California

We took a quick trip to California the weekend before Christmas to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We didn't do a lot of the normal California things that we have done in the past. We mostly just wanted to spend time with my parents. The kids had fun exploring all of Grandma's toys. Alyssa played tennis with Danny. We pulled out a Christmas puzzle (which we did not finish before we left, even though Alyssa and I worked diligently on it for 3 days). On Sunday, we slipped away to go see Danny's brother, Brian, and family. Bobby's family also joined up with us after church and we had a BBQ and let the kids have fun playing. They recently moved into a new house, so it was nice to see it in person. Unfortunately, I did not remember to take any pictures while we were over there.

In planning for the trip, I asked mom if there was anything around LA that she could do that she thought the kids would enjoy. She came back to me with Disney on Ice. That idea got shot down when we learned that our boys, who were not yet fully vaccinated, would have to take covid tests in order to go. We thought that would be too much of a hassle, so she didn't get tickets. After we got to their house, Mom mentioned this Christmas lights display at the LA arboretum. Since it was outdoors, there was no need for vaccinations, and she thought she could handle the mile walk around the gardens. So on Monday night, we headed off to the light show. It was actually really cool. The kids loved it, and mom made it around the gardens with a few rest stops.

We were so glad that we were able to go down there and spend this precious time with Grandma and Grandpa. It was also nice to escape the cold and soak in some warm California sunshine.