California 2010

I blogged a little while ago about my the insight and experience I gained while on our trip to California with my mom and Uncle Roger, but I neglected to share some of the fun experiences we had. For the record, my mom and Uncle Roger graciously treated me and my kids to a trip to California that included:

* 2 Beach days

* 2 Sea World trips

* Knotts Berry Farm

* Disneyland

* A lazy sunday

* And a trip to Balboa Island

We really were quite the sight, but we had the best time and I really think that on top of having fun, my kids learned quite a few life lessons too.

Here's the gang:

Arriving at the Long Beach Airport

Sea World

At the end of a very long day at Disneyland

*As a side note, I picked those three pictures because they have a very funny story attached to them. Towards the end of October/beginning of November Andrew and Madeline had a piano recital. Craig was in charge of the camera there. He left it, but we didn't realize for a few weeks due to the lack of need for photos. When we finally realized it was missing we had to seriously rack our brains to figure out where it might be. The Piano Gallery was on the list. One day I was out doing some Christmas shopping and thought I might want to get the family a metronome for the big day (exciting huh?) so I stopped by Piano Gallery. I went straight to the counter and started asking questions about metronomes which were on display just under the counter in a glass case. It was only after talking to the sales associate for about 10 minutes that I looked down on the counter and saw the top picture glaring up at me with

"DO YOUR KNOW THIS FAMILY?"

written above it in BIG letters. I got so excited that I about jumped out of my pants. Then I had a good laugh at my expense as the employees brought me posters with the other two pictures on them that I walked right past on my way to the counter.

Better late than never.....

When I started this blog, it was for the sole purpose of being my journal and somewhere along the line I forgot that and did it as much for other people as I did for myself. Truth be told, I miss the journal part of it. This little blog is the best I have ever done at keeping a journal--sad but true--and I want to get back to that. This week something happened that made me stop and think about it. My kids were all asking me to tell them stories of when they were babies. I had several memories jump out at me of my oldest two, but found it hard to remember specifics about my youngest two as babies, and I was heartbroken. There are so many memories that I know are there bubbling under the surface, but I can't pull the details out. That was such a fun and exhausting time of my life and I am already forgetting it because I wasn't thoughtful or careful enough to write it down. And the more I think about that, the more I realize that I am doing the exact same thing right now. By not recording our lives, I am taking the first step to forget the hundreds of memories we are making each year, and I don't want to do that. So today, I'm making a goal to start the process of going through the 897 pictures I just uploaded from my camera and recording what I can remember so that I help myself to not forget.