California Dreaming

Family trip number 2 for the summer: Meagan is due to have a baby during the week of July 24 and we were invited to visit and await the birth of the second Judi girl (Rogers grand-daughter). Lorie went out with Jackie to play mother and help with the baby -- really to hold the baby and play occasionally helping with the chores (ha, ha). She did help Meagan and Derek a lot with the house hold chores and played with Brooklyn and held Emma. If you can't tell Grandpa is just a bit jealous.



Driving was a cinch as all three of the younger girls Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee drove almost the whole way. From Salt Lake City to San Jose, interstate 80 is fairly easy to drive and Nikki had her licence, Rachel has her learners permit, Hailee is not really of age but the time has come that she needs to learn to drive also. She drove from west of SLC across the saltflats to Wendover. I had a real enjoyable time and slept a lot. The parental opinion is that she might as well start learning now and that route is an easy drive with an occasional drive.



Playing with Brooklyn was very enjoyable. She would laugh and giggle and just run all over. There were times when she wanted only grandpa but mostly she played with her aunts and was very happy getting them to take care of her dolls or reading her a story or going shopping. We went to the beach on Monday and she and grandma built a sand castle while everyone else played in the surf. She helped bury grandpa and was tired in the afternoon as we spent the whole day at the beach, something she is not use to. The beach was at Santa Cruz and there were various animals either flying or swimming off in the distance. Jack was able to swim very close to a sea lion out in the surf. The sea lions would sun themselves on the pier near the beach and then go for a swim in the waves.



Meagan did have little Emma early Sunday morning, very early Sunday morning. She is a cute little girl and we love her very much.