Ranch Fun

Last Sunday, we hopped a military flight from Hawaii to Southern California. We had no idea what awaited us in Cali, but as it turned out, we found an REI store, a Bass Pro Shop and a Victoria's Secret. We also found Claim Jumper and Melting Pot restaurants!! After three days in Southern Cali, it was time for us to catch our train to Texas. We had planned it perfectly: drive the rental car to the MetroLink public transportation train, take the MetroLink to LA and catch our Amtrak Train to Texas. Unfortunately, the MetroLink train waited at the platform less than a minute, which left James with a few of our bags on the train and the rest of the baggage, the children and myself on the platform. The children and I started running after the train yelling, "STOP!" and James pulled the Emergency Stop button. Finally the train stopped, but then the engineer told me that he couldn't open the train door. Finally, one door opened to let James out, but they told him not to get back on the train and that it should have been a $500 fine for pushing the Emergency button. But we still had to get to LA! We ended up taking a taxi to the next train stop and catching the only other train that would have gotten us to LA in time. Thankfully, the rest of our trip here to the ranch was uneventful. Long, but uneventful. All said and done, all four of us made it from Honolulu to the ranch for a grand total of $600. Airfare alone would have been over $2,000 so we are FRICKIN' proud of our frugalness!

Now that we are here, the children are having the best fun of their lives. The first day we loaded onto the dune buggies and gathered sheep and goats. Kendra was laughing the whole time and Joseph immediately became his Papaw's (grandfather) shadow, Joseph repeated everything Papaw said and mimicked his every action...it hasn't stopped yet. We've done more ranch work, ridden tractors and petted the horses and dyed Easter eggs and hunted the eggs and had huge Nerf gun fights. Joseph has wanted to sleep on the dune buggy every night. They are exhausted from all the fun--so much so that they probably should have two naps each day just to keep up. They are back again from their latest adventure and it's time for me to go get them some lunch. I'll type more when I get the chance!