California

 Alyssa had spring break last week and since Danny is getting pretty busy at work with it being so close to the Grand Opening of the Convention Center, we decided to head off to California on our own. We stopped in Henderson, Nevada, on the way down to see my sister and her family. The girls had fun playing with their cousins and I enjoyed hanging out with Christy.

On the way into LA on Tuesday, we stopped and visited Maryn, Robbie, and Lydia. Alyssa and Ashley enjoyed playing with their cousins most of the afternoon and I had a chance to catch up a bit with Maryn. We fortunately had good weather so that the kids could burn off some of their energy at the park. We headed for my parents house in the early evening and ended up hitting some pretty heavy traffic due to an accident on the way. We were glad to finally get there around 7:30.

Wednesday fore casted rain, so we thought we would go see "The Lorax." I was a little worried about Ashley sitting through the movie, but she actually did really well. She had a large sprite and some popcorn and she was happy. The movie was cute and I learned that I really didn't know the story at all. I must have missed reading that story as a kid and as an adult(reading to my own kids).

Thursday promised cooler weather, but no rain so we headed off to Kidspace(a children's museum). Unfortunately, there were a lot of school classes that thought that would be a good idea too. It was super busy most of the time we were there. This was the only time that I thought to pull out the camera, so here are some of the pictures from the morning.

The Anthill

 The top of a climbing tower. They made me climb all the way up there with them to take a picture.

 Interactive play

 Climbing web

 Rock wall

 Another climbing structure

 Tricycle track

 Giant grasshopper. I thought Ashley would love this, but she didn't seem all that excited about it. She was nice enough to at least pose for a picture.

When we got tired of the crowds and we had done everything, we headed out and hit McDonald's on the way home. The girls made some friends in the play place and ended up playing for a long time. We bribed them out of there with ice cream and cookies.

Friday had thunderstorms, so we threw out our list of activities including the zoo, beach, aquarium, parks, etc, and headed out to another movie instead. We saw "Mirror, Mirror." I really didn't think Ashley would make it through this one, but Grandma and Grandpa got her a snack pack with popcorn, whoppers, and a drink and she was happy for most of the movie. She pretty much talked all the way through, but I'm used to the nonstop talking so it didn't bother me. We were also fortunate to only have 3 other people in the theater with us. Alyssa really liked the movie. We went out to dinner after the movie.

Our plan was to take off really early on Saturday and drive all the way back. After the warning call about the weather from Danny, I looked at the forecast and decided that I didn't want to drive through the snowstorm promised to Southern Utah that day. After checking with Christy, we decided to make a stop in Henderson on the way home too and ended up leaving Grandma and Grandpa's house after lunchtime instead. It was nice to be able to break up the driving, avoid driving in snow, and to see Christy's family again.

It was a nice vacation and I was glad that we were able to go. The girls have a tainted view of California weather, but it was nice to just spend time with my parents.