Last Tuesday, our family took off for a bit of a vacation in San Diego! I had just been to babysit Katie and Jack but this was going to be Peter's first trip. We got a great deal on tickets via JetBlue....Benjamin was a bit loud at the airport but did pretty good on the flight.
We arrived really late on Tuesday night so Wednesday we took it easy and just kind of hung out together.
Benjamin met Chloe for the first time. He loved her. This picture makes me laugh because Benjamin was wearing his doggie jammies, with his dog Floppy, while playing with Chloe. So cute!
That evening Anita arranged for Peter and I to have an anniversary dinner together on the beach. The real story behind our anniversary is that Peter actually forgot our anniversary on the day of.....granted, we had celebrated in Bend, but I still give him a hard time! So, Anita made us a delicious dinner and we set off for about 1 1/2 hours of bliss on the beach. It was a bit overcast so there was no beautiful sunset but it was still awesome, relaxing, and fun to spend time together.
Before we left, we celebrated Nate's birthday a few days late.
Anita made his favorite red velvet cake that we all enjoyed!
Katie-O enjoying her first ring pop at the party!
Happy Birthday Nate!!!
Peter and Jack enjoy some laughter while Benjamin enjoys him some cake!! :-)
Thursday we headed out on safari to the Wild Animal Park. It was definitely much easier having 2 more adults with the 3 kids. It was a beautiful, warm day with a great breeze. Here's the picture recap....
I love my little family!
Couldn't you just eat him up???
Mommy & Benjamin
These two have such great smiles :-)
Katie sweetly asked to sit by and hug her mama!
Oh my precious son, always with his mouth open!
Notice the guy in the middle acting like a moron.......this show was ridiculous because he was so dumb. We left early!
3 little monkeys on a rhino
Waiting for the world's dumbest show to start, ha!
Beautiful giraffes
Should I be offended that people think my arm's are longer than the monkeys????
Cuddling with my sleeping little bugs
the animal park is in a beautiful setting
my two favorite guys
such a sweetie
Jack giving his Aunt April some sweet smiles
all tuckered out waiting for the train
lazy, lazy lion
I don't know what was bluer....his eyes or his lollipop!
yeah, it took him about 0.5 seconds to figure this lollipop thing out :-)
little Jack finally gave into a nap
pretty views
cutie pie Katie on the rhino
We headed home to let the boys grab a quick nap because that night we were off for a Mommy/Son date at Chick-Fil-A. Us Mom's will look for any excuse to spend time with our precious little guys. It was a fun evening with Anita, Jack, Benjamin and I even though we had to wait for our food for quite awhile (it's okay though, that resulted in 4 free sandwich coupons, YES!)
Fun photo shoot outside the restaurant
waiting to be seated
his baby blues were pleading with his mama for some of Jack's chocolate milk.......sorry little guy, not yet!
Benjamin looking all grown up
Anita loves her cuddle bug Jack!
Such a beautiful twosome
Um, yeah, so Benjamin loves his Chick-Fil-A chicken :-)
the flower was supposed to be for his mama, but he thought it was a toy for him :-)
Friday morning we loaded up the van and took off for Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon. The trip is always longer when you have 3 kids in the car but all in all it went well. We made a lunch stop at Big Boy along the way. We arrived to our little vacation house and met up with Peter's parents (Poppy & GongGong) We also arrived to a great spaghetti dinner she made for us. We got settled in (after ice cream of course) and called it a night.
Ha! Here's how Katie fell asleep right outside her tent in the laundry room :-)
The next morning we took off for the Grand Canyon which was about an hour away. It was a beautiful day...a very comfortable warm, partly sunny day. Peter's parents had already hiked down most of the canyon in the days before we got there so we decided to take a few "less severe" trails to enjoy the views.
Here's a few of the hundreds of pictures I took :-)
Beauty in the beautiful canyon
3 generations of Klinglers :-)
isn't it amazing?
Nate and Jack hiking along
koala bear or Katie?
Anita and Jack with his mischievous look
hiking down, down, down
it really is impressive
it seems to just change from every angle
God is very creative!
Haha, 2 stooges caught trying to make Benjamin laugh :-)
All the boys!
Ben was exhausted after the hike, I'm sure!
all smiles when we stop for a lunch break (just like his mama!)
fun memories as a family
showing Aunt April what sound a gorilla makes
my failed attempt at a cousin picture
he's soooo precious when he's sleeping, resting his hand on his daddy
it just goes on and on and on
so thankful for this precious face
Benjamin was too distracted by the canyon to take a family shot apparently!
Klinglers 2010
love the cool looking rock layers
cactus in the desert!
this hiking stuff sure is fun mom (he loooooves to be outside!)
walking along the trail
such a cute 4 year old (when did she get so BIG?)
Aunt April sure loves you Katie!
small attempt at a group shot on the shuttle bus
Jack sleeping peacefully on his beautiful mama
That night we headed back to Williams, AZ and had dinner at a cute little Route 66 restaurant. Then we all crashed back at the house.
Thanks for the hat Poppy & GongGong!
Our little cowboy
That night, Benjamin refused to finish his bottle because he wanted to stay up and watch the Oregon State game with everyone. He got away with his little scheme until he learned how to turn the volume of the game off....then he was sent off the bed :-)
Sunday we went to church at a little Baptist church in Williams and heard a wonderful, convicting message. The service even ended with a country hymn to send us off, ha! Then we took off on the road to head back to San Diego. We stopped for a few distraction Ring Pops for the kiddies first though....
Yummy Yummy!
Sooooo good!
The drive back was a bit long but we stopped for some great pizza along the way and made it back to San Diego a little before 11. Benjamin was a great traveler. He napped well in the van and was happy about 95% of the time so I was a grateful mama (since Anita & I were with him in the very back!)
Monday was a bit of a low key day because the weather was kind of cold and rainy. We all enjoyed each other around the house then headed out to the beach for a walk since it seemed to clear off a bit. It ended up being a great decision because it was a beautiful evening.
I'm slightly biased, but is he not soooo cute!!
Since the grandparents wanted to walk along the beach we stayed on the sidewalks and may have taken a slight deteor to enjoy some ice cream. Now that's my kind of walk :-)
These kiddos love their Poppy & GongGong
I sure am one blessed mama
Anita, Nate, Katie, Jack and baby Mandi(?)
This picture makes me happy
He was a little bit excited to be at the beach
I can't help but smile when I see this shot!
crazy Ben at the beach
Katie playing in the sand
Okay, so it was posed but still...........AWE!
I had a lot of fun building towers in the sand with this little guy
nice catch Pete!
ah, the lovebirds :-)
to say Peter loved hanging with his son at the beach would be a huge understatement
oops! You lifted them up a bit late there guys
they played this game forever!
It was a beautiful, fun evening complete with a dolphin spotting!
We got home and gave the kids a quick bath....
then celebrated Katie's 4th birthday a bit late. She requested a Clarabelle Cow Cake and though it was last minute, Anita made her a cute one. She was delighted.
Love the curls on this sweetie!
It's her party and I'll cry if I want to, huh Jack?!
we love excuses to eat cake!
opening her own digital camera from Aunt April and Uncle Pete!
Tuesday was our last day and since it was raining so hard we hung out at home and hit up Chick-Fil-A and Costco in the afternoon.
Benjamin played with Poppy while Mommy packed
We headed back to the airport and had a great flight home. I soaked it all in because Benjamin fell asleep on my shoulder and I got to hold him like that for most of the 2 1/2 hour flight....bliss!
The week seemed to fly by but we had a great time. Anita, as always, is the greatest hostess.
Our next visit will probably be sometime after Baby Girl Larmore is born!!
Thanks for all the fun memories.
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