The train to California left Salt Lake City at 11:30pm so we kept the kids awake and then before the train pulled out of the stationed I tucked them in for the night. They slept all night (amazing) I however slept, well not all night!
Sunrise out our window...this was one of the moments I was actually grateful not to be asleep, it was pure beauty.
While on the train you can get up and move around. This is the lounge car. It has nice comfy chairs and all the walls including most of the roof are windows.
My kids are traveling pros. The normal drive to California takes around 11 hours, during the summer. We do not ever drive out there in the winter the moutain passes are just to much stress to deal with. However on the train it took 14 hours, but we did not have to drive and we slept for half of that without any worry. The kids were just content to sit and listen to music or watch movies, it made the whole trip stress free for mom!
When we arrived the kids were suprised to find the weather warm and the season was still fall. It was wonderful to leave behind the 30's and spend some time in the 60's! They quickly understood why I did not pack their winter coats and were very grateful.
Normally when we stay in Cali we stay with my Dad but this time we decided to Stay
with my grandma. It was so nice to beable to have some fun quailty time with Nana!
The kids got to paint their christmas ornaments for this year at a ceramic shop. It was fun to see their different creative styles come out.
Stars birthday was the day before we traveled out to California so we thought it would be fun to have a family party for her while we were there. We went to chuck-e-cheese (I hate chuck-e-cheese) and the kids had a blast!
On Thankgiving we went to see wreck it ralph with the family, the kids love being able to see movies in the theater and it gave the turkey chefs quiet stress free time before our dinner.
On to the feast! We all gathered up at my Moms house for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. She did a fabulous job preparing delicious food and entertaining for 19 people!
Star and Bree and Cousin Reina this is Pearls little girl!
The rest of the trip we did a lot of family activities since all our extended family was in town. We went out to a little pond with my Aunt and Uncle and my Cousins and their families. My uncle taught us how to do some fly fishing and the weather was warm and absolutely perfect for the outdoor adventure.
We visited the dog park a lot with my grandma and her dog Susie, it was great excersise for the dog but even better excersise for the kids! On this trip my Cousin Ruth and her husband Nate joined us with their doggie Molly. Again just family fun! PERFECT!!!
Baking cookies at Gammies!
And decorating christmas ornaments with Pops!
While we were there the weather was beautiful, like I said before it was like stepping back 2 months in time! However, I LOVE RAIN, I love the kind of rain that is just going to soak you to the bone. I love the kind of rain that encourages dancing, frolicking, and laughter! For the last week of our trip it was off and on again this kind of rain, and I was so so so happy!!! My kids were so impressed they have never seen that costal rain where the drops are the size of your thumb. Here in Utah we get the hand me down storms all the rain is mostly spent and most of the time it is to dangerous to play in because of the lightening. But this storm was safe and I sent them outside to play and enjoy the downpour.
And like all good things this to had to come to an end. It was weird leaving after only 2 weeks, considering our normal 4-5 week trips, but it was trip that we are already planning to repeat for thanksgiving 2013!
