Twistle Trip Day 2

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the nearest mall so Grandma Entwistle could buy Emma and Charly and Build-a-Bear for Easter. The weather was gorgeous and warm and sunny and we loved it! 

Emma liked grabbing as many hearts as she could fit in her hand to put into her bunny, and thought it was so cool when they stuffed her bunny with the cotton stuffing. The best part was giving her bunny a bath, mostly because she got to play in it too!

After the mall, we took our tired Emma home for a nap. When she woke up we all got in the swimming pool. It was all Emma could talk about while we were there, she loves to swim! She pronounces it "schwim pool" and would say with so much excitement, "Gook Mommy!! Schwim pool!!" as she pointed outside to the pool. 

Alexander and his Daddy Dan, this little guy could kick up some major waves! 

Sisters <3 Love these two ladies

Cousin Michelle and her hubby Dan with Alexander, cute lil' family!

Charlotte was neither thrilled nor upset about being in the water. I don't think she understood what the big deal was

Family pool picture!

Friday night, Emma had an "incident" with the pool. She stepped too far off a step in the pool, and fell head first into the water. She luckily knew somehow to hold her breath, and was only under the water for a few seconds. I grabbed her by the one leg sticking out of the water, and pulled her out. Seriously terrifying, but I'm so glad she held her breath. I was expecting her to be coughing and spitting out water when I got her out, but she just looked around like, "Woah, that was crazy."

After that, she was a little more hesitant to get off the step and swim with us in the pool. She kept saying, "Mommy, I fall" referring to her fall the day before. We put the floaty swim suit on her and that seemed to help, plus she thought it was pretty cool that she could float in the water by herself. We will definitely be putting her in swimming lessons this year. 

Later that night we took the pups for a walk to a neighborhood school field. I love California. LOVE. Everything is so manicured and beautiful, no matter where you go. The trees are gorgeous, the air is warm and humid, and the sunsets are to die for. 

Emma had so much fun walking Shilo and Max, and even found some "spooky" trees with Grandma. Charlotte couldn't fight the tired, and passed out in Grandpa's arms. 

"Run me, Mommy!" (Emma translation: Run with me!)

Emma and Shilo

This is Daddy at his best. Every walk after this she wanted to crawl... 

We were all pretty tired that night, but sufficiently happy with all that we did. It was a great day in Cali!

xoxo

The Twistles

The Drive...

So we left Utah about 5p.m. Thursday night, feeling good, and ready for the long drive. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel (Matt's favorite) and let Emma run around for about half an hour. After that, we hit the road and both girls did really well. 

We loaded up our Kindle Fire with lots of Disney movies, including a few that Emma had never seen before. She fell in love with Beauty and the Beast, which is one we introduced to her about a week before the trip. She refers to it as "Beast" and wanted to watch that one the most during the drive. We also showed her Aladdin, which she loved as well (how can you not love Disney?) and when the Tiger comes up out of the sand, she says, "Spooky kiki!" It is freaking adorable.

She loved the movies so much, that she stayed up until midnight (1am MST), before finally passing out. And I mean, she was talking to me one second, and then I looked over to respond and she was out cold. 

That was also during our car break down fiasco. 

It was a pretty terrifying feeling to be stuck with our two girls in the backseat. Luckily we had stopped at a gas station in Mesquite to fill up, and the car started running funny. Matt got out and lifted up the hood and within a few seconds there was a huge puff of white smoke that burst out from the car. 

Um, yikes?

We are in now way "car people" and thought of the worst right away. We for sure knew that smoke coming out of your car engine was not a good thing. 

After talking to my brother, Matt's Dad, and each other, we thought it was best to find a hotel for the night and figure it out in the morning. 

Apparently, hotels fill up over Easter weekend and we could not find any vacancies. The only thing we could find was at the luxurious Highland Estates Hotel Resort, which was an attachment to Highland Estates Retirement Community...

It came complete with a hide-a-way bed in the couch and a full service kitchen. It had a nice retirement feel to it, but we were grateful to have a place to crash for the night, even if it smelt like old people. 

We woke up and Matt went out to get the car checked on, however there wasn't anything really open and we wanted to hit the road. We prayed about it, and both felt good to continue on our trip, with the thought in both of our minds that maybe Heavenly Father just needed us off the road that night. 

The girls still did great on the rest of the drive, we stopped at a really ghetto park in Baker, CA to let Emma run around, and then after that we drove straight to Cali! 

We arrived around 2:30 and hit the pool right away! Emma loved it, she would have stayed in there all day. She has no fear when it comes to water, and would just jump off wherever so we had to really watch her. Crazy fish baby!

Aunt Mar getting some Charlotte squishes

We had a great first day, and ended it relaxing and being with family. So glad we finally made it and still had our car and sanity intact! 

Stay tuned for more Cali updates! If Miss Charlotte lets me put her down today, I'll get some more pictures up :)

xoxo
The Twistles

Twistle Road Trip!

Yes, we did it!! It was quite the adventure for Matt and I to take on, one that we will never forget!

Family of 4 fitting in a small compact car (and the luggage/supplies that go with)

Two unbelievably well behaved girls including a 2 year old that didn't complain once about being in the car so long

Car issues in Mesquite

A night's stay at Hotel Retirement Home (and the smell that comes with it!)

Lots of new Disney movies

Laughing with Matty

Countless memories made in California with people we love

It was a great trip and we were so thankful for the opportunity to be there, if you didn't follow all my pictures on FB I'll post them here. There are just a few...

Day of the road trip, we started off with eating some Frosty love

Road trip Matt and his stache...

Beast, Aladdin, and then Beast again...

Stuck in Mesquite and Midnight with two babies...

Back on the road! Isn't he handsome?

Death Valley

Almost there! Us girls were hanging out in the back

We made it! Happy and ready for the sun

Gosh, we had a great time! I wish we could have stayed longer, but the time was just right for our first family vacation with the four of us. I love California, Matt and I keep talking about how we'd both love to live there someday, even if only for a few years. Thanks so much to Aunt Mar and Uncle Kelley for letting us stay with you, and for all the good food and fun times! 

More to come!!

xoxo

The Twistles