California

The kids and I and my 11 year old neice Katie left on Thursday morning (June 28th) to head to Corona, California where my Grandma was in ICU.  Driving with kids is just so not fun but it is what it is.  We got to the hospital about 8 pm and I left the kids in the lobby so I could go see Grandma.  She did not look good.  She was on a bipap breathing machine and it was not a pleasant sight to see air being forced into her body.  However, she was alert enough to recognize me.  She could not talk but she grabbed my hand and put it against her heart.  I was able to spend an hour with her before the kids destroyed the lobby.  So grateful I made it that night because the rest of the time I was there, she was asleep and not alert at all.  I feel like I was able to say goodbye when she was awake.  The next four days was spent going back and forth to the hospital for short periods of time.  She died on Monday morning, just a few hours before we left to head back home.  I didn't take a picture of her in ICU except this picture of her hand.  I wouldn't want my last picture to be me hooked up to a zillion things in a hospital bed.  So I snatched the pic below from a few years ago to remember her by.

Virgie Eleanor Hand

Since I couldn't have the kids with me in the hospital, we had to find things to do to entertain them in between hospital visits.  Katie was so good to help me with the kids that I wanted her to have some fun too.  We just happened to be staying at a hotel next to Chuck E Cheese so of course we had to hit it up. 

Katie is not looking like she is having fun in these pics but she really did enjoy it.

Our hotel had a nice, cold swimming pool that we took advantage of multiple times.  Katie says all the swimming was her favorite part of the Cali trip.

We also went to Huntington Beach while there.  The kids really haven't had a beach experience, which is weird considering the beach was always part of my childhood summers.  They fell in love with the beach quickly and of course got sand everywhere.  I mean EVERYWHERE!  Took forever to get all that sand off but it's all part of the beach experience!

Feeling beach sand for the first time :)

Aleah and Katie loved "jumping" the waves

Joshua was content with a bucket and shovel

I love these pics of the girls.  So fun.

We left on Monday (July 2) but with all the sun, lack of sleep and craziness of the week, I could not stay awake driving.  I knew I was in trouble when I was getting drowsy before I even made it to Barstow (about an hour and a half away on a 11 hour trip).  I finally decided to pull over in Mesquite, NV and get a hotel.  Just didn't have any more tricks to keep us on the road safely!  We got home late Tuesday and I was so happy to be home!  So were the kids.  They missed their daddy.  My grandmother's funeral was arranged for this upcoming Monday (one week after she passed) but we could not stay that long.  I'm bummed I won't be there for the funeral but so grateful I made it to say goodbye.  Overall, the trip was a good one.  Hopefully the next time we go to Cali, Evan can come with us and we can take the kids to some of my other childhood places-- like Disneyland and Sea World.