California 2009

There are a few things you should know about me...

#1 : I am always running behind. Well, not always. Lets say, 75% of the time. Okay, 85%. Fine, 90%. Geez.

#2 : I'm totally indecisive. It takes me weeks to decide where to hang a picture on a wall. Months to decide something as critical as wall colors.

#3 : I Never. Ever. Finish a blog post about a trip or vacation in a timely fashion. It's not on purpose. I try, really. But somehow I just can't get motivated right after we get home, it all gets lost in the shuffle of daily life, then I don't want to get behind on other things, so I skip over it, vowing to come back tomorrow and get it done while it's still fresh in my mind. And here we are, 2 months later, and I still haven't written about it. It's not the first time. It won't be the last and I've decided that it's probably all for the best. I tend to wait just long enough that the memory has faded a little and only the best parts of the trip remain. So let's look back on things through my rose colored glasses, shall we?

The Shelton's go to California : August 2009

We took a trip to California this summer for the wedding of one of Robert's oldest and best friends, Matt. Matt was the best man at our wedding. Robert has been friends with him since Elementary school. He married a beautiful, sweet woman named Marie.

But you won't get to see how beautiful she is or how happy Matt looked because I took zero pictures of the bride and groom. Have I really become the mom that seems to care about nothing, save her perfect, precious children? Don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question.

I did, however, get some pictures of the absolutely GORGEOUS Mission San Juan Capistrano where the wedding was held (... in the background, you know, of pictures of my kids).

Robert's mom was along for the trip as well, which made it doubly fun. Adeline was in heaven having Mymaw there. She spent every waking (and sleeping) moment right next to Mymaw. Linda is so full of love for her grandkids it just pours out of her. It's a lovely thing to experience.

Now, being the totally rockin' parents that we are, we went out a few days early to take the kids to Disneyland, then stayed an extra day to see the San Diego Zoo before we left.



Disney was a day full of ups and downs. Sheer excitement followed by sheer terror, followed by sheer excitement, followed by sheer terror, etc, etc. Starting the day on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride proved to be a poor choice by the parents. After Adeline recovered from that trauma, she wanted nothing to do with rides and was pretty much on edge about anything looking or sounding like a character. We saw this face a lot...

But alas, she did recover, rode a few rides, LOVED the parade, and even ran right up to Minnie Mouse for a hug!


Hayes pretty much hung out here...


or here...


... the whole time. And obviously loved every second of it.



The great thing about our day at Disney is that by the next day, Adeline had completely re-written the memory in her head. She told us, "I had fun the WHOLE TIME at Disneyland!". Good for you, Addie!



The San Diego Zoo was amazing. If you've not been there, you should go. It is so beautiful, the animals are really accessible for kids, and it is huge!