Headed up North

Greetings friends and family,

I'm a little behind on posts lately because of the week of adjustment in Sacramento, but i'll get caught up in the next few days because I have virtually nothing on the agenda.  This will be the first Friday, Saturday, Sunday, together as a family, in months that we have zero scheduled activities.  I've never been so excited to do nothing before.

OK, so back to our space shuttle trip to the California Science Center.  We closed the place down and headed for the Hilton Checkers.  We chose this hotel because it is 10 minutes of the highway and 10 minutes from the space shuttle.  It was also the cheapest hotel we could find with two queen size beds!  I had no idea it would be so difficult to find a room with two queens.  For our purposes it was the only option because Kendra and I can't share a twin and we weren't about to splurge for two rooms and leave the twins in their own separate room.  We had a blast downtown.  We walked to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and back.  Then the rest of our evening was just a wind-down from the day and getting the twins to go to sleep. Kendra and I were so wiped out that we went straight to sleep after they did.

Guess who woke up at six-o-crack in the morning?  Easton, of course.  We had breakfast delivered by room service.  This was a first for Easton and Layla.  They were blown away by the idea that you can call the hotel and they bring your food right inside your room.  This alone was an experience they'll never forget.

We slowly made our way to the car for the second leg of our trip to Sacramento.  Remind me to never travel on Memorial Day weekend again.  Traffic was stressful, but uneventful.  The battle wagon was roomy, comfortable, and speedy.  We've made this trip about 20 times.  This was the first trip with our minivan.  It was a whole new level of comfort.

The very next day we were at a birthday party of Kendra's friend's kids.  No need to wait around for moss to grow under our feet, right?  The pool was a bit colder than the one we left in Phoenix, but we were lucky to hit an unseasonably hot streak in Sacramento.  The warm day made for a refreshing swim.

The twins jumped right in with their old pals.  I wasn't concerned about them in the social situation, but I was happy to see their friends received them right into the pack of kids.

No.  just....  no.

Kendra is more than welcome to hold a baby anytime she likes.  Neither of us have those feelings of "you know it would be so wonderful to have another baby."  We are perfectly happy with the 4 Webbs and have no desire to expand our family.

On the way home from the birthday party we saw a squirrel, a dear, and 8 wild turkeys.  Easton was shocked.  he kept asking, "are there really wild turkeys in California?"

From the second we walked in the door of Ouma and Oupa's house, it's been all about them for the twins.  That's perfectly fine by us!  One of the things we wanted to quickly jump into was riding bikes.  The ones Oupa got for them are the right size, unlike the bikes for Layla Easton we have at home that are one size too big.  Kendra and Dad took the twins to a local park for some lessons.  Step 1: learn to push your own bike up the hill.

Step 2: have some fun while you're at it!  This isn't supposed to be scary or sad.

Step 3: get up some speed and go, go go!

Since I wasn't there I can't speak to the details of their biking adventures, but they considered it to be a successful first time out.  I'm planning to be there for the weekend lessons to get a first-hand account of their riding.

We also met for a lunch time gathering of Kendra's friends at a local park.  I brought my camera, but was not much in the picture taking mood because I was busy sitting around doing nothing.  Kendra and I mingled with the dozens of friends in this big circle of relationships.  The twins were off playing in the playground and running around.  Every day that goes by is another level of independence.  Kendra and I don't hover over the twins and bark orders about not eating dirt or how to treat a friend.  We're pretty much done with that stage and it feels good.  One parent of a two-year-old had to sprint towards the street as the little one had wandered too close to the edge of the park.  In that moment I realized how far we've come as the twins are getting older.

The most interesting thing that happened was Easton finding a frog.  he showed all the other kids and eventually let one little girl have it.

There are no frogs at the parks in Phoenix.  At least, not the ones we go to and not this time of year.  Well, I'm off to wrap up my work week so I can get back to having fun with the whole family.

See you soon!