I finally have a moment to catch up. Christmas break was fantastic! We enjoyed Christmas at home and then it was off to California. One our way to Cali, we spent the night in St. George at Nancy and Clay Penrod’s house. It was such a lovely house out in the country. It was next to St. George in a town called “Diamond Valley.” Nancy informed me that the name diamond was in honor of all the diamond backs that live there. Thankfully we did not see any. While staying at Nancy’s house, I noticed a fantastic bed spread. It reminded me so much of my Grandma Nalder’s bed spread (Helen Nalder, my dad’s mom). Except her blanket was blue not pink. Those little white balls took me back to when I was about 8 years of age. I asked her where she got it and she said her mom, Margaret, got it at the D.I. Wow! It was so fun to reminisce.
In California, we stayed with Chris and Tricia. We had a blast. They took us to Legoland. Teagan and Xadia had a fun time there. McCabe and some of his cousins split off and did their own thing. While waiting in line, we played charades with the phone. It was pretty fun and made the wait time bearable for some of the rides. Later during the day, McCabe, Caleb, and Aiden caught up with us. Aiden kept telling the ride operators he made a “poopie.” He definitely needed some attention.
Chris and Tricia live close to the ocean. We like to walk on the beach or the pier. We spent a day walking on the pier. We went to Ruby’s diner at the end of the pier and had lunch. We had a lot of left over fries so we decided to feed the birds. As we walked on the pier and threw the fries, lots of pigeons would come. McCabe and Teagan decided to catch some. They had a great time. But the best part was putting French fries on Teagan’s and McCabe’s head. Within seconds, a bird would swoop and get the fries and fly away.
We also had a fun time at the beach. The kids went boogie boarding. I sat in a beach chair with a blanket enjoying the surroundings. The kids buried each other and made sand castles. The beach is such a fun place. We even took some pictures of Jacinda dressed as a cosplay pirate. That was a lot of fun. We got some really neat pictures of her with the tide coming near her boots as she stared off into the ocean. McCabe channeled some of Tim as he lay in wait to catch a seagull. He would bury his arm and throw bread out all around his buried arm. Then when one got close enough, he would catch it. The seagull bit McCabe and broke the skin. I don’t know if he is going to that again.
After our trip to California, we got to see McCabe in his first ballroom performance. It was so fun to watch the kids do some really neat dance moves. I was really impressed. Jacinda mentioned that she would like to try ballroom but does not want to be in McCabe’s class. Unfortunately, that is the only class available for her at this time.
