A trip to Visalia I know it’s like 100 degrees in April.
Besides the obvious reminder as to why we live in San Diego it was very nice to
reconnect with old family friends. By old family friends I mean friends of the family
long before I became a family member. It has been fun over the years to have
other LDS members mixed in with Rodd’s family. It gives me a sense of connection
not to mention that the Faress family ROCKS!!!!
When our extended family planned a weekend trip up to
Visalia how could we pass it up? First off I had no idea how hot it was up
there or that would have been reason numero uno. But we packed our car and
drove up the state. We stopped in LA at Griffith Park to visit the observatory.
It is by far the best one we have yet to visit. Palomar observatory is a dump
in comparison. As we explored the different areas of the museum and interactive
booths we came across Einstein and well the photo tells it all. My boys think
they can be an Einstein. One thing they all have in common is that quirky
personality that’s for sure. :0)
We looked at elements and weighed in on every planet. It was
a good break in a long drive. The view is amazing but as you can see LA had some bad smog in the distance.
Then it was time to hit the road again. Did I
mention it was a long drive? On the road as we got out of the city you could
really smell the cows. Well, at least I hope it was the cows. With my kids you
never know what you are smelling.
We all crashed at Bassam’s house…THANK YOU Bassam!!! It was
a fun adventure. They next day we all headed to Sequoia National Park.
I must
say I was not excited to look at humungous tree’s. I know it is a nice
adventure for some but really it’s just not my thing. We lucked out and
encountered a kids weekend along with FREE entrance. Now if that doesn’t say
meant to be I don’t know what would. The kids had a blast exploring different
stations that all had something to do with the nature around us.
We learned
about water safety and even got to go on a nature hike with a tour guide.
Now of
course the boys were on top of the world literally.
On to the adventures, because after all we did come to see
VERY large trees. Second stop Lunch. The higher we got the more snow we saw. Well okay those family members who live in the snow will laugh so I guess I will call it slush. Nonetheless it was fun to throw at each other.
Okay now it's off to big tree search. We parked our car and headed to the trail head and found an adventure for the boys to climb on. That stalled our trip by a few more minutes and good thing because...
Seriously no one mentioned the 3 mile hike down a hill and
then back up. I know I am trying to get back into shape but still you gotta
really want to see big ‘ole trees to risk a lung explosion. Oh and we are in
the mountains people shortness of breath doesn’t help when climbing mountains.
Guess what we found the VERY large Tree and of course we are with family so it's photo time. Smile everyone!
The hike back up really wasn't that BAD. I will admit.
I did have to hold Elly there at the end and we did have to take some rest stops. I blame the little legs. Not mine my girls.
I escaped with only one set of tears from Elly and an attitude from Gabe. All in all I call that a successful outing. Last stop driving through a big Tree..Seriously who gets to do that..check off my bucket list.
The real adventure was on the freeway drive home. I had my window down and of course a bee flies in and searches for Gabe all the way in the far left seat of the car and stings him on the eye. I must say looking back Rodd was pretty stoked to finally have a chance to use an epi-pen. We had to put it right into his leg and we opted to watch him rather then take him into the hospital. He did okay with only one Epi but boy I thought I got attitude before he was not a happy camper. He swelled up as he came off the epi-pen but his body handled it very well. We are glad to have seen the process. I feel more comfortable sending him to scout adventures now!