California Vacation

PART I

Mid July we left for our first ever family vacation.  All 4 of us!  We had such a blast.  Prepare to be over loaded with pictures and stories!

We drove the whole first day to California.  We stopped at the salt water flats since I’d never seen it.  That place is pretty neat for pictures I think!

            

We weren’t sure if we were going to make it all the way to California but the kids were doing so great in the car that we pushed ahead and made it to my grandparents house that evening around 9pm.  My grandma usually goes to bed around 8 but she stayed up to say hello to us and give the kids hugs and kisses.  Grandpa, Brian and I stayed up for a few hours talking.  Tyson didn’t have a wonderful night.  Apparently I let Tyson have 1 too many licorice in the car ride and that led to some stomach issues.  Lesson learned.  (I may want to eat junk food in the car but kids really should.) The next morning Tyson learned about the putting green in their back yard.  That became his favorite spot of the house.  He would just play out there for hours trying to hit the ball into the holes. 

We did some fun things with Grandma and Grandpa.  We went to the Jelly Belly Factory.  Poor Grandpa has probably been there more times than he would like.  He’s a good sport.  Tyson loved it and was so excited for the free bag of jelly beans at the end of the tour!  Andrew slept pretty much the whole time.  Grandpa was shocked that he didn’t even make a peep during the whole tour.  That’s my Andrew! ;)

The next day we went to the Western Railway Museum in Solano County, CA.  We got the flyer for this museum at the Jelly Belly Factory and Brian and I figured Tyson would love this.  And we were right.  He did.  Here are some pictures.  At one point while walking through the engines I asked him if he was having fun and he said, “Yes.  I love all of these engines!”  Thanks Grandma for taking us. 

 

All of the old electric trains were lined up in rows and you walked down the aisle to look at them.  Everyone went once but Tyson wanted to go again so me and Andrew went back through with Tyson.

A few trains we were able to climb in and see!

 

Here’s Ty and Grandma Murray on the Electric train car wait for the ride.  It was a pretty jerky and bumpy ride but it was really fun.  I personally enjoyed myself and I know everyone else did as well.

This is what Andrew did the whole train ride…

 

Tyson and the “conductor”!  I love this picture :)

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come and visit.  We had so much fun.  Thank you for the delicious meals and all the chatting time.  We love you very much and can’t wait to come back and visit.  Tyson was really upset that we left your house.  He didn’t understand that we weren’t going back.   I didn’t get a picture of Grandpa holding Andrew but I should have.  Apparently he isn’t too fond of holding babies.  I learned that he has never once changed a baby’s diaper.  I made him hold Andrew because Tyson had to go to the bathroom.  I just shoved the baby to Grandpa and took off.  I actually didn’t really realize how he doesn’t really like to do that.  I came back though and Grandpa was holding him and laughing and smiling at Andrew.  I have the image in my mind but I wish I could share that with all of you.  My Grandma sure loves kids.  She held Andrew as often as she could and was always there to listen to Tyson talk about his puppy, trains and whatever else comes out of that kid’s mouth. 

Part 2 coming up tomorrow…