With both grandparents in the same state, he was able to have two days of celebrating! Grandma had a Build-A-Bear party for him with all his cousins at her house. The Birthday Boy had a few extra outfits that were given to him as a birthday present. He named his dinosaur Steve, after his Uncle Steve. He even chose a camouflage suit to dress him up like Uncle Steve! It was actually really cute. He even made sure Steve had his change pj's (astronaut outfit) for bedtime!

 Each got to select a stuffed animal, place a heart in it, watch it get stuffed, and name it all in grandma's driveway! Dallin's cousins ranged in age from 1-15, and ALL of them had fun.

Later that night, Uncle Carlos took Dallin out side and D show him some of the Tae Kwon Do moves he's been learning. Carlos then prceeded to teach him how to street box! Dallin loved being able to punch and kick as hard as he could and not even make his Uncle flinch! He thought it was pretty cool.

On his birthday, he woke up to find more presents. He was especially happy to get a scooter, as he says it "with one wheel in the front, and one wheel in the back". He's been wanting a Razor for MONTHS now. And anytime he'd see someone riding one he'd ask. This one had been sitting in our closet for some time now, waiting for his birthday!  He rode it all over Nani's house, and even took it to grandma's to ride in the driveway! It made his day! Later, he went to Disneyland with Nani, just the two of them. It was quite special.

The evening ended with a trip to the bowling lanes (a first for our family). The smallest bowling ball that they had was a 6lb ball. So they offered a ramp for the kids. Dallin and Kailee had SO much fun with that ramp. At one point Dallin even stood back about 10 feet, and ran to it thinking he could get the ball to go faster!

Happy Birthday D-Man... You're growing up so fast!

We love you!

Cali Trip Part III

Easter Sunday

The past two years now, we've spent Easter Sunday in CA with family. It was great, once again, to be with the ones we love. We went to church with Kelly & Nicole's family. Doesn't seem to happen too often that we have four generations sitting on the same bench-so it was a really nice to be with the family at church on Easter Morning.

April is a pretty busy month with birthdays in the Kerr family... (I think just about EVERYONE has a birthday this month). We got together at Nani's and had a birthday celebration for those that were there. Nani made a cake, adn decorated it with little figurines that represented the birthday boys and girls: Footballs for Kelly and Great Grandpa, a Baseball player for Grandpa, a Skateboarder for Dallin (which he insisted was him and Preston), and a rocking chair for Nani and Uncle Spud. 

After dinner and cake, we hid eggs out in the back yard for the kids. Last year, we hid the hard boiled vinegar dyed eggs in the house the night before Easter and didn't think to count how many we had (it was LATE-somewhere around midnight). We were all tired and could barely remember how many the four of us had hid already. Nani told us she made "about six dozen... minus twelve" (lol)... we weren't exactly sure, even to this day how many we had in total. But we DO know that Taylor found one in JUNE (gross)!!! Needless to say, we double counted this year, AND hid the eggs outside!

The kids had a lot of fun finding the eggs. Of course, we let the little ones go first and helped them "find" the eggs that were laying in the open grass, with the older cousins waiting anxiously at the back door! Still don't know where all the water came from, though!

All-in-all, it was a great Easter! Church, family, good food, fun.. and even a family picture that turned out decent on the first shot... what more could you ask for?

Cali Trip Part II

Travel Town

We spent one afternoon at Griffith Park. They have an outdoor train museum that the kids have been to before, and really enjoy. There's old trains that you can climb on/in, have parties in, pic-nic areas, and even a small train that takes you around the park. We all had fun walking around, and pretending we were conducting the trains ourselves. The weather was warm, tons of people were all over the park riding bikes, running, and playing.

Cali Trip Pat I

Vegas Baby!!!

Finally, after three years, we took a family vacation that was longer than 3 days. Bec and I have been planning to go to California for about a year now... Last time we went, Kailee was two, and Tylie wasn't even a thought in our minds (so hard to imagine now)! So, with the car loaded, kids buckled, and games & snacks in tow-we headed southbound on I-15!

First stop-VEGAS. The kids were so excited to get there and see all the hotels, especially Excalibur (they thought it was pretty cool to stay in a castle). We walked the stip, saw shows, had dinner, and just had fun! 

 

Before we started our walk back our hotel, Kailee and Tylie had knocked out, but Dallin was still wide awake (surprise surprise). He didn't want to miss out on the M&M Factory. The next day, he told K all about it, and we made one more trip for her to experience it also.

We all had fun in that store. However, it can get a bit crazy, and congested. Ifyou're planning on going there and have children in a stroller-HIGHLY recommend NOT taking the stroller; the elevators take F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

  

Somewhere along the line, I snapped this picture of Bec and Ty. Do they look alike, or what?!

 

Each time we've visited Vegas, or just driven through, I've wanted to stop at the "Welcome to Vegas" sign, but for some reason it never quite worked out. We hit the stop on our way out of town. I have to admit, it was a lot smaller than I expected. Either way-we had our picture taken... it'll last us a life time...

 

Some confusion

Apparently, I gave the wrong impression! I was going through old pictures and saw one of Tylie's ultra sound pictures and thought I would share it. Sorry for the confusion :). I hope you all had a fun April Fool's Day! Our family did. If you know us, then you know that we thrive on this day. Gus' pant legs were sewn shut, cotton balls in his shoes, his co-worker had things done to his computer, his mouse was in Jell-O (thanks to Jim Halpert!!), and my poor children didn't know what they were eating for dinner. It was actually pretty comical. I told them that if they were good all day that I would make cupcakes for dinner. Well, we all followed through. 

I made cupcakes (meatloaf with mashed potatoes) for dinner and for dessert...

baked potatoes (ice cream rolled in nesquick with whipped cream and a starburst). 

Dallin has caught on to the pranks and has been trying to come up with something to do to me...too bad he has to wait another year.