Spring Break in San Diego!

I FINALLY got my computer back!! You have no idea how long a month can be until you have lived through one with no computer (mostly meaning "Internet"). What did people do in the 70's and early 80's?

Since Ryan has been gone (8 weeks now with two more to go) we have been having two of the young women from the ward come over twice a week to play with and watch the kids so I can clean the house and such, uninterrupted. The girls are great and the kids adore them. Easton took it upon himself to teach Nancy (17) how to play xbox kinect. It was hilarious hearing him encouraging her, "that's okay, you're doing a really good job." it was like he was the 17 year old.



Creed has become the self proclaimed funny man (also what the kids call Jerry Lewis) of the house. He takes his role very seriously. In school they made leprechaun paraphernalia that Creed loved to wear. He became an expert hat repairer (he was a little more generous with the tape then I would have liked) but that hat lasted three days! I think by the end there was more tape then hat left.The thought of having the kids home for an entire week by myself brought tears to my eyes so I called up ol' ma and pa and asked if I could share the torture, I mean joy, of spring break with them. They were so great to agree.

We drove down to San Diego on Friday without a scratch on the car (which was amazing!). I knew that driving for almost 6 hours with 5 kids in the car would not be easy; but that was kind of an understatement. Yikes!!

Aunt Brittany was nice enough to let us come spend Saturday at the Bunker house. The kids weren't even afraid of the dog this time. We had a little pizza party for lunch ... (notice the funny man)

and then took a walk to a local park. I thought it funny that Brittany brought a stroller for Austin and yet my kids were the only ones I ever saw in it. I think Austin only got a couple of minutes in it. But not to worry, when he wasn't in the stroller he was usually being accompanied by the hand (weather he liked it or not).

There was an amazing area by the park that the kids LOVED. There were all kinds of statues and colors, snakes (not real) and rocks. We could have spent much longer there.

Of course each kid wanted a picture of themselves on each statue. Brittany was much nicer then me and I think she took about 100 pictures of the kids climbing, posing and being silly.

It really was cool to walk around and see everything there. Just the rocks and glass that were used was really fun to look at.

Easton is standing on a snake head if you hadn't noticed. He wanted to have is arm in there like the snake was eating him but then decided to go with his "Native American pose." I think he got it off Pocahontas.

So Parker and Avery went with the "being eaten" pose. If you haven't seen the movie Madagascar there is a part where Alex the Lion turns wild and bites his friend Marty on the rear end. The kids are normally not supposed to dwell on that part because they end up saying the world "butt." Anyway, it was pretty funny when Creed saw Parker and Avery posing and said under his breath, "Uh Alex, you're biting my butt!"

This was the main statue in the middle. I should have taken a picture of the underside of the inside of it too, it was pretty amazing.

So that concluded our Saturday with the Bunkers. We watched General Conference on Sunday and then geared up for a week long party. On Tuesday we went to mission bay and then on Wednesday we went back again with the Bunkers. It was a cool day, temperature wise, but that didn't stop the kids.

Seriously, we were chilly just standing there watching them. They played in the water for a good 30 minutes though. We had just bought new bathing suits for all the kids the day before. If they had one like Maks in my size I totally would have gotten it. Grandma Kim described it perfectly when she said she looks like a birthday party.

It was really hard trying to get all the kids together for a group photo.

Finally we got six out of the seven and we called it good.

That is Makay, Avery, Parker, Creed, Easton and Beckham. Where is Austin you ask? He was the only one with sense enough to be cold.

When the kids finally came out, Grandma was great for warming them up.

We forgot to bring kites, thank goodness for Brittany. Easton loves kites and at first was a little embarrassed to be seen with an Aerial kite but he got over that pretty fast. How the heck did my little boy grow up into such a big kid so fast!?! Look at him, he's huge!!!

There was a playground near by so the kids ran around and warmed up while the women cooked dinner on a mini grill. I think it was a first, not having a man there to do the grilling (insert a Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunt here).

The kids adore Austin and Avery! I just hope they didn't "adore" them too much. 5 kids, all giving too much of a good thing can get a little overwhelming sometimes.

Over all it was a party week and very bearable for me, so by all accounts, a success. Thanks mom and dad for being our entertainment for what would have been, a very rough week. Britt, it was great to see you and the kids! And a special shout out to cold stone creamery, thanks for letting us women (me, Britt and Mary) have some much needed (at least on my part) therapy. Oh, and also to Jared and Andy for letting me steal your wives because I don't have a husband right now. I have the best friends and family in the world!!