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Friday, October 07, 2011

Friday's Favorite Five



Time for another Friday Favorite Five which is hosted weekly by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

I wasn't able to participate last week because we were on vacation! We took a road trip down to California and had a wonderful time. Here are the top five things I am thankful for from the trip:

1. A fantastic time visiting with friends we're blessed to have down in Northern CA. We stayed in a house right on the Smith River and in the Redwood forests. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Here is one of the shots that Jonathan took on the river:



2. Time to be able to walk some trails through the redwoods. I imagined what they looked like but they exceeded my wildest dreams of how huge and beautiful they actually were. I could spend a lot longer walking the trails with my family and friends. It was so unique. (Another of Jonathan's shots. He likes sun flare. Can you tell?)



3. Our four year old was a phenomenal car traveler. He never once complained. The boy who thinks driving 10 minutes across town is a long drive got a new perspective on what a long drive is. At one point on our journey we had to make a quick 30 min. drive to our hotel. "THIRTY MINUTES!" he exclaimed, "THAT'S SO SHORT!!!!"

4. We said goodbye to Northern California and drove down south to LA to see relatives and enjoyed spending a day with Jonathan's grandparents. Grandmother took us to a Koi pond and the boys were enthralled with the fish there. (Unfortunately I don't have that picture ready to upload just yet but it's pretty awesome.) They loved getting a chance to feed the fish.

5. A day at Disneyland! We met up with Jonathan's dad who, as a belated birthday present to myself, took the family to Disney. (Yeah, I didn't complain.) I think it goes without saying that we had a fun time there. Bonus points: the boys had time with Grandpa.

We're not so sure we're up for another road time anytime in the near future. We need to forget about how very long the drive was first. Mostly we need to forget about how baby was so disrupted that she wouldn't sleep through the night while we were traveling about! But for not liking the car very much, she did ok.

We feel very blessed to have gotten to see as much family and as many friends as we were able to. A week off with daddy wasn't too shabby either! We kinda like having him around all the time. So that was our week last week. How was yours?!

14 comments:

*carrie* said...

Glad you had a fun trip, Carrie. The pictures are gorgeous!

ellen b. said...

What beautiful photos from Northern California. It's great that your little guy did well through all the miles. That is a very generous gift to take the family to Disneyland! What a blessing to get all that extended family time in! Have a great weekend.

Sandra said...

Beautiful photos :)

It's always a good thing when the kids do well during long trips, isn't it?

Hope you have a great weekend.

Lisa notes... said...

Wow, glad you had such a great trip, Carrie. It's not easy traveling with little ones. Your 4-yr-old sounds like he may become a world-traveler some day. Watch out. ha.

Those pictures are VERY awesome.

Have a great weekend.

Karen said...

Some of our best family memories are the road trips we took with our kids. They remember a lot more than I thought they would, considering how young they were on some of the trips. (Eventually the pain of the non-sleeping baby will be forgotten:)

Redwoods are so awesome, it's almost sacred to stand among them. Great pictures.

Shonya said...

That sounds like a great week! We've had a good week too, but more of the "normal routine at home" variety (which is good, please don't think I'm complaining--I rather like "normal routine!" chuckle)

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

What a great week, Carrie! We're drivers -- our boys were "raised in the car," it seems and they still like a road trip. With four of them and family so far away, we could never afford to fly, so we just hopped in the car and drove.

The pictures are just beautiful. Enjoy settling back into your routine. Have a great week.

Janet said...

GORGEOUS photos!!!

Gattina said...

The landscape looks gorgeous ! and apparently you had a great time with your faily too !

Melanie - Author/Editor/Publisher said...

Oh that sounds like a wonderful trip!!!! I used to visit my dad in CA and LOVE the state but was more in the Venice and Longbeach area; only hiked once. Beautiful pics!!!!

Susanne said...

Yay for your 4 year old doing so well on the trip. It sounds like it was a wonderful time of enjoying your family. The pictures are beautiful.

Susan@FruitfulWords said...

Your husband's Redwoods photos are amazing. Even though I live in No CA I haven't been to see the big trees in many years. Your description and photos are nudging me to take a trip there.

What a blessing that your children were such good travelers. Sorry to hear that the baby's night time schedule was off. Not getting enough sleep sure can make for l-o-n-g days.

So glad your children got some grandparent time. My kiddos always loved that part of vacation best.

nikkipolani said...

Wow, your vacation sounds really fun all around -- even for the four-year-old! And cool that he has learned a little perspective. I remember the last leg of the journey from Los Angeles to Calcutta, India. It was a four hour flight from Singapore and it felt like a breeze after the 13 hours to Taiwan!

Stephanie Kay said...

Ah.. road trips. Aren't they fun?! I found my babies always had difficulty falling asleep in the pack n play we used for traveling. So by baby 3 I learned to put them to bed in the pack n play for a week BEFORE we left on vacation. Somehow I could endure the middle of the night wake up cries much better in my own home. By the time we were ready for our trip, baby was used to sleeping in the pack n play. That little tip may or may not do you any good for the future. :)

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