Visiting The Taylors in Palo Alto, California

A couple days after Easter the kids and I flew to Oakland California to See Nolan's sister Holly and her family. 6 years ago I started this blog and my very first post was a trip to California. Things have sure changed in 6 years.
I was definitely nervous traveling with three kids by myself but everything went so smoothly I would do it over driving!! Emma slept both trips there and back, and the flying experience, snacks, and pop kept Grace and Thomas so happy the whole time. Right when we got landed, we were greeted with the Taylor family. I was so excited to see them, and so were the kids. Our first drive together they were all so hyper in the back, Holly and I did not know what we were doing with six kids 8 and under! Haha
We decided since we were already in the city we should do city stuff.

We drove over the Bay Bridge, then we went to Golden gate Bridge Park and had a picnic, then to a science Museum. It was cool. there was a butterfly room, a ton of cool animals to see, an earthquake simulator, and a huge aquarium. The kids loved walking under all the fish and sea animals.
After about four hours there, we headed to in and out and got some dinner, and then went to Holly's apartment. The kids had been begging us to get there as fast as we could. They were so excited to play! And play they did, all week they were inseparable. I loved it. I have really close relationships with my cousins, and am glad they all go along so well.

The next day we went to the local Palo Alto Museum. It was another hit with the kids. This was a little smaller, so Holly and I could visit quite a bit while the kids ran around. I feel pretty lucky to be so close to Nolan's sisters. It made me feel so good that she wanted us to come out so much even though Nolan couldn't come. 2 years ago Nolan and I went to Hawaii with Holly and Kent and I've always really loved being around Holly. She's so positive, patient, and probably the easiest person to talk to that I know. She is interested in everything going on in our lives and always has good advice and input. I respect and love her so much.

It would be a vacation with Holly if we didn't shop so we did that a couple times during our trip. I got a few things that I love. We also went to Santa Cruz Beach for a day. Holly kept apologizing that it was windy and not super warm, but we did not care. It was snowing back home! Thomas I think loved it the most.

He spent the whole time, like 4 hours chasing waves. Grace did for a while and then explored with Jordan. Emma was our sand devourer!

 She loved it and if she wasn't playing in the sand she was not happy with me, so I stopped fighting it. She had a rough week, she didn't sleep too great and had a fever our last couple of days there. We took her to the Dr. when we got home and sure enough she had strep! She was a trooper for being that sick.

It was general conference for our church that weekend so we watched it Saturday and Sunday while the kids terrorized their apartment. We also went to a lot of other really great parks the rest of our trip, and ate yummy food.

 I couldn't get over what a beautiful place Palo Alto was. We'd been twice before, but never during the spring and I kept telling her how hard it would be to leave even though I desperately want them to move closer.

It was pretty hard leaving. We had a great time and loved being around them. Thomas even said Jack was more like a brother than a cousin. And Grace said playing with Jordan was the best part. Thanks Holly for entertaining us and making probably our last trip there to see you such a memorable one.

 It was good to get back to Nolan though. We'd been gone for 2 weeks. He probably will get mad at me for documenting this, but he got pretty choked up when he walked in and we were all there to hug him and welcome him home from work. He couldn't believe how much Emma's hair had grown in that time. She was excited to see him. Thomas had missed quite a bit of school with our spring break, Boise, and California. The kids in his class thought he had moved. It was pretty funny. When they found out he had flown and went to the ocean it was like he was a celebrity. Made me laugh, and he felt pretty cool :-)