California

We spent a wonderful week in California at the home of my sister (Lizzie) and her husband (Dan) and their six boys (Soren, Anders, Karsten, Oskar, Jesper, and Magnus, aka "Paggy").

Diana spent quite a bit of time on one of their two swings. All of the kids loved the swings.

Diana fell asleep during one of her times on the swing.

Penny on the other swing.

Ari (my other sister's oldest child) came with us to California. He had a great time playing with his cousins. Here he is playing chess with Dan while Anders does some homework.

Ari helped Lizzie cover one of their veggie boxes.

Early-morning family scripture study.

Having a meal together.

Here I am reading to Diana and Paggy.

We spent a day at Oceanside Harbor.

Diana and Sam

Anders, Soren, and Ari . . . and a photo-bomber behind them.

Dan had to work, so he brought his work to the beach.

Anders, Jesper, Paggy

Oskar showing off his sandball.

Douglas loved being in the water.

Daniel, Lizzie, Sam

Diana, Anders, Soren

Diana helped me do some laundry.

I made crepes a couple of times during our stay. I had to 10x the recipe each time and the young people gobbled them up.

Mmmm, crepes. I suppose I should say "Mmmm, crepe toppings," because Diana liked the toppings more than the actual crepes.

They went through two containers of Nutella.

Paggy made sure nothing from this container was wasted.

Diana loved it when Lizzie did "This little piggy went to the market . . . " with her.

Diana also loved it when anyone would do "Hands" with her.

Sam tried out one of the little bikes.

Oskar, Ari, Karsten, and Jesper playing a card game. I'm going to venture a guess that those kids (and we adults, too) played literally hundreds of rounds of card games and other games during our week there.

Looking at family photos with Jesper, Diana, and Penny.

Look at that happy breakfast smile on Diana's face.

Taylor (Sam's sister) is currently residing and working in California. Sam and I drove north with the kids to visit Taylor on her birthday and we all went to Huntington Beach to play. Both of our beach days in California were far too cold and windy for me (not to mention the smoke from the fires), but the kids had a great time.

I dug little bathtubs for Penny and Diana.

Sam and Taylor on the boogie boards.

Taylor brought two kites and Penny absolutely loved hers. She held on to that thing for over an hour while she played. The windy conditions were perfect for kite flying.

Taylor's friend, Nick, joined us for a little birthday celebration.

Lizzie is really into homesteading these days. They acquired three feral cats to become mouse hunters for their property.

This is Gimli (named after the redheaded dwarf from the Lord of the Rings movies).

Dan and the boys making a chickshaw (a mobile chicken coop). Unfortunately for us, their 22 chicks arrived the morning after we left. They also ordered two Chinese geese to protect their chickens from predators in the area. See, the Chinese really do make everything, even geese.

The finished product.

All 22 chicks arrived safely.

Paggy holding a chick.

Jesper holding a chick.

Soren and Anders holding chicks. Dan watches the fun.

The day after we left, they also started babysitting (ducksitting?) four ducklings for their friends, who left town for five days.

One of the ducklings. Oskar in the background.

On an early-morning walk with Lizzie and Dan.

They received another shipment of wood to make additional garden boxes.

Paggy and Douglas hauling wood into the garage.

Penny helping to move some wood.

Karsten reading to Diana. Jesper watches.

Playing another card game with the boys.

Lizzie got out the kinetic sand for the kids so that the adults could play together as well.

Diana: "Would someone please tell Penny to stop touching me?" Trust me, little Diana, we have told Penny over 1000 times to stop touching you.

Lizzie babysat our three children one evening so that Sam and I could visit our favorite San Diego-area sushi restaurant (Harney Sushi).

Penny and Diana checking out the cats.

Look at that happy face!

Lizzie's six boys have ukuleles. Here Soren gives a quick lesson to Douglas.

Paggy and Douglas trying to hold me up to do the wheelbarrow.

Diana playing with Sam.

Showing off their outdoor feet.

This is Diana's routine whenever she changes into her pajamas before bedtime. She runs around showing everyone her partially-removed shirt.

We gave each other lots of hugs the night before we left, because the next morning we began our 10-hour drive back home well before dawn.

To Lizzie, Dan, and the boys (and Taylor!), a huge THANK YOU for giving us a fantastic week in California. We are already looking forward to coming back next year.

Bonus video for anyone who made it to the end of this LONG blog post:

Lizzie sent this funny video out yesterday. Soren and Anders try to collect the geese to put them to bed. They named the geese Thor and Sif after the Norse god and his warrior wife.