Home to Cali!

Well, we got to take a brief, but very enjoyable trip to California for a few days last week (sorry to everyone we didn't get a chance to see, it was very short and jam packed).

I think Addison's favorite thing there was the dog. Every time she woke up...well really, it was almost every waking minuet that we were at my parent's house, she wanted to be out to see the dog. It was pretty funny.

She also loved playing in the pool. There is this giant shallow part (really it's the first step to the stairs, but my parents made it big so little kids could play on it) that has bubblers on it that shoot up water. Addison LOVED these! She loved sitting right next to them and splashing the water that was squirting up. The only tricky part for her was the actual sitting down. She'd get close to the bubbler, and then bend over to set down and get a face full of water. It was pretty fun. She had a great time.
On Thursday we went to Balboa and Newport Beach. That was a lot of fun. I can't remember the last time I rode the ferry.

Addison LOVED the beach. At first she wasn't sure about it, but she settled in pretty quickly. I realized she's never played in a sand box before. She thought the sand was the most entertaining thing in the world. She would pick it up, throw it, and then laugh. It was pretty funny...as long as you kept your distance. On the way home from the beach the Vaccination clinic called from Provo and informed us that we might not be able to get the Yellow Fever Vaccine before our Africa trip because of the huge waiting list. I was not very happy since a month ago they told me it shouldn't be a problem. I called several other clinics in Utah to no avail.

Friday morning we frantically called clinics around Southern California to see if any of them had it. We finally found one and booked it over there. When we got there, they only had one left. Bart gallantly let me have the shot and declared that he wouldn't mind getting sick, "Yellow's a pretty wussy color, how bad could it be?" (I'm sure his gentlemanliness didn't have anything to do with how much he loathes getting shots.) Fortunately the nurses at the clinic were amazing and were calling around town for us while we were waiting. They found another clinic that had one just down the street. So a few hours and $300 + later (it would have cost us half as much in Utah), we went back to the house vaccinated against the wussy Yellow fever.

That afternoon we went to Discanso Gardens. I forgot how beautiful that place was. It was supposed to be cool that day, but it ended up being pretty warm. We decided to go home a little early because Addison seemed to be getting pretty hot. I think she was also allergic to something because her left eye was watering like CRAZY by the time we got home. She also had a good time watching "Increadibles" on the big screen downstairs that day.
The next day I think I had some reactions to the Yellow Fever shot. NOT fun! I got this TERRIBLE headache, so I took some pain killers and took a nap. When I woke up I felt better for about 5 min, then the headache came back. I decided to tough it out and Bart & I went to lunch with my sister and brother in law. Then we went to a movie. It was a lot of fun, but by the time we got home I was feeling HORRIBLE! I started feeling nauseous, and got a fever. I thought for sure I was getting Yellow fever. Fortunately that evening the fever broke, and I've felt fine ever since. I wasn't too excited about being sick on our vacation, but in retrospect I think it was a good thing. If I had gotten the shot here and had that reaction, I wouldn't have had anyone to watch Addison. Blessings in disguise.

Sunday we came home...unfortunately. Vacations are always too short!