It's summer vacation! And that means a trip to Orange County to visit Mop and Pop! The girls look forward to this trip so much. It means a change of scenery, some sun, and quality time with Mop and Pop. Now that Pop is retired, it means more time than usual with Pop, too. I'm thinking he started second-guessing his retirement about two minutes after we got there ;)
We took a lot of pictures, so I've made an effort to make this blog post a little more concise with some collages. One of these days I'll figure out all of the HTML code to display pictures side-by-side. For now, though, I've been playing around with picmonkey to create very simple collages, and then importing them as pictures into the blog. I'm probably the last person to figure out how to do this, but it's new to me!
Our little OC trip started with a very long road trip, and we left immediately after Megan's last day of school prayer service. We were all packed and ready to go. It worked out perfectly. This trip could take 7 hours...without five needy children in tow. Why oh why do they insist on being fed and entertained?? So demanding. We stopped more than a few times, and one of those stops was a picnic lunch at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.
The stop did everyone good. Before we knew it, we were there, and we started enjoying some Southern California sun the next morning with a little park visit.
Next up? The ever-popular "Buckets of Fun." I'm pretty sure we're the only ones to call it by that name. Most would probably just call it the water feature next to the neighborhood pool. Buckets of Fun is so much more descriptive! The girls had a blast having buckets full of water overturn above them. They got soaked, enjoyed the pool, took a break poolside, and then took a really nice nap. You can't ask for a better day than that!
The real highlights of this trip, though, were the swimming lessons that Mop arranged for all four big girls. They all improved tremendously with lessons three days in a row, under the direction of Mr. Matt, who should be called the swimming whisperer for the magic he worked with the girls. Without our own Matt there (someone had to leave on a plane right after the Peter Pan show to go back to the real world and teach summer school.), Mr. Matt was an acceptable substitute, and had all of the girls doing things they've never done before. Megan was even diving for objects on the bottom of the pool by the end of third day. I know this is not earth-shattering for a 6-year-old, but it's been a challenge, logistically, to expose the girls to swimming lessons on a consistent basis. These three lessons in a row were just what they needed to kick-start the summer. They were giddy with excitement for each lesson. As a side note, it took two people (Mop and me) way too long to french braid four heads of hair in any timely fashion. It's a personal goal of mine to do it myself for just one of their future lessons here in the city!
Last, and certainly not least, was our much-anticipated visit to Pretend City in Irvine. We went last summer, and we have been asked over and over if we could go again. We had some happy girls when this activity was announced! This was Mary's first trip, and she's a fan as well! It's a heaven for any kid who likes to pretend. Just as it sounds, it's a whole pretend city, complete with a post office, library, grocery store and (most popular this go-round) dispatch center. This last spot occupied Megan and Bridget for a loooong time, as they pretended to field calls with all types of disasters, and then notify the correct emergency department. Lots of button pushing and hilarious one-sided telephone calls!
Too soon, it was time to go home. A girl can get used to a couple more hands and a Mop to do all of the laundry and dishes and a Pop to run to the store for anything we needed. Lucky little girls can get used to being spoiled (more than usual), especially when they get away with things they don't do at home, like sleeping in the "fort," four girls to a bed.
We took one last photo before hitting the road.
In case you missed that part about Matt flying home solo, I was left to my own devices with these five for a long ride home. After many, many stops, we finally arrived home....12 hours later. That's a day I'll never get back. It wasn't all bad. They were actually very good. We had no pee emergencies, the DVD player cooperated with me, and I kept my cool. But, no one slept, unbelievably! I mean, these girls fall asleep on the way back from the park down the street, but somehow did not sleep a wink for a 12-hour car ride! (Okay, Mary slept for about an hour. But, that's it.)
Here is a wide-awake Mary showing off what she worked on all week --- 2 new front teeth!
What a great start to our summer! Thank you Mop and Pop for a wonderful trip!
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