Spring Breakin' in Cali

Over Spring Break, all of Evan's fam was getting together in sunny CA and we were lucky enough to hop on a flight and go join them.  Well, the kids and I flew out and Evan joined us a for a few days over Easter weekend.

 

I love Delaney's squinty eyes here on our first day of playing in the sunshine.  Yes, baby girl, that's called sunshine.  Something that is a rarity during a Chicago winter for sure.  

Once Evan got into town, we were able to go for a few runs with some of his siblings.  During one such run, a snake crossed the trail.  I don't know about you but snakes make me a wee bit squeamish, if you will.  However, for my husband, the obvious reaction is to jump into the brush and catch the snake.  You know, what most people would do under similar circumstances.  It didn't help that Evan's bro, Bryant, was there egging him on.  Those boys together are one dangerous combination.  After Evan repeatedly assured me that the snake was absolutely not poisonous (you know...cuz he's Bear Grylls all of a sudden) he decided to finish our jog holding the snake (what??!!) and carry it home for the boys to see.

Heaven help me, it's a good thing these boys have their dad.  If it were left up to me, they'd be screaming every time they saw an ant.  

We headed to our favorite family farm (remember these hay bales from previous visits?)

We were hoping to do some strawberry picking at the farm, but apparently all of California had already been there to pick the strawberries.  Oh look, the boys did find one!

Which Delaney proceeded to eat.

Also, on the agenda was some whale watching, which Cade (with the binoculars) took very seriously.  

I will say it was our coolest whale watching experience to date.  The driver of the boat was awesome at getting us close to the whales.  So amazing!  As long as I'm in the middle of the boat watching and nowhere near the water of course.  One of the whales even swam underneath our boat and breached right in front of us, even taking the driver by surprise.  I actually felt the water on my face from the whale's blowhole.  Which is so neat and kind of gross too, now that I think about it.

Delaney and her cousin, Jadyn, loving Denise's twin's bumbos.

Celebrating Easter with the traditional Easter egg hunt.

Success!  For Mom too!  I am always more than willing to take one for the team and help my kids eat their candy.

The best pic we got of the kiddos after church (aka Cade putting Delaney in a choke hold).  We had a yummy Easter dinner and got to celebrate Jen's birthday too.  Thanks to the Joneses for such a great time.  Evan has six siblings so it's a treat when so many of us are able to get together.  The kids are always beside themselves with playing with the cousins and I'm always beside myself wearing flip flops and eating In-N-Out.  The one big downside to this trip was the flight home.  Originally when we booked the flight, we booked the cheap midnight flight back to Chicago since Evan was supposed to be flying home with me to give me some much needed back up.  Fast forward to him having to leave Cali early for a business trip and me having to fly home solo.  At midnight.  With three cranky, tired kids.  Who did not sleep one wink.  ONE WINK!  Oh the torture.  Not to mention that once we landed (late) our bags took over an hour to make an appearance.  Thanks to my friend Katie, who came to pick us up and dealt with getting home at 3:30 am (normally I would have taken a cab but was a little too nervous doing that by myself so late at night in the hood).  We made it though and I'm pretty sure Evan still owes me for that one.