southern California 2010: friday and saturday

On Friday June 18th we went to the airport to fly to California -- aka "Talihoanya!" 

(One reason this was fun: usually the airport has just been the place where I drop off or pick up my husband. He's done A LOT of flying because of the Army. My last flight, April 2009, was without him, because I went to see him in L.A. Our last flight together was August 2006. . . . This was Shboogoo's second time leaving the state, and L's first.)

 

Her posture was funny. We had her hold "her bag" -- Dad's camera bag.

 

Stepping onto the plane!

This is so her, sticking her arm out. (The photo reminds me of the one my parents have of me on a plane for the first time; I was just 5 months old.) D took turns with her, too. He sat between me and Shboogoo -- of course we wanted to let her have the window seat.

L loved the cookies, and D and I both chose tomato juice (he said he always get it).

Both our girls were really good during the flight. We landed around noon. After getting into our rental car, we started heading toward a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We suddenly decided to try this place instead, since we hadn't had Peruvian food before (it was just okay, by the way). I guess one of us accidentally turned the brightness up too far, but I like the pictures anyway.

After lunch I went to Salon Ecco, in the same parking lot, and got my eyebrows done. That was a first for me; I was happy with the results. D and the girls stayed in the car (the little one probably slept). 

We checked into the Hilton (where the Army had us stay for the Yellow Ribbon event on Saturday and Sunday), met some people, and learned that hotels have play pens that guests can use. D was able to call people to track down Bill and Lynnette's number, and then we were off to see them. During D's LDS mission in Long Beach he baptized Bill. We saw them in 2004 and in 2006. They are always so excited to see their missionary and feed us. They were great with our kids, too. We ate some food from El Pollo Loco, D drove their tractor, and we made smores. Their yard is so pretty!

 

On Saturday we had to get the girls up earlier than usual so we could all have breakfast (provided in the hotel for Yellow Ribbon attendees), take them to the child care area, and get to our first class at 8 a.m. Kids Nite Out took care of them until about 5:00, not counting lunch time, when they were with us. Yes, they spell "night" wrong, but they were excellent and all the children enjoyed their time there. We had to initial a paper and show our ID each time we checked our kids in and out.

 

L had been asleep in this girl's arms for only 10 minutes when I returned to get her.

 

D's brother called to wish him a happy birthday! (My step-mom also called, inviting us to eat dinner at their place on Father's Day. They didn't know we were in California.) I loved having all that time with him, without our kids, on his birthday. I like being able to hold his hand. 

P.S. His deployments separated us on four of our anniversaries, but he always was home on his birthday.

 

I felt physically weird and had a stomachache (maybe due to the Excedrin I took in the morning for my bad headache). D wasn't feeling fantastic either (on his birthday, poor guy!). We sadly decided not to meet up for dinner with his convert Kelsey and her husband. Only the girls and I had had some of the dinner at the hotel. So some time after 7:00 when D was hungry, we ordered pizza and hot wings from Pizza Hut. (Domino's hot wings have a much better flavor.) Finally, after we had searched in some strange places, I found the rental car key in D's hoodie. We would have gone out if we'd known where the key was. But it was fun to be on the hotel beds and watch some TV channels that we don't have at home.