Off to California!

The kids and I left for a 5 week vacation on Friday, June 26. First we drove 11 1/2 hours to Nashville, TN. The first half of the drive went great but the second half wasn't so fun. The kids were tired of squishing in the seats or sitting on the floor (we don't all fit), and we hit a lot of road construction, 2 accidents, and city traffic that made us sit for too long. I was 30 weeks pregnant and was the worst when it came to being patient for sitting that long. But we made it and received a cheerful welcome by my sister, Lori. We stayed in her apartment until Tuesday and really enjoyed Nashville.

 Saturday we had a pool party for Lori's birthday. It was at her friend's house, which was just gorgeous.

 The kids swam all day and I sat and took in the beautiful weather and lush green trees of the back yard.

 Lori busy in their outdoor kitchen. We had hamburgers and hotdogs and then cake and homemade ice cream.

 Makenna

 Spencer, Madalyn, Makenna

 The view of the back of the house from the grass.

 Spencer and Kylie enjoying the grilled food.

 Kaitlyn

 Thomas

 Alexis and Madalyn

 Aunt Lori with the homemade ice cream and oreo cake.

After swimming all afternoon we went back to Lori's and had leftovers for dinner while hanging out. These pictures are boring, but I'm posting for scrapbooking purposes for the kids to remember the trip by.

 Samuel with his burrito. He was good and happy the whole weekend.

 Eating in the living room.

 Spencer and Madalyn

 Alexis, Lori. Kylie

 Sunday after church. I'm not usually in pictures I take of my kids and I didn't realize I was so short.

 Me and Samuel

 Those of us who wore black and white and grey. We had fun going to Lori's ward and having a linger longer afterward. Then she was off to the beach to join her friend's family vacation, but we had fun without her.

 Monday I took the kids to downtown Nashville. First we rode the free city bus, which was a treat to the kids. I enjoyed it too--sitting back and relaxing and seeing all the fancy shops, country music hall of fame, state capitol building, and other cool Nashville sites.

 Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning we swam in Lori's apartment pool. We had it to ourselves and the kids had a great time.

Tuesday evening we went to the Nashville Airport to catch our flight to California. It's been 9 years since I've flown with all of my kids so many don't remember flying or haven't been on an airplane. I was super excited to take them and see their reactions and experience it with them.

 About to go through security. The people photobombing the picture in the back were nice to help me know what to do to get us all through.

 Once we were all through security and had our shoes back on the kids ran to the windows and squealed about the airplanes they saw taking off and landing.

 I love Makenna's smile here.

 Waiting for our flight Samuel amused himself by practicing buttoning and unbuttoning his outfit. It was mostly unbuttoning, though, so every time I picked him up he appeared half naked.

 Finally getting on our flight!

 The kids on the jetway. I figured I had enough small kids to qualify us to be one of the first ones to board. Since it was my first time flying with them in so long, I'm glad I did. We sat in the back and all got seats together.

 Alexis, Kylie, and Makenna in the row across from me.

 Spencer and Thomas sat in front and eventually a nice grandma sat next to them. Kaitlyn, Madalyn, and I sat behind them with Samuel on my lap. The arrangements worked perfectly and we had a wonderful flight.

 We had almost 4 hours in Las Vegas late at night (our time) so I took the kids to the play area. Here they are looking at the airplanes through telescopes.

 They also played airplane.

Thomas on the control tower.

We finally left Las Vegas at 10:45pm and arrived in Sacramento at midnight. Of course it felt much later our time, but the kids did great. They all slept on that leg and most slept the 1 1/2 hours home to my parents house. They were so cheerful about coming to get us in two cars at that late hour and we were so happy to be in California! We don't come out here very often.