From Ohio to California (Week 1)

May is the month of the Navarre Ohio annual yard sales, something my mom, sister and I look forward to every year. Just like last year, the sales fell on the same weekend as Ernesto's annual golf trip in Vegas. Unlike last year, both boys flew with me to Ohio. We rode the train to the airport together last Wednesday and flew to our separate destinations.

The boys had not seen their cousins (and aunts and uncles) since Christmas, so they needed to PLAY!

And play they did!

They also helped make grandma's cookies

We discovered that it was better to just give them the flour with measuring cups and bowls as opposed to having them actually help measure out the ingredients. They were content playing for a long time.

and watched grandpa on the tractor. So easily entertained!

We walked to the library on the trail by my parents house and stopped to smell the ......

And we just fooled around in the house.

The yard sales were a BUST this year. I was so dissapointed. My best finds were a couple plants and a few maternity shirts. (Did you hear our good news?) Oh well, better luck next year.

My sister has a camper on a little lake close to her house. Although it rained ALL DAY Saturday, we grilled out y pasamos muy bien. Aunt Jenny's golf cart was a huge hit with the boys.

The thought of a four hour flight to San Diego alone with the kids did not sound possible appealing. There wasn't any convincing to have my parents fly out there with me. (This is the 5th time they have visited Ernesto's family with us.)

It was a journey getting out here! We arrived at the Canton airport at 6am and didn't arrive in San Diego until 7pm. (which was really 10pm for us!) Unfortunately all of the San Diego flights were booked, so we ended up flying into LA (a two hour drive to San Diego) Ugh! Boy did that make for a looooong day! The kids were pretty good, considering the circumstances.

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We brought snacks, the ipad, books and a couple toys.

Mateo slept the whole LA flight, so we just had to entertain one munchkin. (Marcelo slept 1.5 hours in the airport and woke up just before boarding LA!)

Ernesto picked us up and the whole family was waiting for us. Also waiting for us...tacos de lengua, carnitas and coctel de camaron y pulpo!! (my favorite!)

It's so great having both sets of grandparents together. (granma, granpa, abuela y tata - no confusion!)

A lot of this went on for the 4 days my parents were here.

Relaxing, eating and playing cards. Repeat.

Of course we hit the beach a couple times

We have hit the point where it is fun and relaxing because they are so happy playing in the sand. The water is too chilly for swimming yet, so they never went further than filling up their buckets.

I finally got my wish of riding bikes on the Silver Strand Trail again. (last trip we didn't) It's such a beautiful ride and we usually do it [at least] once everytime we are here. We met the boys and abuelas at a beach in Coronado, enjoyed lunch [while boys slept in stroller] at Coronado Brewery and rode back. (25 miles total)

Mateo has been talking about abeulas trash truck since we were here last time. (a side-loader that picks the cans up by itself) So Thursday morning they waited. The driver could tell how excited Mateo was and opened his door to invite him up. This was one happy boy!

There has been a lot of running around with cousins in abuelas back yard too.

Besides mediating a few sharing wars, this week has been so easy. These guys are engaged and tired. They fall asleep in 5 minutes every night and are taking longs naps (Mateo too!)

Randomly, Marcelo has taken up tree climbing and has had to be pulled out a couple times..

We are taking a little side trip next week with Ernesto's padres to Santa Barbara (because San Diego just isn't vacation enough-ha!) More pictures and all the details to come...stay tuned!