Grand Tour Part 7: Valencia

Originally the plan was to spend some time with Kristi on the end of the trip because we went to Yosemite with them at the beginning of the trip. And we did get to spend a few really good days there but in the end Nate started to run a really high temp (got up to 104) and Drew's pink eye had gotten really bad and after all the unexpected money spent on fixing the stupid van, I didn't want to spend the $200 co-pay to go to the ER. Not to mention the cost not covered by insurance. So, ultimately, we decided to cut our trip short and just get on the road home. But not before we had this fun:

PARK
Kristi has an awesome park near their house and the trail to the park is half the fun.

As long as Drew and Nate could hold Aly's hand, they were happy campers. Aly and Ben make them feel like they are so special and important.

Attached to the park are some beautiful soccer fields and the giant soccer balls are a kid favorite. Particularly mine. Here is Nate exclaiming how big it is!

And Aly demonstrating that it's not too big for her. ;)

As a parent, I just have to declare that the swings are not my favorite...unless you have a nephew by the name of "Ben" who will spend his own playtime to push said children and I just get to enjoy the squeals of delight.

Maggie truly loves the swing. She lights up when she sees one and this picture just melts my heart. Enjoy the moment while it lasts, cause I don't do swings. ;)

Nate learning to pump his legs on the giant swing. The swing ended up being to heavy so he needed quite a bit of pushing.

I didn't even attempt to teach Drew to pump; he got lucky. He got a free ride.

PLAYING AND DANCING


My children were introduced to the Barbie movies while we were in Valencia. They are in love. Andrew especially loved dancing with his cousin Elizabeth. I know I posted this movie before, but I think Drew is so cute when he dances. He wants to go all out but you can tell he gets a little embarrassed. He aches to dance, but he's not sure if he should. I think he's got moves.


Still shot of the two dancing kidlets. I think it's good for Drew to watch Elizabeth and her dancing heart. Plus, she can teach him some new moves.

Aly, Elizabeth and Drew posing for the camera. Good friends, good times.

CALASTAIC LAKE

This trip we got to go to the lake again. We were contemplating going to the beach, but Kristi was still recovering from some kind of food bug and it would have required more effort on her part. So in the end, we went to the lake and had a great time just like last year.

Maggie enjoying her string queso con sand. Sounds good right? Ugh. Part of the experience. Just part of the experience.

Seriously, one of the funniest things to watch. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, but these two little munchkins decided it would be fun to cake on the sand onto Drew's back. They spent a good 5 minutes making sure it would stick. It kept falling off his back and it took them a few minutes to discover that if the sand is more wet when it's put on, it'll stay on a lot longer.

In fact, it'll stay on so long that it starts to irritate the skin. In fact, it gets down right itchy.

So of course the best thing to do is wash it off and start again. And again. And again. :)

While these shenanigans were going on, Nate was happy in his own world of building things out of sand and playing in the water.

By the end of the lake visit, we were all tuckered out and exhuasted. Well, at least the mom's were. I think the kids look quite alert and content don't you?

Aly decided she wanted to stay at home and play with her other cousins and so we were all able to fit into one car. Thanks for driving Kris! We missed Aly and hopefully we'll get the Fletchers out here to Texas and so we can all go to a water park together.