At the end of October Jon's company sent him to a conference in LA and encouraged him to make a vacation out of it with me and the girls. As we started making plans we were thrilled to find out that the hotel we'd be staying in was a mere eight miles from the Israelsen's apartment in South Pasadena. We'd finally get to meet Milo and spend some quality time with their family!
Driving from LA to the Israelsen's was quite an adventure. I'm so glad that I wasn't the one behind the wheel! Jon quickly realized that if there was another option to heading back into LA with the company car after dropping his girls off at Sarah and Paul's he'd find it! And so Paul kindly showed him where to catch the train that would be his best friend for a couple of days. It worked out splendidly and alleviated our stress levels.
The week went by much too quickly, and after all was said and done I definitely did not get enough Sarah time. But let's not focus on that! We got to spend all day together and frequented Garfield Park where Milo and Sophie proved to be almost the same size, and cooperated (for the most part) during one of many lovely photo shoots courtesy of Sarah. The girls also enjoyed swinging in swings and watching the Bubble Man; who apparently can be found blowing bubbles at the park for the children quite often. The weather was beautiful. The walk to the Park was pleasant. South Pasadena is lovely, and I enjoyed checking g out the little shops on the way there.
One morning we got to check out the beautiful homes not far from Sarah and Paul's. They were all so different and fancy and I loved seeing the "National Treasure" house and "The Father of the Bride" house. It was a great morning, although much chillier than I anticipated and my girls were not dressed appropriately for the weather. Lydia had a blanket, but Sophie was suffering. Milo was a perfect gentleman and lent Sophie his jacket. What a champ! We kept going and enjoyed the changing leaves and the feeling that Fall might actually arrive in Southern California after all!
Our hotel was super fancy and Sarah and Milo made it over to visit us our last day there. We checked out the pool and road in the elevator a few times (one of Lydia's favorite pastimes) and then on the black stairs (escalator) too. There was this really neat fountain of two fish shooting water over each other on the main floor. Everyone was really sweet to our girls and Lydia wanted everyone she met to meet and hold her dog, pig, horse or whatever she was holding and then tell them the name of her beloved animal. Martha Speaks, Pork Chop and Bulls Eye. Their responses always seemed to satisfy her.
After Jon's conference ended we got to spend our nights with the Israelsen's and enjoy some great adventures. Both our family's piled into the company's Ford Explorer and we headed to the beach! Manhattan Beach, to be exact. It was beautiful. Colder than I anticipated. Yes, even California gets chilly. (An observation I may have noted once or twice already...) We ran around in the sand, Jon took Lydia into the water and they'd race the waves further up the beach to avoid getting wet. It was a great system until I took over. Not five minutes later, Lyds was wet up to her waist. Oops. So Lydia wanted to be held. Sophie had had a blow-out on our arrival at the beach and once again Milo was a gentleman and lent her some clean clothes. But that didn't make her happy. She wanted to be held too. Sadly our girls were not loving our adventure, but Sarah snapped some fantastic photos before we thought it best to hop back in the car and return to our home away from home.
The Saturday we were there Utah was playing USC so Aunt Mary Anne generously invited us to tailgate with their whole family before the game. USC campus is beautiful, and it was great to catch up with family. The game was nothing to brag about, but being in the Coliseum was exciting and memorable. Sophie slept through the entire first half of the game and Lydia the second half. So sweet of them. The rides to and from the game were interesting to say the least. Jon said that nobody even so much as looked his direction during his journey on the train, but as soon as our girls entered on the scene they became instant celebrities. Suddenly everyone wanted to talk to us. And tell us how adorable our girls were. And that our next two babies would be boys. Wait. What?!
And later that night we crashed the Israelsen's ward Halloween Party. The trunk or treat was awesome until we realized that our family walking around without Sarah or Paul was not the best idea. Nobody there knew us. What were we thinking? Despite that, everyone was very kind and Lydia enjoyed saying trick or treat and participating in a few of the carnival games. The Israelsen's looked awesome in their costumes, and we enjoyed dressing up!
Some of the high lights of the trip that have not yet been mentioned are Lydia finding the Kevin bird (from Up) right outside Paul and Sarah"s apartment, playing Skip Bo and talking late into the night, cooking super delicious meals with Sarah (my personal favorite being the chicken pillows. Yum Yum!) Milo eating his first bites of solids. The boy is a natural. Sleeping (or not sleeping) at the hotel. It was a real challenge trying to get Lyds to sleep. We counted and said the ABCs and that worked one night, but for some reason it wasn't effective every night. Milo's elephant was a favorite with all of the little ones. We loved just spending time with family and appreciate the Israelsen's inviting us into their home! I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I had a hard time narrowing it down to just the ones shown here... Thanks Sarah! For capturing so many memories!
