Trip to California, Part 1

Mike gets to attend and present at research conferences as part of his job. We have been fortunate enough to get to go together on a few of his trips and build in a little vacation on either end. In April, he had a conference in San Diego, which is just a few hours down the road from where we both grew up, so we took the weekends before and after the trip to visit with family and see some of our favorite places. We brought our friend Diamond with us so she could have a taste of the beautiful place we used to call home.

By the time we finished our flight, Landon was DONE. Hallie's parents picked us up at the airport and took the Malibu route to their house. California showed off her springtime best: green hills, blooming flowers, and beautiful weather. We enjoyed driving along the beach and along the rolling canyon roads. 
On Saturday, Mike's mom took us down to LA, where we visited the temple grounds. We also went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Diddy Riese Cookies (home of the famous $1.50 cookie & ice cream sandwich). 

On our way down to San Diego on Monday, we stopped by the Newport Beach temple grounds. Landon had fun playing in the fountain (Bad Landon! Bad, Bad Landon! Er, I mean Bad Mike! Bad, Bad Mike!)

While Mike attended classes, Hallie, Diamond, and Landon kicked back at the pool and enjoyed the sights in San Diego. Mike even managed to stop by and say hi between sessions. 

On our last day in San Diego, we stopped by the Hotel Del Coronado and the San Diego temple. We got into LA just in time for rush hour. No trip to Southern California is complete without a couple of hours stuck in traffic (ugh). 

By the time we got back to Hallie's parents' house, Landon's cousins had come down to visit. More to follow. . . .

Love Equals Danger

So the title of the blog reflects only the first picture, which is not the greatest of pictures. So, my love is of candles. Most times I take a shower and burn a small one to represent my "Calgon moment". Today was one of those days. I had not yet gotten ready for my shower but the candle was burning, Mike was home and I decided to do one more thing before going in the bathroom. That one more thing took me upstairs which in turn left the candle unattended. You can figure out the rest. Landon now has this dumb band-aid (that did not last long) on because his finger blistered from the hot wax. The nurse at the Dr.'s office said to run it under cold water, keep it clean, and try to keep him from opening the blister. Hah! That will be the biggest challenge. Landon never even shed a tear. He is so good and Mami felt so bad. :( 

This afternoon we went to our first Easter Egg Hunt. It was held at Windmill Pointe Park and it was perfect weather for such a thing. They had the park decorated for all of the kids.

Here is Mike and Landon waiting for our turn. They had each group color coded by the bag they gave you.

The kids were entertained before their hunt by the Merry Music Maker. She was a lot of fun. Landon was a bit tired so he was not quite so fond of the idea.

Here is Landon's first attempt at picking up a plastic egg. He was left hand dominant due to his injury.

Landon is looking down in this picture but it is a far better picture than last year's attempt at Costco. Landon loved the Easter Bunny and even tried going up before his turn.

They had a small petting zoo at the park. It was fun to see the baby lambs, rabbits, and a chicken. It was even cuter watching Landon with them.

That is all for now. Hopefully we will be able to post from sunny Southern California. We are so very excited to see grandparents and cousins. We look forward to showing Diamond all that we love about Cali.

An update on our adoption #2 attempt. We have now finished every piece of paperwork we are personally responsible for. Hallie had to have a psych evaluation on Monday to make sure we were not all crazies and she passed with flying colors. It was a crazy day to go to Ann Arbor and thank heavens Mike was home as the total trip was 5 1/2 hours and it was snowing the whole time. Hallie will admit having some quiet time in the car was a pleasure. Our file will now be given to a caseworker who will come and do our home study. Doing this a second time around sure is less nerve wracking (especially since we know our caseworker so well). We are looking forward to having Courtney come into our home and more importantly we can't wait for the day we are approved so that the birth parent for us will find us. We pray for her every day.

Not Again!

After having Internet and limited TV back for just less than a month we are losing it, again! This time not because of ourselves but because of ATT. After getting the run around trying to set up the service we received a bill that was 4 times the amount quoted. When I called the man just kept apologizing but would not resolve the bill. So, what else could I do but cancel. I am very disappointed to be honest but "customer no service" as Clark Howard would say caused me to vote with my wallet this time. I gave AT&T a second chance after they mistakenly sent us to collections several years ago. No more chances.  Hopefully we will be able to check it often at the library or somewhere else.

Not Enough Photos

We were told there was not enough pictures of "our" soldier so Hallie purposefully took a lot more on Friday. We missed the opening ceremonies of Family Day due to traffic and we missed a majority of Graduation due to traffic. So we were a bit bummed about that, but spending time with Bryce was the best part. We are on the last leg of this trip and spent the night in Beckley, WV. We are excited to go home and get genuine rest as Landon has thought 5:30 is wake up time and that is not my idea of Good Morning.

A Few Photos, Trip Not Finished

I figured if I did not start now I would not have enough time to do some good posts before we leave for California. The days have been long but filled with new adventures every day. I will write a caption below most of the photos as to give you a bit of an idea of what is going on.

Here is a picture of Landon and Hallie at a rest stop in North Carolina. This kid loves sticks. He could not get anymore in his hands. Everyone at the rest stop ate him up. He was so funny.

Landon went swimming with the cousins. He loved it! So much that he decided to go off the step by himself and went face first in the water. Oh my heart stopped for a second.

Here is Elise with the kids in the pool. She is so good with them.

The three cousins together. How cute are they. You just want to hug them all!
Our soldier giving his little boy a hug. Emerson was not quite sure who this was. Bryce looked good and is sick, again!
Here is Lily and Emerson with their Dad. He loves them so much!
Lily is always the big sister, even to Landon. He didn't mind as long as he could have his rocks and sticks.
Emerson and the ground made friends a bit. He was not too happy about it.

This is inside the Solomon Center on base. If the weather is bad this is where graduation will be held.
Lily loved to push Landon in the stroller. Landon lost his pants after they became quite wet. It rained quite a bit today and we put up with it and enjoyed ourselves.
Here is our group. We went to the Main PX and of course had to buy cheaper things that did not have tax. 
Here is peanut in the car on the way back to the hotel. He was babbling away. When he has his legs pulled up he fits just inside the seat. Bryce could not get over how light and small he was. Tomorrow is graduation and we are looking forward to it. We will cross our fingers that the weather will be better. Then we are headed home. Landon has not slept too well at night so we may end our trip early. Our trip has been fast and boy Hallie sure wishes she could spend time at all of the malls we have seen and especially at the one next door to our hotel.