Matt and Kristin: California

Warning: There are about a billion pictures here. I know I always post a lot of pictures, but this is even more than usual!

Labor day weekend we took off for California for the week. The drive out was uneventful, which is good. Matisyn was not at her best though, and I realized not having a binky in her mouth really makes her louder and more demanding on a long drive. In all fairness she did do pretty well considering it is a 12 hour trip, but she used to be amazing just snuggling her binky and blankie. Emilyn was a great traveler, especially when she was given a new toy to entertain her.

The night we got there my mom made a special dinner for us and Grandma Anne and Aunt Linda came over.
The next morning Matt and Chunk went for a bike ride. Chunk just got a new road bike, and Matt needs no excuse to get out on his bike. That day we swam at Cousin Kay's. They are selling their house and we were grateful for one more time in their beautiful pool. Matisyn loves the slide, and is still a brave little swimmer. We spent a lot of time this week in water, which is how Matisyn would have it everyday if she could.
Labor day we headed to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (I remember it from when I was younger as Marine World). It's like Sea World and we had a great time seeing the animal shows and going on rides.
Tuesday we went to Don Pedro Lake with mom, Chunk, and his girlfriend Kayla. Sadly, the seadoo decided not to function well so we ended up having a picnic and swimming in a little man made lake next to the big one. Matisyn didn't mind, she just wanted to be in the water. That night we had a scare with Emilyn. She threw up, actual throw up, not spit up in large quantities, six times. By the last time there wasn't much left. Poor little thing was so tired, but everytime she tried to fall asleep she would throw up again. When I took her temperature it was surprisingly low instead of high. It was 94 degrees so we bundled her up and tried to warm her up as much as possible. My mom ran to Walgreens at midnight to get a thermometer so we could get a rectal temp and decide whether or not to take her to the ER. Matisyn always likes to get sick when we're out of town or on holidays too! Luckily by the time we took her temp again it was 96 degrees in her ear and 97 rectally which is on the low side of normal. She had a couple other symptoms the rest of the week, but was generally a happy, healthy baby. When I called the nurse the next day she didn't think anything I mentioned should have caused those symptoms and thought it was weird. It is more normal in newborn babies. She said just to watch her. I was happy we never had to take her in and she got better on her own.
Wednesday we spent some down time at the house and then went over to spend time with Jill, Jody, and Therese, and let Matisyn and Kate play. There was more swimming!
Thursday we spent the day with Grandma Anne. She served us a simple lunch consisting of a five course meal! I love her food! That evening we went to dinner at my sister Diane's house. Matisyn swam again! It is always fun to catch up with friends and family we miss so much being away.
Friday Matt went for a bike ride with my brother in law, Reed, and I attempted to pack with the girl's help. My mom left for Yosemite and we headed to Folsom to spent the weekend with our best friends, Mike and Alison. It was nice to have so much time with them. We did not do much on Friday, but the kids played happily and the adults talked happily.
Saturday Mike and Matt did a 70 mile bike ride, most of it uphill. They finished and said although they were in the last group to complete the ride, (only because Matt got a flat tire!), and they were exhausted, they had a great time. Alison and I took the kids to the park and had lunch. I had a scare when Matisyn disappeared when I turned around for 10 seconds. It's scary how fast that can happen. Parks make me nervous for that reason, I feel like I can never take my eyes off of her. . . which I can't. After running around and finding her nowhere in the park, and nobody having any idea who she was, Alison running around the above soccer field asking people, and tears from me, I had a feeling I should check the bathroom. I figured it was a long shot because we had never been to that park before, how would she know where the bathroom was, and she always comes to tell me first. I opened the door and there she was grinning ear to ear. "I went poo poo Mommy." I think it took a few years off of my life, but seeing her cute little grinning face in that disgusting bathroom was definitely a highlight of the week after the fear I had felt. Saturday night the very tired Dads took charge of the kids and took them to Carl's Jr. to have dinner. Alison and I enjoyed a glorious girl's night out beginning with a movie, All About Steve. Then we came back and fed the babies, and went back out for dinner at Mimi's and a little shopping. It was much needed time to ourselves.
The next day we went to Apple Hill not too far from their house. There are a bunch of different farms that sell produce, have little activities, animals to feed, pony rides, face painting, treats, etc. We stopped at three of them. Matisyn's favorite was getting to pick our own apples off of the trees. She was so into it, and loves to eat "her" apples that she picked herself. The next farm she got to feed chickens, goats, and cows and ride a pony named Sunny. The last farm we ate lunch, got treats, and bought lots of yummy fruit to bring home with us. That night Alison made a delicious dinner and we had apple crisp for dessert. It was a happy, apple filled day. We got up early the next morning to head home so Matt could be back to work on Tuesday.
Thanks to mom and Mike and Alison for putting us up and feeding us for the week. We feel very loved, and we had a great trip.

I was impressed at mom's bravery. She used to not even swim unless it was 100 degrees out and the water had to be pretty close to that warm. The conditions were not that way, but she swam with Matisyn and even did the big slide!

Cousin Kay holding Emilyn

Fetter Family with Baby Emilyn

SIX FLAGS DISCOVERY KINGDOM (Land, Sea, and Air) We only made it to sea and air!

Matisyn ran right up to the characters again. She is not shy when it comes to these guys.

Swings with Daddy

At last, Matisyn was able to ride on the tea cups with her Daddy. She's been wanting to ride the "spinner cups" ever since Mom and Grandma refused to go on them in Disneyland. I happily watched from the sidelines with Emilyn!

Our new favorite roller coaster, The Medusa.

This guy kicked her over because as you can see he is a little top heavy and can't see his feet. Matisyn ran so excitedly to him he didn't even see her. She ran to me crying but only took a few seconds to run back over to him for a picture. He felt really bad, but she obviously got over it quick.

Matisyn's first roller coaster. She wasn't even scared, and it was actually pretty fast.

Here is a series of pictures to show Matisyn at each of the shows.

The Killer Whale show was first and you can see how excited she was to watch all the tricks.

Then she got her face painted, she chose a pony.

The next show was the sea lions. She is still liking it, but slowing down.

Here is the last show, the Dolphins. You can see she is crashing. She ended up falling dead asleep during the show in the middle of the cheering crowd. It was a big day.

Don Pedro Lake

Walking the dock with Kayla

Enjoying the water despite the seadoo being broken. She loved her new life jacket that helped her float.

The boys working on fixing the seadoo, no luck.

Emilyn with Grandma

I'm sure my mom will appreciate this picture, but I had to capture the facial she got from Matisyn.

Kate and Matisyn sunning themselves.

Emilyn with her Great Grandpa's chair. It's been around for a long time, and all the kids have their pictures taken with it. My Grandpa did, my mom, me, and now my girls.