Jackson Hole

In the last week of October, we decided to take a weekend jaunt up to Jackson Hole before winter came. We stayed in a lovely lodge in Teton Village. The park was mostly quiet and deserted, and especially pristine. One morning we took a walk to a lake. It was frigid and still. The air was cold and the lake was like glass. And Esmé was freezing. She made sure we knew it, too.

After our trip to the lake, we had lunch with an incredible view of the Grand Tetons and went home for naps and swimming.

Corona Del Mar and On to Vegas

 On our final Sunday in California, we attempted to go to church. Attempt failed. We made it through ten minutes before everyone (including me) was melting down. So instead we drove to Temecula to visit some family then stopped at the beach on the way home.  The sun was going down and it was beautiful.

From California we drove on to Las Vegas, where we spent five days at a trade show. It was an arduous week and our hotel was less than stellar, but we survived.

We had a long, long, long drive home from Las Vegas, and by the time we sputtered into the driveway, we all felt like collapsing out of exhaustion. It was a three-week marathon, but we survived and I was very proud of what troopers my little girls were!

California Adventure

Disneyland is a magical place, but let's be real here: a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old are hard to handle. Even at Disneyland.

I made the mistake on our first day at Disneyland of rushing Esmé onto the Snow White ride first thing. It severely traumatized her (understandably). So much of that day was spent convincing, begging, and occasionally even forcing her onto the rides. It was surprisingly crowded and quite warm, too. And Penny had to wait out a lot of rides, so in the meantime she'd dart out into the crowd and blend in like Jason Bourne. It was exhausting, but I'm still glad we went. And I'm especially grateful we had my parents there to help out, and that Roo sat out the fun water rides with the girls so the parents and I could enjoy those. Overall, it was a good trip. But I think taking my children to Disneyland was the most exhausting thing I've ever done, second only to giving birth to them!

Disneyland

A Fall Walk Up the Canyon

California Trip (#2 of 3)

A month after our trip to Disneyland, Roo and I went back to California to check out some schools for Roo's MBA. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we made it to my favorite building, the Griffith Park Observatory, visited UCLA and UC Irvine, and ate some dang good chicken dinner.

Meanwhile, Esme and Penny tried on Mr./Mrs. Potato Head's accessories.