Back to reality

Well I survived my first day back at work after being off for two weeks! I was so anxious last night and quite honestly, was dreading going back! I was not looking forward to getting back to reality!I love my time off! I loved spending time with my kids. I loved having time during the day to get things done. I loved waking up in the morning and sitting in my pj's drinking my morning cup of coffee. I loved the freedom of doing nothing if doing nothing is what I wanted to do.
I was planning on going to bed early last night to start the week off right. I think the clock said 11:48 when I finally shut my eyes. My plan to get a good night's sleep didn't really pan out! I woke up in the morning, opened my eyes and saw that the power had gone out and my alarm clock had nothing on it! I panicked thinking I had slept in and was going to be late for work. I woke Matt up frantically telling him that we had slept in! I jumped up, raced into the kitchen and looked at the clock. It read 5:10. Whew! I still had another hour and a half to sleep. I got Matt to set the alarm on his cell phone, reset the breaker panel as a breaker had blown; hence the power outage for the alarm clock, and we both crawled back into our bed. Neither of us really slept after that in fear that we wouldn't wake up when we needed to!
I left the house at 7:20 for work. It was really nice to go back and see everyone! It's amazing how much I missed them! I love how my coworkers have become like a family to me! If I didn't work with such wonderful people, going to work each day would be really difficult. It took about half an hour and it felt like I had never left. It was a great day to get back into the work routine!
I came home at 4:45 and was waiting for Caleb's friend's to come over. He turns nine on Sunday but his best friend is leaving on vacation Wednesday so we decided to have his birthday bash today! The boys came over, ate pizza and ice cream cake and swam in the pool.
It's now just about 7:30. The kids have gone home, the party is cleaned up, and I'm just about to get my pj's on and put my feet up before it all begins again tomorrow!

Lazy days and painted toes....

 What a gorgeous day it was today! I'm still on holidays this week and the kids and I decided to spend the day outside in the backyard. The kids swam in the pool and played on the grass. I was able to spend some time lounging and reading a book...it doesn't get much better than that! Anna decided to paint her fingers and toes......so much fun! When we woke up in the morning, we went to the local grocery store and grabbed some fresh fruit to snack on throughout the day. Summer days are so fun!

4540 km.....

4540 km later and we're home after our amazing road trip to California! We had so much fun and loved the scenery along the way. The Oregon Coast is beautiful and the kids loved seeing the ocean, the redwoods and the sea lions. We drove through quaint towns and hippie communities! I loved it! I wish that we would have had more time to stop and spend time in some of the little towns that we passed through. I think we'll be planning another trip soon to do that!
We left our home at 4:30 Friday afternoon. We were hoping to get to our hotel by about midnight that evening. 2:15 am we finally rolled into our hotel....we were exhausted!!! We dropped into our beds and fell asleep immediately! We woke up early the next morning to continue our journey. We took some time to stop at the sea lion caves. They were unbelievable! Once we finished doing that, we kept on driving. We stopped about every 2 or 2 and half hours for bathroom breaks and rest stops. We would stop for about 15 minutes to let the kids run around and get some of their energy out! We arrived at our hotel on Saturday around 10:00 pm. Once again we fell asleep right away!
Sunday was the day that we were going to be arriving in Anaheim! The kids were super pumped as were all of the adults! Before getting to Anaheim, we were going to be stopping in San Francisco....my favorite city! I love San Francisco!! We went to Fisherman's Wharf and walked along the pier. Stunning! I was hoping to spend a bit of time on the outskirts of the city but time constraints limited the time we were there. I guess another trip is needed to spend some more time in San Fran as well!
We hit the road and were anxious to get to our hotel in Anaheim. We were expecting to get there at about 7 in the evening. We were looking forward to some time around the pool and to chill a bit before we hit Disneyland the next morning. We did not meet our goal of getting there around 7:00! We took a wrong turn and did not get there until midnight! Ahhhhhh......it was crazy! We made the best of it and tried to not get too stressed out as we drove around in circles! We finally met some nice people on the side of the road who gave us really clear directions. Thank goodness! We got back on the highway, and burned rubber until we rolled into our hotel!
The next morning, we woke up to go to Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth! We met up with the rest of the family that flew in! We spent the next five days in Disneyland, California Adventure, the beach and the pool. We made many great memories and enjoyed our time together! Another successful family trip!
It was sad to leave on Saturday morning. The time had gone by so quickly.We had packed everything the night before and loaded the van up so we could just wake up and go. We woke up at 4:45 and headed down the I-5 back home. The sun was hot, hot , hot that day! At one point, it reached 42 degrees Celsius.....and our air conditioner broke in our van! We were sweaty to say the least! I put bags of ice on the kids and cold pop cans and water bottles that they held on their bodies to try and cool down. At one of the rest stops, they changed into their bathing suits so they could be as cool as possible! That was crazy heat!!!!

Sea Lions!

Kids standing on Paul Bunyan's foot!

Driving in to San Francisco! It was super foggy!

I love vw's!

Some of the family!

Mad Tea Party! This place was awesome!

Wearing Matt's hat to keep some of the sun off my head!

Huntington Beach..Beautiful!

42 degrees without A/C....we were hot!

Adding ice to stay cool!

In bathing suits!

Trying to keep cool by keeping my hair up!

A fire along the highway

We crossed the border at about 5:30 Sunday evening. It was a nice feeling being back in Canada. We all stopped at our favourite coffee shop in our town before we went our separate ways to go home. We all had an amazing time. 4540 kilometers later and we're home with memories to look back on! Can't wait for the next trip!