August 16th- 19th • Another Flat Tire

The final adventure to Southern California! It has been really fun for me to go back and write about some of these amazing adventures. I have forgotten some of the things that have happened until I look through my notes and photos. We started the morning of the 16th at Cathedral City, CA then took the drive up to Salinas, CA for a tractor purchase. Our final stop for our August trip to see my family was Laguna Woods, CA. We left early that morning hoping to get to our hotel by a decent time. It was only a 12-hour drive and really shouldn’t have been too bad of a day.

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We actually started out making pretty good time. Then of course we got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere but, we were close to a turn-off and there was a small Mexican tire shop that was able to help us get a new tire and back on the road again. That burnt up a few hours of our time at this point it was already 2:46 pm but we had high hopes for getting the tractor and to our hotel at a decent time still. We then got to Salinas, CA and it was dark when we went to check the tractor out and of course more problems the tractor wouldn’t start. It seems that only the days that we are pressed for time that when issues always arise. We did get everything sorted out, the tractor loaded on our trailer, then headed to Laguna Woods. We were supposed to be there by 10:00 pm but, of course, hit a major traffic jam on the interstate. We finally arrived at our hotel at 5:30 am after a super long day and night of driving we all got settled and to bed. But Noah and Malachi were excited that the breakfast was opened and they ate before getting some sleep.

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The next day when we all had finally woken up we headed to my brother’s house. Over the last few months, John has grown to love his Uncle Kyle. It reminds me why we started this trip in the first place and that was to spend time with family. It makes me so happy to see my kids spend time with their cousins and be able to get to know their aunts and uncles. My children are so blessed they have a relationship with my papa, not many people can say they have a relationship with their great-grandparents. I really feel the true meaning of life is family and the connections we make in our life. These will be moments our children will never forget and will be forever grateful that they got to spend time with family.

We were trying to get into vacation mode as this was truly the first time in months we had any downtime. With that being said we had to get a few things done before we are totally relaxed and enjoyed the pool and family time. We dropped the kids off at my brother’s house and then headed to get the new tractor all cleaned up. We found a carwash although it wasn’t the largest carwash we made it work and got the tractor all cleaned up and ready to sell. We then had supper with my brother and his family before calling it an early night and heading to bed.

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For the next few days, we spent time with my papa and my brother’s family. The older boys stayed at my brother’s house and Malachi treated everyone to his cooking. The little kids stayed with us at the hotel. We enjoyed the warm weather by swimming and taking walks. We have made it a tradition now that we take Chick Fil A to my Papa’s house at least once for a lunch date. This was shaping up to be an awesome beginning to our August vacation. Kevin was planning a special day with our nephews. That will be in the next post. So come back soon and see all our exciting adventures.

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