Cali

December 8th and the kids and I are off - to the desert and the oranges - Jeff joined us on the 12th. I've had quite a few people question how I travel and go so many places by myself with three little-uns. The answer to this question is also three-fold.

1. Because I've got good kids.
2. Because I am the extreme opposite of a homebody.
3. Because I must.
I've told more people (strangers) than I can count, "If I didn't bring the kids, I'd never go anywhere!"

On a nearly DAILY basis I have comments made to me about having 3 little kids. "Looks like you've got your hands full" is the flat out favorite comment of strangers who for some reason love to talk to me.
On this trip out I got quite a few comments, even though the kids were super good and we didn't have any problems or interrupt the other passengers' precious serenity. Can you tell I'm a little bitter about kid-haters? Well if you can't then I'll state it VERY plainly, I HATE kid-haters. These are those that see a kid and immediately assume they are going to "be a problem". Yeah right old guy or lady, or middle aged guy or lady - like you're such a peach yourself?

Ok, back to the task at hand. The joy of travel!

So we made it to Cali, Palm Springs to be exact, and breathed warm orange scented air. Then we coughed a bit because some idiot was smoking. See it's so warm there that practically the whole airport is outside - the only place that smokers can smoke now in California. Lucky us.

We continued on to La Quinta, where my parents' house sits on the edge of the desert. This is where I fell behind in my blogging.

Reason # 1
My family has Rock Band 2.

And I L-O-V-E-D it.

You have to understand something: I H-A-T-E video games. I didn't plan to play, only to watch my brothers, Mom, and Jeff. I planned to sit and laugh and maybe even take some pictures so that I could laugh again later.

Instead. . . I sang. . .I played lead guitar. . .I played Bass guitar. . . I played drums. . . I stayed up till 3 am playing (more than once). . .rockin'. And I never took a single picture. Seriously, I was too busy rockin'.

And now I spend a good portion of every day wishing that I had Rock Band. This I have found is tricky proposition when you don't own any kind of video game equipment whatsoever.

Reason #2
We made GALLONS of orange juice from my parents' orange trees. Yeah that's right, we'd walk about 10 feet, fill 2 Walmart bags to near explosion and then juice and juice and juice. We did this 5 or 6 times and when we left there were still oranges on the trees.
We also made homemade lemonade for the first time from the lemons on the trees at my parents rental house. Jealous? Frankly, you should be.




Reason #3
California. We had way too much fun.

Capri saw the Nutcracker with my Dad - just the two of them.


Rome and Sable closed the Chuck E Cheese with my Mom, Josh and Erin (my brother Dan's girlfriend, Dan is serving a mission in England).

Capri fell madly in love with Erin.


We helped pick out my parents' Christmas tree. Well actually we were there, and Dad bought pretty much the first one he found.





Made s'mores and sat in the hot tub.

Went to Candy Cane Lane.



The kids used Spencer and Josh as their own personal trampolines.

We ATE and ATE and ATE. Out and in, fancy and non. My mom cooked her famous pasta and made my family's traditional Christmas Eve (although not actually on Christmas Eve) meat fondue.



Jeff and I turned 32. Sigh.



Dazzled everyone at church with the kids' cuteness.



Had "Christmas".




We went for long walks in the desert behind my parents' house.

We talked, and laughed, and missed my brothers, Rob and Dan.

The 22nd came all too soon and we found ourselves flying back to the cold and snow. We wrestled with seat changes, and the fact that it was costing us $90 just to fly our bags back and forth. We didn't have to wrestle with the kids too much and we made it back to KC tired and happy to be home.

But a little sad. . .Gramma and Papa, Uncle Spencer, Uncle Josh, Erin, and Mac the dog are now so far away again. We hear the oranges are all but gone, and my parents' house is quiet. The kids are already talking about "next time", and I'm wondering when that will actually be. Whenever it is however, we'll be ready to brave the kid-haters once again - if only to get a taste of that orange juice.