Quick CA Trip

Toward the end of April - and early May - we were able to take advantage of the time together as a family. We decided (very last-minute) to pack up the car and head down to Camarillo for a visit. The kids were fantastic during the 17 hour drive - which makes us think we will be doing that more often!

While visiting Grandma and Grandad Gerry in Camarillo, we got to play on the blueberry ranch a lot. It was harvest time -- and there was a lot going on! The least of which was us driving around on the "trekker" (a cross between a golf cart and 4x4) while tossing handfuls of fresh blueberries into our mouths! YUM!

We saw a few people while down in SoCal. We visited with our dear friends, Matt and Lindsay Pelascini (aka: the Pickles). They just had their son, Javan ... and we loved playing with Giovanna and Simone! We saw Jeremy's Dad, Mark, and Jeremy's baby sister, Elizabeth. We were able to have dinner with Jeremy's sister, Katherine, and her family (John, Evan - and even got to see Chloe). Not to mention visiting with my sister, Joanna. On Sunday, we visited River Park Community Church (Oxnard) - which is pastored by our friends, Damon and his wife, Janna, Delillo (and their 4 kiddos). I can't ever forget to mention the many other family members we ran across as we cruised the blueberry farm!

We were able to take Gideon and Ellie to Disneyland. And -- had a BLAST! The visit was smack dab in the prime of the "Swine Flu" chaos... so we were somewhat hesitant to go with all the hype. But we decided to go anyway (and we are SO glad we did .... the swine flu really did turn out to be a hyped-up event for us!)!! Because of the public health concerns, there were NO lines. And I mean - NO lines! We walked on to every ride (with the exception of the Dumbo ride... It's a mystery to me as to why THAT ride was the crowded one still)... we even had our own private cars on most of the rides - including our own boat on the Pirate's of the Caribbean.

Ellie's Kindergarten class had been reading a book called, "Flat Stanley." Each kid colored a Flat Stanley and was instructed to take pictures of him in different areas of the world (or send him to people that would). This helps the kids learn events and geography. The kids make a poster of the pictures of Stanley's trips and present it to their classmates. Stanley has now gone around the world a few times -- it's so fun to see! Well, needless to say, Stanley came with us - as you may spot in some of the photos!

It was a great trip - and one we are so thankful we were able to take. While there, our house sold up in Tacoma. The following week, we were able to enter into a contract with the house we will be moving into on July 9th. With all the changes, we now know it will be awhile before we are able to make another trip anywhere. At the time, we didn't figure that would be the case -- but God knew!