Our Family Maddness: California Trip - Nov. 13 to Nov. 20, 2013

We took a road trip to California to see Matt's brother and his family. First reason was to show off Kara as they hadn't seen her yet. 2nd reason was to have a fun family vacation.

We took Matt's parents with us, but we drove separate cars. Can't really fit in the back sit of a car with a car seat and 2 adults. We left on Wednesday morning right after Matt got off work from working graveyards. He rode in his parent's car so he could get some sleep on the way down.

We stopped in Reno overnight as it was dark by the time we got there and we were all sick of being in the car anyway. When we stopped, Kara had a blow out, so we had to change her on the trunk of the car. I thought it was quite funny but Matt didn't.

We stayed at a casino for really cheap and they had surprisingly comfortable beds. We put Kara in the tub for a makeshift crib. It worked out perfectly.

We got up the next morning and finished our car trip to California. We checked in Matt's parents at the hotel and then went to Mitch and Libby's. We toured their house and showed off Kara. We couldn't spend all the time with them as the boys had school, Libby taught preschool, and Mitch had to work. So we went on a couple adventures on our own. We took Matt's parents to see Muir Woods on Friday after having breakfast with Mitch before dropping him off at work. On Monday, we (us and Matt's parents) went to Alcatraz, while the California Monson's had their daily activities. Lets just say that the activities were fun, but the roads were not. California traffic was horrible and the roads and intersecting highways proved to be a little confusing. Don't put a hungry baby and a nursing hungry mom in those conditions. It equals anger and irrational Abbie.

But the time we did get to spend with the California Monson's was fun:

Went to the elementary school for some clean fresh fun. Matt enjoyed playing tag and football with Nate and Sam.
Enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together...Libby even got me cranberries.
Played bocce ball on actual bocce courts. California's bright idea.
Movie nights with the boys
Matt played video games and Matt's mom actually played too.
Hung out at the house

Muirwoods - Matt's dad wanted to see the monkeys from the movie Planet of the Apes, but we didn't see any unless you count some of the monkeys in the pictures. Getting to Muir Woods wasn't the greatest as the windy roads of the coast really played a toll on Matt's nerves. We also took Matt's parents on a hike in the woods. A little long of one. We also went to Stinson Beach while we were so close.

We had fun but the traffic trying to get back to the California Monson's was horrible. Matt lost his patience.

Alcatraz was fun, but exhausting. We went left the house early to make sure we would make our tour on time, which we had time to spare. Alcatraz is an island which is hilly, so we had fun hiking up the hills to get around. The audio tour of the prison was fun once we figured out the listening devices. If you wanted to stop and look at something longer than the audio you would have to push pause. That was the tricky part for Matt's dad. The tour was enjoyable. We ended with a movie about the prison at the end. The crappy part was we missed the 3:45 fairy by 5 minutes so we had to wait for the 4:30 fairy. I luckily brought food for Kara, but nothing else. We were hungry by the time we left as we didn't have lunch and we hit traffic. So this time it was my turn to lose my patience. I was navigating an ended up taking us on the wrong freeway. Well it wasn't easy to get turned around to go where we wanted to go. So needless to say we spent the last day in California in traffic and not with the California Monson's.

More California moments captured:

Pit Stop in California so I could feed Kara. Love these pictures with Kara and Matt's mom!

Uncle Mitch and Kara hanging out.

Eli and Kara. Eli finally warmed up to her, well realized she was a baby and settled down around her. He nicked named her "Cuzzy Wuzzy". He was adorable with her!