First up in 2017: Hello Sunny California

AAAAHHHHHH. Glorious. We had a blast with our family out west--sans Ma :(
This log of our time out there will have a lot of pictures, especially for their sake. 

So, here's how we got here:

After myriad renditions of Leaving on a Jet Plane, we finally are.
Here's my seat-mate with a little pre-flight snack. 

Those crazy passengers in front of us

Keepin occupied

Ravaging sheets of stickers. While donning her halo.

After a longer than expected flight, including a delay while we circled Vegas, we finally landed in LAX. Delayed baggage, lunch, getting to and into our rental car...


...seemed like we'd never get here...But we did. 

After our arrival chez Martin and a slow/shy post-nap start, the kids were won over by their cousins' legos and persistent friendliness. By dinnertime, they were buddies.

Day 2
San Diego Wild Animal Safari Park
A perfectly slightly cool-turning to warm day; ready to set out

For the first leg of our tour, here's what they looked like. Grampa showing Anna the world; Peter only content when climbing rocks. 

Grampa brought his grandparenting "A-game." How cute is this?

This is a "strangling fig tree"--you see it at the bottom, enveloping the palm tree (yes, those are 2 different trees comprising the trunk) and shooting the green-leafed branches out from among it. Call me a nerd, but this was one of the coolest things I saw. 

 

little fox pups (next door to the newborn tiger cubs)

Some old bats we found hanging around...

Big cousins!

Martin Men

Loaded into the safari tram

Because, even as we head out to see giraffes and rhinos, I can't stop looking at these two. 

 

Sorry I didn't get any closer-up. Not sure what happened there.

(!!!...right?!)

Changing gears, and continents. Going tiger spotting. 

I think we found one.

One corner of her habitat was glass instead of fence. Made for some mighty fine front-row seats.

And this because we all need a classic pensive leaning-on-ornate-bench-with-exotic-flower portrait.

For the latter part of the day, Anna settled her affections on Jon. She wanted to be near him at all times, if not holding his hand. Her big cousin was patient and obliging. 

When in Cali, visit the condors. 

...or you can just ignore them because you've seen all you can see,
and spend your time jumping off logs instead. 

Day 3--I didn't have much for this one. Grampa, Tom, and Jon took the little ones to a big bounce house type place; the older girls created works of art at Color Me Mine; the three of us left had a little bit of coffee-drinking down time, chatting about parenting and life. Wish I had more of that with them.
Here's the crew at lunch afterward:

Coming back to the hotel that evening with a big jet-lagged sack o' potatoes.

Day 4--We headed out after she completed her morning dispatches. 

Laguna Beach. January. Mid 70s. Sight for sore eyes.

Back to his roots.

Re-discovering the ocean. 

We spent a while poking around the tide pools. At low tide, there was lots to navigate and scores of little stone "pools" filled with anemone, crabs, snails, and little fish stranded by the receding tide. Also great fun for little climbers.

Spotting some creatures. 

Dad, sitting this one out.

See you next time, Pacific.

 Lunch; Grampa

The last night, at Irvine Spectrum. 

Grampa has long spoken of wanting to take the grandkids on the ferris wheel and the carousel. This last night in CA, we tried to fulfill that. Honestly, the wheel was a long line (while the others waited--sorry!) and an underwhelming ride (who knew?) But the nighttime views were pretty fine and the kids did love it. 

We rendezvous'd with the rest of our party at the ice rink, which the kids watched with interest.
And 2 brave souls ventured out--so proud of you guys!

(ps--isn't their shadow cool?!)

Perseverance.

...meanwhile Grampa and Tom took the littles on the Carousel

Late night; last stop: Ruby's, where Peter had his first corn dog. 

He fell asleep at the table shortly thereafter, and was out cold as we made our way back to the Spectrum parking garage and said a fond goodbye to our California family and headed "home"

...where Peter got a little help with his shoes

and pajamas

The next morning, we enjoyed one last fine continental breakfast at Laguna Hills Lodge and headed back up to LAX. Here we are, taking a brief pause from cranky to watch for our airplane, which was delayed while they cleared the airspace for Joe Biden. Thanks, Joe. 

On the way back, this was gold. My sweet girl.  I seized the long-awaited chance to read, but truthfully I couldn't stop looking over at her sweet profile and round cheeks, loving her and musing, for all the ordeal, how I love sharing it all with them.