okay, back to the summer road trip . . .
Here's a few random details from the California leg with posts covering some of the bigger events coming later.
All dressed up for church on Sunday . . .
And just our family . . .
My dad currently serves as a counselor in the branch presidency of a Spanish Branch in their area. (A branch is a church unit that is smaller than a ward). He learned the language in Argentina while serving his mission and he still uses it nearly everyday as most of his employees are Hispanic. My mom helps out in the branch as well, so we all decided to attend. Usually the missionaries will translate the talks & lessons into English through listening headsets for visitors But there was some confusion this Sunday as they were meeting in a different building due to construction, a different time, etc. So the whole family got to enjoy an hour of Sunday School, all in Spanish.
The best part of the day happened as we were sitting in the room before the meeting began. A hispanic gentleman introduced himself and shook hands with the family. As he went down the line Conner stood up and said, "Buenos Dias!" We all got a little giggle out of that. I love that he was just trying to be friendly!
Of course we did a whole lot of swimming. After watching Mason's tricks all week, on our last day & totally unannounced, Conner attempted his first ever flip off the diving board . . . and nailed it! It was awesome. (Mason was home to help my parents with some upkeep around the property. It was great that we were able to play with him too.)
Payton finally got really comfortable in the water and was swimming and jumping all over the pool.
and Anna was just cute.
Of course all this swimming and the comfortable temperature of the pool was made possible by the hot hot summer days. We sat in the low 100's everyday, except for one day when it dipped down to 98 and I have to say it almost felt kind of cool.
The timing of our trip was very intentional. We wanted to get out of Oregon as soon as school was out, and go to a place where summer existed in the month of June. (Now look at us, in mid-July, still hovering around 70 and still getting rain. I tell ya, )
While we're enjoying the sun and heat, the frogs are trying to escape it. I caught this one in the hallway outside my bedroom. We think it hitch-hiked on a damp pool towel.
This frog was not so lucky.
We also enjoyed spending time with Sam & Heidi and their kids. At the lake, on the 4th of July, and for dinner at the house. Their kids are so cute. I love watching Carlee and Anna together. Preston is all boy, tough but with a soft side. And Audrey . . . I could just eat her up. Conner also really likes her and when it was time to say good-bye he was so sad. "Awwww, but I haven't finished her kung fu training!" We decided that he could make some kung fu training DVDs and send them to her.
We enjoyed a few outings during this trip, but mostly we just hung around the house, swam, relaxed, and soaked in the love from grammer and papa.
more california posts to come: on the lake, 4th of July, cousins, a date
