California Love

After a year away we finally made a trip out to California to visit all of our family and friends. It was a wonderful, very overdue trip! The time spent there flew by faster than I had anticipated. I definitely could have used an extra two weeks! It was pretty bad timing that after 4 month of Justin being out of work and 2+ years of me being a stay at home mom, our trip had to fall on the week right before both of us started our new jobs! We could have just as easily have been unemployed in California as we were here...but alas, everything always seems to happen at once! Justin and Leila left for California a few days before Emmalene and me, I had to stay here in Texas an extra two days to finish up my training for my new job. They left on a Wednesday to join his Dad and a couple hundred other LA city firefighters on a Dad/Kids camping trip. I was nervous for him having to make the flight alone with our little motion-sick barf-o-matic (seeing as Justin is not the bravest when it comes to cleaning up throw up, but they made the trip all the way from Austin to Moorpark without any issues! From what I have been told and by looking at the pictures our little Leila enjoyed herself to the fullest on her first camping experience. She flew a kite for the first time, played with water guns, chased a dog around for hours on end and won the affection of a couple of little 7 year old girls in the RV next door. I think it was great for Leila and her Daddy to have such a special daddy/daughter bonding weekend. I am a little sad that I missed out on one of her "firsts", but I am glad that they had their special time together. One on one time is few and far between when a new sister is in the mix!






Emmalene and I flew in Friday night after I was done working. Daniel and his buddy picked us up from the airport and my first stop was In n Out! I missed that place! Of course I got animal style french fries, which just means a bunch of cheesy goodness on top. It's probably a good thing that there isn't an In n Out out here near me or else I might be a beast! Saturday night Emmalene had her very first slumber party away from Mama and spent the night at her Nona's house. I took advantage of this very rare moment of both of my babies being elsewhere and had a few friends over to the house. I called it "Party Like You Got No Kids". I had so much fun! It was great seeing all my Moorpark people again. I've missed them so much.




The rest of the trip was spent with family. Emmalene got to meet a bunch of cousins, Aunties and Uncles that she'd never met before. It was definitely a jam-packed week. We are hoping to be able to get back out there sooner than later.