california...knows how to party!

April 1st...we set out on our first true family adventure. We decided that due to economic pinches, we would make our annual trip to California a road trip. That way we would not have to buy plane tickets or rent a car. And to avoid the expense of a hotel room, we decided to pull our new travel trailer. Not sure that it was wise to make the 1800 mile trip our trailer's maiden voyage, but it all turned out great. Our trip started out with a bang...literally. Our goal was to leave on Wednesday at around 4 p.m. so that we could get a few hours under our belts. Evan didn't get home from work until after 5. And when he arrived home, he threw his bag in the door and yelled, "there is a screw in my tire and i am going to try to make it to les schwab before it goes totally flat" and off he went. I got a call about 10 minutes later and he told me that the tire had blown out and he was on the side of the road, with Les Schwab in view. I called the tire store and they sent someone out to help him. After that fiasco, we were on the road by 7:15. We made it to Winnemucca that night and pulled over in the parking lot of a park around 11:30ish. We got up the next morning around 5 a.m. and headed out. Thanks to my friend Andrea's suggestion, stickers were a great distraction for Ben. Also, shredding paper ended up being a good activity.

We pulled over a lot for potty and stretch breaks. This is Ben and Daddy dancing in the road to get the wiggles out.

You can see the trailer following us in the back window. And you can also see sulli's blank stare. This was thanks to Nana and Papa who saved the day by purchasing DVD players for the boys to have on the trip. Sulli watched several movies from the library while driving. Lifesaver!!!

This was a welcomed sight...a baby asleep! Didn't happen as often or for as long as I would have liked...but it happened nonetheless.

The chauffer...he had me drive for one hour of the trip...total!! Thanks for all the safe driving honey! Below is a poor example of some of the pretty views we had along the way. This was middle of nowhere Nevada looking at Mono Lake. It was beautiful!We stopped for a quick lunch in Bishop, CA. It was so nice to stop the truck, hop into the trailer and whip up some burritos! There was a cute playground at this stop. Nice break and then on the road again.

We arrived in LA around 5p.m. on Thursday and had a great time seeing Ev's brother, sister-in-law and our baby cousin Dylan. On Friday we took a trip to the LA Zoo (for all of you Boise folks with zoo memberships, LA is no longer a reciprocal zoo...bummer!)The kids loved the animals and the playground. We then found an In and Out Burger for lunch...yummy!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Hanford, CA to visit Ev's Grandma Lil. We took a much anticipated trip to Superior Dairy for "dinner". This has been a family tradition for Ev, can't stop it now! The servings that you see are "regular" scoops of ice cream...huge!!! The kiddos loved it.

This was one of Benny's favorite places to be, on GG's lap. He loved playing with her. We stayed Saturday night with Grandma, and all day Sunday. I made birthday dinner for her and I Sunday night since we share the same birthday. After getting that all cleaned up, we packed up the trailer and headed out to get a few hours out of the way that evening. Ended up staying the night in a grocery store parking lot in Modesto. Made it home Monday night around 7:15p.m. All in all, a great trip!

We love you Grandma, Uncle Andy, Auntie Erin and Cousin Dylan!