Life With the Monleys: Good old Sacramento

Well folks, I can accomplish anything now. Last week I packed up my 2 1/2 year old and my 3 month old and drove the 6 hours (correction....8 hours) to Sacramento to visit my sister and her new born son, baby Eli.......and attend sister-in-law Lina's bridal shower. Yes, it was the longest journey of my life, but we got there safely and in one piece and with minimal crying - relatively speaking. How do single mothers do it?! I'll tell you how.....with a ton of patience, a Doodle-Pro, podcasts of kid stories, several kids songs and a 40 minute stop at McDonalds complete with a Happy Meal toy (Lucky Finn got a bobble-head wind-up toy of Chubaca's head on a robot's body. So stupid, but he loved it.) I don't even remember the last time I've been to McDonalds, but it was lookin' pretty good from the I-5. The week in Sacramento was a blast though, and Nate took the train up North at the end of the week and drove back with us....thank God.

Welcome to the world Baby Eli!

Joanne and I had fun just being homebodies with our babies and letting the toddlers run around, but we did manage a couple of field trips. We met mom and dad Summy (happy birthday Dad!) at the Bishops Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. This is the one I went to as a kid, and it is so vamped up now!

Wyatt feeding a goat. Finn wouldn't get near them, but this kid has 2 huge dogs at home so nothing scares him!

Little Eli and Selah just worked on what they do best....laying there like blobs.

Right after we took that picture, Wyatt kicked a bunch of straw into the babies' faces. I had to take a photo before I cleaned her off. It was sort of funny. Gotta love 2 year olds!

Finn loved this old broken down tractor.

Finn and Mama on the horsies.

Grandpa Summy and the babe.

Grandpa Summy and the boys on the train.

We headed to Fairlytale Town the next day. It's such a cool little place for kids.

Walkin' the Crooked Mile.

Taking a rest on a candle stick.

It was such a surprise gift to be able to visit with one of my best friends, maid of honor and rowing buddie, Carrie who lives in Hawaii but just happened to be in town. Our babies are only 12 hours apart, so it was fun to meet little Riley, and let our toddlers toddle around together.