I know this is a lot of pictures so I'll try to be concise in my explanations. We landed in CA around 11:30 am on Wednesday, August 6
th. Our flight was probably the best we've ever had. Emma usually doesn't do so well with the whole sitting still aspect of flying in an airplane. After we landed we ate some lunch, the girls napped and then vacation started. Once Charis' bathing suit went on it only came off for bedtime and church. She loved the pool and we were in it every day.
Emma wasn't in the best of moods, that is, until we discovered why...I'll explain that later.
Our first dinner in CA. It was so nice outside. We ate dinner outside almost every night!
Only 2 words come to mind...ebony & ivory. You'd never even know they were related!
Charis the fish.
We ate breakfast outside many days too. Here Emma ate breakfast, took off her
jammies and started playing with water. Charis did the same, changing into her swimsuit right away and staying in it almost all day.
Charis & Emma helped Papa take care of his tomato garden.
Charis was able to pick some as well.
The girls loved swimming with Mimi & Papa.
Deidre brought Maddie over on Wednesday afternoon. We all fell immediately in love with her! She's so cute! This swing is the same one as that Emma is in 7 pictures up.
Once we got there Emma decided that she'd rather not sleep, but screamed instead. After 2 days of that I took her to urgent care. She had no symptoms and hadn't even had a cold but I didn't think the screaming was unwarranted. We saw the most incompetent doctor in the world but he diagnosed Emma as having an ear infection. He prescribed an antibiotic and off to the pharmacy we went. The doctor had written the wrong name on the prescription (probably because he didn't speak English) and he prescribed something that didn't exist...nice, huh? So after 45 minutes in the pharmacy dealing with the very kind pharmacist and his really green assistant (he didn't even know how to work the credit card machine) and on and off the phone with the doctor, we finally got it all figured out. So I gave Emma her first dose of the medicine and put her to bed. At about 11 pm that night she woke up screaming. I held her and rocked her and ended up sleeping with her in my parents' bed. At about 3 am she woke up again screaming. Not just screaming, she was shrieking and shaking and turning red. She couldn't even sit up straight. She was curled in a ball on the bed, shaking and crying. I really didn't know what to do. She literally screamed herself to sleep and collapsed on a pillow. A few hours later she woke up again. She was really out of it and tired but at least she didn't seem to be in pain. Eventually, she got better and she finished her medicine and we started sleeping again. This picture was taken while we were waiting in CVS...forever.
Maddie sleeps in Emma's old bassinet. It was so cute to see her in there. Emma had a hard time leaving her alone when she was supposed to be sleeping. Although, that might have had something to do with the bassinet being in the middle of the living room.
She also had a hard time leaving Maddie alone in her swing. (This is the same swing that Charis & Emma were in as babies.)
Charis loved holding Maddie.
I LOVE this picture!
Uncle Jesse is such a good uncle. He tried to read Charis a story but I think she'd had sugar or something. This is not exactly story time posture (That's not a bruise on the inside of her leg, it's mashed up blueberries).
Once again, in bathing suits out by the pool.
Papa and 2 of his granddaughters.
Here's the other granddaughter...the crazy one.
I have never seen Jesse so tired. He fell asleep outside and everyone was out there. We were playing, shouting, yelling and he didn't even flinch. It must have something to do with having a newborn.
One day I took Deidre to get a mani & pedi. It was as much of a treat for me as it was for her. It was so relaxing and fun to sit and talk totally uninterrupted.
Another day, Mimi took us to the Hollywood Bowl for their Summer Sounds for Kids Program. It was so fun. The kids (Charis) watched a 45 minute musical play, which was really cool! Then they went and were able to make a craft. Emma fell asleep in the car on the way there. It looked like she was holding on for dear life.
When we got to the Hollywood Bowl Emma was in such a great mood!
And she readily posed for a picture with Mimi too. (I think she still wasn't feeling well.)
Charis loved it! She had so much fun. When we walked into the stage area she went right on ahead and sat with the other 50 children down in front. She danced and sang right along with the performers.
This is such a cute picture of Deidre & Madison!
Aunt Dottie arrived that Wednesday. There's 96 years difference between the two!
Maddie loved Aunt Dottie and Aunt Dottie loved Maddie!
Ben flew in on Wednesday then on Saturday we went to my favorite place in the whole world...THE BEACH!!! (I'll actually take any beach as long a it's on an ocean.) Ben's brother (Mike) drove up from San Diego with his girlfriend, Kathleen. This was the first time we had ever met Kathleen. All of Ben's family came to the beach too (mom, dad & 2 brothers). It was so great! This was also the first time Emma had ever been to the beach. Notice how clean she is. This was just as we were arriving.
Charis loved Kathleen! Kathleen is a preschool teacher so she knew just how to dialog with Charis and Charis loved it!
Now notice how clean Emma is.
YUCK! She ended up being like a breaded piece of chicken. It was sand on top of sunscreen on top of sand on top of sunscreen. I was so paranoid about her red hair and white skin complexion that I applied sunscreen once an hour...and she didn't get burned. I on the other hand, well, that's a different story. I was so concerned about the girls that I didn't much any sunscreen on. Zero, zilch, nada. One word...OUCH. I'm still peeling from it.
Grandma took Charis down to the water. Both girls loved it. Emma was squealing with delight. I waded out until the water level was at my waist then I would hold her and wait for the wave to crash on us. She thought it was the best thing in the world. Charis did too. I held her for awhile but she kept wanting to go deeper so Ben took her out farther.
Kathleen, Mike, Kathy (Ben's mom) & Ben. The waves were quite big and there was a strong undertow. We saw the lifeguards rescue 3 people!
Grandpa took a nap.
If you look really closely you will see that Emma is eating a cookie...mmm...looks good, huh?
At one point Grandpa was laying on the blanket and Emma just crawled over and laid next to him. I thought it was so cute!
Then Grandpa moved the blanket so she could be in the shade.
On Sunday we went to church and all 3 grand-girls (Charis, Emma & Madison) wore these super cute matching outfits I bought for them. We decided to take a family picture since this was the only time we were all going to be together the whole trip and we don't often get to see Aunt Dottie or Aunt Jennifer.
(From Left to Right: Aunt Jennifer (my mom's sister), Jesse (my brother-in-law), Deidre (my sister), Madison (my niece), Aunt Dottie (my great-aunt), me, sleeping Emma, Charis, Ben, my dad & my mom.)
I took Ben to the airport before night church then that night after church the children's ministry hosted a family fun night. They were showing "John the Baptist" on a big screen and had pizza, popcorn & candy for everyone. Emma and I stayed about 20 minutes but Charis stayed over an hour with my mom and Aunt Dottie.
Emma enjoyed the popcorn.
Maddie...again.
Monday was my Aunt Dottie's 96th birthday! So she took Charis to the American Girl Place in Hollywood. Charis had a blast. When I was a little girl I had a Molly doll. I've since given it to Charis so we planned on bringing her with us when we went to CA. I forgot it. I was so sad. But since Ben was coming later he said he would bring it. But when we arrived in CA there was a big surprise waiting for us...one of Mimi's friend's daughters (Erica Sanders) had also outgrown her Kirsten doll and gave her to Charis! Charis now had 2 dolls to take to the American Girl Place. Only Kirsten is in the picture because while the girls were at lunch Molly was at the doll hair salon getting her hair done...seriously.
That night we played outside...hopscotch, handball and other fun child-ish games. Emma had the best seat in the house!
Aunt Dottie holding Maddie.
Aunt Jennifer just took a cake decorating class so she made this beautiful cake for my aunt. When my mom and I were planning her party I asked her if she had any birthday candles. She said she didn't but she had these white Hanukkah candles. I asked, "And why do you have Hanukkah candles?" She said, "Because they were on sale."
Emma & I after a long day in the pool...she's got some crazy hair!
On our last night there I was giving the girls a shower in my parent's bathroom. Charis was tightly wrapped up in her towel with her arms pinned at her side. She started to walk and slipped on the tile. She wasn't able to stop herself and ended up landing mouth first onto the travertine.
She was so brave!
The last day we were there Deidre brought Maddie over in this adorable headband!
This is the last and final picture. We were on our way to the airport and were saying our goodbyes. There were a few tears. I can't wait until we see them again soon!
Emma did horribly in the airport. I think people actually tried to change their flight so they didn't have to fly with us. We also saw this guy in the airport. Weird! I have a lot of fun videos too. I'll post them later.
This is another, "Oh! Emma!" moment. She's dug a hole in the wall. Yeah, she dug a hole. It's like she's trying to escape through the walls. I can just picture her sneaking down at night and when we're not looking and using a contraband chisel to dig the hole. Little does she realize she's digging into the stairs. Oh, well. A few nights ago we noticed Emma chewing on something. Once Ben fished it out of her mouth we realized it was part of the wall! Ben commented that at least when she grows up we can always say that she used to chew on paint chips. Then the other day Emma pulled a chunk of plaster out of the hole and handed it to Charis. Charis thought it was a freeze dried apple (Emma eats those a lot) so she put it in her mouth. That was very funny! So now we have this hole in our stairs...I wonder what she's going to do next.
This is another, "Oh! Emma!" moment. She's dug a hole in the wall. Yeah, she dug a hole. It's like she's trying to escape through the walls. I can just picture her sneaking down at night and when we're not looking and using a contraband chisel to dig the hole. Little does she realize she's digging into the stairs. Oh, well. A few nights ago we noticed Emma chewing on something. Once Ben fished it out of her mouth we realized it was part of the wall! Ben commented that at least when she grows up we can always say that she used to chew on paint chips. Then the other day Emma pulled a chunk of plaster out of the hole and handed it to Charis. Charis thought it was a freeze dried apple (Emma eats those a lot) so she put it in her mouth. That was very funny! So now we have this hole in our stairs...I wonder what she's going to do next.
And Emma seemed to enjoy Miriam's little brother's car seat.
She has also begun to LOVE playing 
She hugs them an burps them and wraps them up in blankets and puts them to bed. 
It is so cute! (She's kissing the baby.)
And last but not least...
She's taken to drawing on the walls. The first day it was with a pencil then the second day it was with a pen in the exact same spot. 
