California Catch-Up Part IV: The Final Chapter

After about 3 weeks in California it was almost time to go home. Dave flew out to CA two days before the Fourth of July so he could spend the break with us and then drive with the kids and I back home.

Jared and Camryn had happily spent days on end picking fruit from Grandpa's trees in the backyard and playing with Marty. Jackson became addicted to clementine oranges ("Ownge! Ownge!") --he could reach himself from Grandma's fruit basket-- and would eat 5 or so a day. He also happily spent his days dumping stuff and terrorizing Marty. But all good things must come to an end.

The day before the 4th, we all went to Great America for a last hurrah (thanks to free tickets procured from my mom's friend Terry). Jared was tall enough to go on all of the rides in the park, so Dave took him on pretty much every single one. Jared loved it! Camryn was almost tall enough to go on all of the rides, but could still go on most of them. The older kids had a ball with daddy, Alisa and Grandma. I on the other hand... am pregnant. So no roller coasters for me. "That's fine," I thought, "I'll just take Jackson around and do some of the kiddie rides. It will still be fun." I went to go on the putt-putt cars (that go about 5 miles per hour on a track) and the sign said, "This attraction is not recommended for park patrons who are pregnant." The putt-putt cars? Is it just me or is this the fruit of a litigation-happy society where people want to protect themselves from liability. (I went on the putt-putt cars anyway... I guess I just tried to pass for fat. I know... I'm bad, risking the life of my unborn child by riding the putt-putt cars.)

But that was one of the few rides that I actually went on. We decided to split up and Dave took the older kids to the thrill rides while I went to ride kiddie rides with Jackson. We came to all the Nickelodeon rides and I went to take Jackson on "Dora's Dune Buggies." Guess what? There was a sign that said, "Not recommended for park patrons who are pregnant." Really??? You mean it is safe to take my not-quite-two-year-old on this ride, but I can't go on a little car that goes in circles at 1/2 a mile per hour? So, again I threw caution to the wind and risked everything by riding Dora's Dune Buggies with Jackson. Later we went to the water park and, shockingly, the lazy river wasn't off limits for pregnant women! (Maybe they figure that we get the whole lazy thing pretty well.)

The highlight of the day for me was when Jared and Camryn went on the bumper cars for the first time. We ran into a friend of ours (from our ward growing up) who was there with his boy. Everyone (except Jackson and I) went on the bumper cars together. It was Jared and Camryn's first time to ride bumper cars and steering was a little bit harder than expected, especially for Camryn. Camryn could not get her car to go more than a few inches before it spun and stopped. She and Jared ran into each other and they could not get untangled. The more they tried to separate, the more they kept running into each other. Meanwhile they were blocking almost the entire lane and pretty much the entire room of bumper cars was stopped in a traffic jam behind them. Poor Camryn was upset and in tears, but I couldn't stop laughing. How the kids had managed to make a traffic jam that stopped the entire ride was beyond me. Auntie Alisa made Jared and Camryn's day by buying them stuffed snakes. We finished the day by riding the famous double-decker carousel (hooray, they let me on!).

On the 4th we had an amazing barbecue. We gorged ourselves on Dave's grilled steaks and mom and dad's friend Dan's AMAZING ribs. We had tons of yummy side dishes and stuffed ourselves silly. Mom and I took Jared and Cam to watch fireworks while the PARTY POOPERS of the family (i.e. Dave, Dad and Alisa) stayed home to work. Sheesh. What are they trying to be? Responsible? But Dave made up for it by doing sparklers with Jared and Camryn when they got back from fireworks.

The next morning right after church, we headed back to Oregon. The 3 weeks just flew by. And now you won't have to read any more California Catch-Up posts.