California, Day 19 - Flight Home

Our flight back home left at a reasonable time mid-morning on Saturday.  We took some time getting everything together in the morning and headed over to the airport.  There wasn't anything too exciting about any of our flights.  The kids were well behaved and snoozed a bit when they were not watching their TVs.  Aaron was great, either sleeping or relaxing in Mama's arms.

Kisses for Aaron before we fly

Daddy with all of the kiddos!  Tim sat in a row of three with Leah and Cameron on either side of him; I was across the aisle with Aaron.

Hey there Mr. Cute, are you ready for another airplane ride?

We flew from La to JFK and then on to Syracuse.  We had a bit of a layover in JFK but luckily found both a restaurant with good food (but horrible service!) and then a kids play area, so it worked out.  We got home quite late but the kids had no problem transitioning to their beds at home.

What an amazing, wonderful, fantastic trip we had!!!  The older two kids proved once again that they are Traveling Walkers, and Aaron showed that he was up to the job to add to that list as well.  We got to see so many amazing sights and spend wonderful time with lots of family.  It was another wonderful maternity leave trip!

California, Day 18 - Last Full Day in CA

Our last full day in CA started out nice and lazy.  Cameron and Leah woke up at some point and went to play with the girls, so Tim and I could relax and sleep until Aaron was ready to wake up.  Which was pretty early, but we still got to lie around in bed a bit while the kids played.  They are having so much fun together!  The ages match up perfectly.


Here is the room that Tim and I slept in; it had a crib in it already, how perfect is that?

An outside balcony off the hallway by our room.  Very nice for evening relaxing!

The room that Cameron and Leah slept in.  It is Katharine's room and her bed has a trundle under it.  It worked out so well!  Katharine and Caroline slept in Caroline's room, in the same trundle set up.

The girls' bathroom - Leah loved the pink and purple bathroom stool!

The main hall area where the kids liked to play

Cameron let the girls dress him up.

Once we ate breakfast and packed up, we headed over to a playground to play for a while before we drove back up to LA.

Look, Katharine is away from Aaron for a minute!  But don't worry, she didn't abandon her post for long.

I love how high Leah and Caroline are flying in this picture!

Cam being silly on the swing

And there she goes, back to her post nearby Aaron. What a sweetie, I loved how Katharine watched over Aaron and stayed close to him.

Cam being fancy on the swings

Leah loved the bouncy sea creatures

Climbing girl

Cameron preferred climbing on the outside of the bridge

We decided to try and get a picture of all of the kids.  Here is Leah and Caroline sliding into the picture.

The four big kiddos

This is the best picture we got of all five kids.  Katharine did such a good job holding Aaron... what you can't see is me two inches outside of the picture ready to jump and grab him if she got tired!

Photo op over... not sure what was going on here.

Leah and Caroline being silly

Leah on a seahorse

Caroline riding a dolphin

Cam's turn on the seahorse

Katharine's turn on the dolphin

We headed back up towards Los Angeles mid-afternoon.  We stopped on the way to get some lunch at a restaurant that Tim's uncle recommended.  It was a nice place overlooking the ocean and we all enjoyed the food and the view!

Once we got to LA, we had an important task to take care of.  We realized that when we went to the beach in Playa del Rey and just in general while we were in California that we hadn't put Aaron's feet in the Pacific Ocean.  Poor baby, two months old and he hadn't had his feet in the Pacific yet!  It was time to rectify that situation.

Mama and Aaron hanging out on the beach

Time for tootsies in the ocean!

Aaron was not a big fan of being in the ocean or the sand.  Can't say I blame the kid - we kind of sprung it on him.

Cutie pies in the sand

Our three amazingly sweet babies!

One more look at the beautiful beach in Playa del Rey

We headed over to Paul and Ang's house once they were done with work for the day.  I can't remember exactly why this seemed like a good idea, but we decided to take a picture of Aaron sitting on Riley.  Not too surprisingly, Riley was not a huge fan.  He was very careful around Aaron though and just squirmed as far as possible away from him!

Leah loves her Aunt Ang!

Our big plan for the evening was to head over to a nearby park in Playa Vista and watch an outdoor movie, Wreck It Ralph.  We found our spots in the early evening and put in a dinner order.  A bit before the movie started, Paul went to get the food and we ate while we were waiting for the movie to start.  Ang took this great picture of us.

The movie was great, we all loved it!  The kids thought it was so cool to watch a movie outside and Tim and I thought it was so cool that there were no bugs and we could actually watch a movie outside.  Once the movie was over, we said good-bye to Paul and Ang.  Cameron and Leah were especially upset to say good-bye to their aunt and uncle, but we promised to skype often and see each other at Christmas.

We headed over to our hotel near the airport to settle in for the night and get everything packed for our flight the next day.  What an amazing trip we had!

California, Day 17 - LegoLand

We woke up on Thursday morning with a plan to head to Legoland.  It is only a few minutes away from David and Natalie's house and they are season pass holders.  Natalie had to work, but David and the girls decided to come with us to show us around one of their favorite parks.

Yay, LegoLand! We've been excited to come here the entire trip!

First, we headed back to one of Katharine and Caroline's favorite areas - the water play spot.

Leah isn't quite tall enough, but she loved it anyway.

These musical instruments were great - as you stomped on the associated square, they would play music and squirt water.

Playing music

What a great band - Caroline, Katharine, Cameron and Leah

What cuties!  They loved playing together.

At the race car track - anyone three and older could drive!  Here is Caroline in her car.

Leah in her car, ready to go!

Cameron in his car.  This was a bit to babyish for him but he went to help out the little girls.

Leah and Daddy on a helicoptor

Up they go!

Mama and Cameron's turn

We were in the police helicoptor

Overall, the rides at Legoland were definitely geared for a younger crew.  Cameron enjoyed them but I think a few years older and he would have thought they were completely babyish.  He wasn't tall enough to ride alone on most rides by himself so we took turns riding with the kids.

David rode with Caroline on the rides she wanted to go on; Katharine didn't ride on one single ride!  She wanted to stay with me and help out with Aaron.  Considering how often she visits Legoland, missing a few rides wasn't a big deal at all.  It was very sweet and she was such a great helper!

Cam and Daddy on an airplane

 Leah and Katharine keep Aaron amused

Mama and Leah's turn

What a cute little guy!

Pirate lego scene

Some of the rides had Lego building areas to play in while you waited - can't beat that!

More Aaron cuteness

Leah and Mama in a boat.  I let Leah drive most of the way, so we did a lot of bobbing back and forth between the siderails.  She enjoyed it though!  (And this is the most in the middle we ever got.)

David and Caroline are in the middle boat

Daddy and Cam's turn.  Cameron was a much more steady driver.

Next up was one of Cameron's favorite parts of the entire day - Star Wars Legos!!

Without further adieu, a series of Cameron (and occasionally Leah) standing with every Star Wars Lego figure he could find.

Cam and R2-D2

 Cam and Chewie

Cam with Han Solo

Cameron and Luke

Leah wanted a picture with Luke too

Cameron and an Ewok

Cam and Princess Leia

Of course, Leah wanted a picture with Leia

Cam and Darth Vader

Cam with Boba Fett

 Cam and Yoda

Cam and a Clone general 

Cam and Anakin

After all of the figures, there were a bunch of scenes of classic Star Wars moments.

Of course, Cam wanted pictures with each of them too.

Cam loves his Star Wars

Yep, every single scene.

He was so excited to see them all, even the ones that were from movies he hasn't seen yet.

Cool!

Checking out the Lego builders studio

They had so many amazing creations in there as well.

After Star Wars, we went to check out the Lego cities.  First up was Washington, DC.

Leah and Caroline checking it out

Cameron near the Jefferson Memorial

The Lego capital was pretty awesome.

 Trying to get a picture with the four older kids.  This was the best we got.

And after the "nice" picture, it was time for a silly one!

 This cracks me up - Leah and Caroline went from silly picture into full-on dance mode!

 Lego New Orleans

Lego NYC

More of the City

Lego Vegas

Lego Luxor - Tim and I stayed there when we went to Vegas.

Smiley little guy

Just when you thought Star Wars was done... we found more!  There was a special exhibit, a life-size X-wing fighter.  It was amazing!  Out front of the exhibit, a full-size Darth.

Cameron with the X-Wing fighter.  He thought this was so cool, especially since he has this exact Lego set at home and had recently finished putting it together.  A few more Legos in this one!

Leah found a friend

Leah and Katharine deciding on our next stop

We found a few rides that Cameron was tall enough to go on alone.  He was excited.  First up, an airplane ride.

And then a horse ride.

One snoozing kiddo...

Two snoozing kiddos.... 

Cameron stayed awake though, he was too excited to sleep after all of those great Legos.

Cameron, Mama, Aaron and Katharine in front of Legoland.

We went back to David's house to relax and play.  They set up a bubble machine in the backyard which kept the kids busy for a while.

I love this picture of Cameron kicking the bubbles mid-air!

Katharine and her beloved Aaron.  She was so excited to be able to hold him all by herself.

Another awesome day in California!