The Carters: California

We flew into LA to visit with my family and to pick up our van that they had been taking care of while we were abroad. The time change was a little hard, for the first few days the kids were up at 4:00 am and ready to go, but they adjusted pretty quickly. It was kind of unreal being back in the States and so exhausted with all the changes. It was fun to see my parents who majorly shrunk while we were gone. They have worked really hard and have lost all their extra weight. There was nothing left to hug ;) I am so proud of their hard work and it was fun to be able to borrow Mom's clothes!

Our first trip to Target. Man, did I miss this store!

Grace's birthday was two days after we got back. All she said she wanted was Target gift cards, so my mom had a great idea to make her a Target cake. Ruby helped me decorate it.

She got her gift cards - she was thrilled!!!

One of the first things we did was hit the beach. It was the kids favorite thing to do. Ben loved playing in the sand, but hated the waves and water. He would get really upset when I would even walk toward the water he would freak out. Grace was a total water baby and wouldn't get out of the water. Ruby bounced back and forth between the sand and the water. We all had a great time the few times we went to the beach. That's what I miss most (besides family!) about California.

We were so happy that our trip coincided with Auntie Mur's yearly California trip. It was so much fun to hang out and play with her. She didn't know about my mom's weight loss, so when she got off the train, her shocked face was priceless!

The weather was amazing and we enjoyed lots of walks and playing outside.

The "kick-off". You can see my skinny parents in this one.

Benji was pretty happy to find Grace's jewelry box unattended :)

We had a family dinner with almost all of my siblings and their families. It was so much fun to see everyone and it made me so happy that everyone who could, came! At the end of the night, every time someone left, everyone ran out and did a big "kick-off". What a great family tradition!