C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A...

Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start...

I can't figure out how to start this post and I keep singing those 'Sound of Music' lyrics over and over. I find myself singing songs from that movie quite often actually. In fact, I just read an article in People magazine about Julie Andrews and what it was like for her to be in the movie. Pretty interesting. After that article I proceeded to almost finish an entire crossword puzzle! I have never been able to do that before. Granted it was in People magazine but still...even Clark was impressed.

March was a good one.  It came in like a lion and out like a lamb.  We had cold temps, rain, and lots of snow.  Luckily before the big snow storm we were able to complete 'U' preschool.  We colored unicorns and UFO's, hung upside down, read a book about underwear, and even let go of some balloons in the front yard to watch them go up, up, up!  It was actually pretty fun to watch the balloons float away until they disappeared into the clouds.  I wasn't convinced that the kids would let go but they were brave.  They wrote their names on them and pretended that the balloons floated all the way to space. 

Then the big snow storm hit.  LOTS and LOTS of snow in just one night.  Naturally the triplets were dying to get outside but this time I was going to prepare them better.  Since all we have on hand are cotton gloves, I wrapped Walmart bags around their hands so that their gloves wouldn't get soaked in the first couple minutes.  It worked like a charm.  They all wore my long fuzzy socks to keep snow from getting in their boots and that worked great too.  They played for almost an hour and came in to a wonderfully warm fire.  Clark was home from work and it was just a great day.  He was mortified by my glove covers but whatever.  :)

The next weekend it was warm and sunny so the boys headed to the 'boy store' and I took Leah to the doctor. Wouldn't you know....strep throat again!!!  The boys tested positive for it a couple days later and I was shocked.  I have NO idea how we keep getting it.  The boys made a cute craft at Home Depot and even brought some stickers home for Leah to make her feel better.  We had only a few days before leaving for our much anticipated trip to California so even though they all had strep, I was happy to have antibiotics in hand and three kids on the mend.

Luckily the meds did their job and everyone was feeling MUCH better before we boarded our plane.  Traveling with four year olds is awesome.  They are so excited about what is happening, they love running through the airport, they pull their own bags, and they can manage on missing some sleep.  The morning of our flight we had to leave at 4:30am so it was definitely early.  We had a direct flight to LA and arrived in the 7am hour.  Papa met us and our 11 bags at the airport and we were so excited to be starting our trip!

Our first stop was to Clark's sister Anie in Camarillo.  Miraculously the triplets all slept in the van on the way from the airport to her house which was PERFECT because we still had a big day ahead of us full of sun and sand!  We headed to the beach and it was a beautiful day for it.  The triplets were in heaven just running from the waves and searching for shells with their cousins.  Of course  Clark got to work digging a giant hole for a hot pot.  In our ten years of marriage, he has never been to a beach without digging a hole.  It's just his thing.  By that evening we were totally worn out but glad we were hanging with family.

The next day was Sunday so we attended church, went on a walk, read stories with Gram, ate pulled pork, and then headed out for the sand hill.  Just a few minutes down the road on Highway 1 is a gigantic sand hill that you can climb and sit at the top to look over the ocean.  It is HARD work getting up there so everyone was huffing and puffing.  However, once we got to the top it really was an incredible view.  The kids dug in the sand, slid down on their stomachs, and we all just chatted for a while.  I originally did not want to go because I was tired of being in the car and didn't want to deal with sand messes.  It was so fun though and I was glad that I got pushed out the door.  The triplets are still talking about it!

The next day we headed down the coastline to Anaheim.  On the way we drove through Malibu and stopped at Santa Monica beach and pier.  We set everything up and the kids started playing.  Little did we know that this was the craziest spot on the beach.  It was so busy!  Of course the triplets didn't care but when Clark tried to dig his hole, every kid in the area wanted to join the fun.  So he quickly abandoned his project because all the other kids starting caving in the walls.  Poor guy. 

We played there all afternoon then headed to our four bedroom presidential suite in Anaheim!  Talk about living a life of luxury.  It was an awesome hotel room!  Our balcony was 11 floors up and we could even see over the top of Disneyland.  We waited up to watch the nightly fireworks but were sorely disappointed when we only saw a couple.  Oh well!  We cooked some pizza in the oven, the kids took a GIANT bath, and we settled down for the night in preparation for our trip to Legoland the next day.

Legoland was SO much fun.  It was perfect for the kids' age and wasn't super busy or overwhelming like some amusement parks can be.  We stayed at the park from open until close and tried to do every possible thing we could with the energy we had.  The kids could go on almost every ride, with an accompanying adult, and they had a blast! The first ride we went on was the Coastersaurus.  It still remains the favorite ride of the day from what the triplets say.  Unfortunately there was a 60 minute wait so while Gram waited in line, the kids played in the nearby dino digging area.  They discovered a huge dinosaur fossil and loved brushing away the sand to see what it was.  In no time it was our turn for the roller coaster.

We then moved on to the fairy tale brook (fairy tale characters made completely of Legos), Lego car driving, a helicopter ride, and the Sky Cruiser.  The Cruiser also had a 60 minute wait but luckily there was an area where kids could play with Legos while the adults waited in line.  Again, in no time it was our turn.

Other adventures from Legoland included seeing Darth Vader, the jousting horses (kids did this ride three times), family slide race, the bouncing beetle, flying airplanes, eating ice cream, and rocking back and forth on a huge ship.  I think the kids just felt so special because they could go on all the 'cool' rides.  They each got a Lego key chain and also built a Lego person to take home.  What was so nice was that in the late afternoon the temperature dropped and some clouds moved in.  The cold front happened to coincide with the kids playing in the water park so they didn't last long in the chilly water.  However, we all felt energized and were able to go on the Coastersaurus a couple more times before leaving the park.  It's crazy how much the sun can drain you.  We opted out of the hotel that night and decided to drive straight back to Anie's to sleep.  It worked out great because the kids fell right asleep in the car which allowed for good conversation and we also didn't have any traffic since it was late at night.  The day was perfect!  Not to mention it was St. Patrick's Day and we all wore AWESOME green shirts.  Made locating each other really easy actually!

We woke up the next morning in Camarillo and were able to spend a bit more time with Anie and Spencer and even got to walk Elle to school.  We didn't stay long though because we had a long drive north to Brentwood.  



It was so nice to finally reach Brentwood and we were all ready to get out of the car!  The next couple days were spent relaxing, playing at parks, hiking, going to Cinderella with just the girls, playing in the hot tub, visiting old friends (no pics of dinner or our Sacramento visit....darn!), going to the dollar store with Gram Rox, checking out books from the library, eating lots of cookies and brownies, riding the Razor scooters, helping Papa with a project, going to the farmers market for kettle corn and getting balloons from the balloon lady, and seeing a bunch of really cool airplanes at a local airport with Clark's friend Britton. 

The kids were in heaven with the toys at Gram's house since she kept all of Clark's old toys.  Caleb was dying over the bucket of ninja turtles and during the week that we stayed there, all three kids never got bored.  It was just a really enjoyable time and the weather was fantastic!  I sure didn't miss the humidity back in Texas!

 

With three days left in our trip, we all headed out for one last excursion on the coast.  We were lucky enough to take the maiden voyage of Gram and Papa's new RV.  We drove down to Monterey and camped right next to the beach.  The waves at this beach were a LOT bigger and exciting than our previous beach trips so Caleb and Zachary were laughing hysterically as the waves would recede and then quickly chase them up the beach again.  This made for some anxiety for me though because as they would race up the beach, often times one of them would trip in the wet sand and the water would over take them!  I was worried they'd get swept out to sea!  :)

We were nervous when we pulled in the first day that it was going to be too cold/windy to enjoy the beach but the following day was absolutely gorgeous.  It was hot and there was barely any wind.  Clark got to dig a five foot hole which made him incredibly happy.  No one bothered him so he did some quick work.  After finishing, he spent the rest of the day catching crabs and sand dollars in which he had a lot of success!  There were also huge sand dunes so a better part of the day was spent climbing and jumping down those.

Besides going to the beach, we also went to the nearby aquarium.  We had a behind-the-scenes tour because Clark's parents are members so that was fun.  The tour guide talked about how the aquarists wear capes and masks when they feed rescued otters so that the otters don't start associating food with humans.  Caleb and Zachary tried the cape and mask on and held a stuffed otter.  It was hilarious!  Leah politely declined participating.  The tour was a little boring at parts but the kids got some stuffed Octopuses out of it so everyone was happy!  We hit up all the good exhibits, their favorite was the Open Ocean, and left to go eat lunch at Bubba Gumps.  None of us ordered seafood which was kind of comical.  Macaroni and cheese and pizza please!

Our nights during the camping trip were awesome since we cooked on the RV stove and had plenty of warm sleeping areas in the RV.  There was a great little tree that the kids enjoyed climbing, a playground to play on, and we even cooked smores.  We won't talk about the tin foil dinners...  :)

The RV trip was a HUGE success and so much fun.  We hope to be able to do it again soon!

After packing up and heading back to Brentwood, we got to work on laundry and packing for our trip back to Texas.  Everything came to an end so quickly...of course.  We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation and are so grateful for all the planning and coordinating that went into it.  We were also super impressed with how well the triplets did.  They really were troopers with all the driving and flying.  Certainly makes us excited for future family vacations since it's only going to get easier!

They were so excited to get off the plane in Dallas that they literally sprinted and when they came out of the gate door, everyone waiting to get on our plane was staring and laughing and someone yelled, "that is the cutest thing I've ever seen!"  The triplets continued to sprint through the whole airport until we reached the escalator going down to baggage claim.

Now we're back and working toward getting our house ready to sell in a few weeks!  Crazy!

I'll end with a gem from Leah.  Because of all the driving and flying we did, Clark and I encouraged the 'Quiet Game' quite frequently.  Surprisingly the triplets are very good at it and always willing to play.  When we count down from five to start the game, we tell the kids to say a few last words.  Leah always quickly says, "I love you Mom.  You're my best girl!"  As if it were her last dying breath before all goes quiet, those are the last things she wants me to hear.  So cute and endearing.