Stay-At-Home Teacher: SoCal Solo

The kids and I decided to spend our lazy days of summer down south. With so many aunties living in the greater Los Angeles area, it was the perfect escape! Since this is Jeff's busy season at work, he wasn't able to go with us on this trip. I was a bit nervous of driving to Jennifer's house solo (it is, after all, an over 5 hour drive), but the kids cooperated (for the most part). Luckily I've been blessed with two great car sleepers, which definitely helps.

At Jenn and Mark's, Nicholas got to spend some quality time with his cousins, Hailey and Matthew. Nicholas and Matthew (who is 10 months older) finally seem to be old enough to play together without needing adults to referee (for the most part). They loved playing Star Wars, Wii, pirates, dress up, hot wheels, and any other boy thing you could imagine! Nicholas especially loved having someone else he could "fight" with...the one bummer about not having many friends who are boys is that he doesn't have an opportunity to play "boy games" that often. Hailey was great with Lexi. Hailey said to me, "I'm glad I finally have a girl cousin to do girl things with!" Soon enough Miss Hailey, and Lexi will be right there with you! Lexi definitely took a liking to Hailey too. She would run around their house shouting, "Ailey! Ailey!" In addition to good old fashioned playtime around the house we also went swimming, out for frozen yogurt and a Benihana style dinner, and a half day trip to Magic Mountain.

In addition to Jenn and Mark being in LA, my two sisters live down south as well. We spent that Saturday in Santa Monica with Becca and Rachel. We picked up some take out to eat at the beach. Then we took the opportunity to let the kids dip their feet in the Pacific, which was still quite chilly even though we were further south. After attempting to build some sand castles (and getting ourselves thoroughly sandy), we rinsed off, Lexi took a nap in her stroller, and Nicholas enjoyed the Santa Monica pier. It was a quick day with the aunties, but fun nonetheless.

Now that I know I can survive traveling with the kids by myself, we'll have to do this more often...although it's always nice for Daddy to be with us too! :)