California Summer 2017

After Pam and Javier's wedding in Albuquerque, the kids and I went to California for some Mangum family time while Daniel got to finish packing up the house and drive our stuff across the country with his dad. I think we got the better end of the deal!

My parents flew with me, so I didn't have to take two kids on a plane alone. Yay! Here we are ready to go...

And here we are after Carter screamed for 45 minutes straight.

Once we got to San Diego, we ate a lot (of course)...

... and hit up the trampoline park.

And, of course, we enjoyed the pool.

We also went to the beach, though we left Carter at home with Grandma so he could nap. We're mean that way.

It was two weeks before my birthday, so my sisters susprised me with a birthday outing of bakery goodness and pedicures with some high school friends! Unfortunately, I only got the one picture...

We also did an early birthday dinner (without kids, woo!) at my favorite seafood restaurant, Peohe's. It's on Coronado, and our view of downtown San Diego was beautiful! They even had fireworks in my honor! (Okay, so maybe they were for the 4th of July...)

Speaking of the 4th, we celebrated that holiday while we were there. Again, Carter missed out because he was sleeping, but I let Aubrey stay up for the first time. The fireworks were a bit loud for her, but she mostly enjoyed herself.

We also made it to the fair, where Aubrey had a hilariously difficult time with the bumper cars. She seriously spent the whole time like this.

The fair was also the night I thought Aubrey may be lost forever. It was a horrible, awful night. When we went to order dinner, I got in line with my mom to tell her what to get me and my kids. I left Aubrey standing with her cousins near my sisters. When I turned around from the line, she was gone. No one had seen her wander off. It was dark outside, and it was the last day of the fair, so it was crazy crowded. I began searching frantically for her, and my dad and sisters and oldest nephew did, too. Fincally, after a minute or so, I began sobbing as I ran around looking for her. A woman asked me if I was okay, and I told her I couldn't find my daughter. When she asked how old she was, I said three, and the woman swore. I kept calling for Aubrey and running around while crying and hyperventilating, and the woman came back with a cop. I told him the situation and described what Aubrey was wearing, and he radioed in to the security station. They said they had a girl matching that description, and I have never felt so relieved in my life. She had been missing for 5 to 10 minutes, but it felt like forever. The cop walked me over to the station, where Aubrey was sitting on the counter with two female cops keeping her entertained. They told me they had found her walking around calling for me, very far from where I was. When the cops asked her if she needed help, she ran from them. They commented on how fast she was! Little punk. Anyway, they finally caught up to her, and she was safe. I cannot begin to express how grateful I was that they found her and not some creeper. I just kept thinking about that when I couldn't find her, and it was an awful, awful feeling. When I saw her, she said, "Mommy, you left me." I said, "No, you ran away! I never moved!" But she was convinced I was the one who had left. *Sigh* Anyway, she learned a good lesson that day that cops are our friends and will always help us. She still says that to this day.

Anyway. Let's move on from that horrible memory. Let's look at Grandpa and Carter instead.

D'awww. Anyway, next we took a drive up the coast--the whole family--to stay at my sister's house in the Bay Area. So pretty!

And, of course, we had to visit the aquarium. And Maren carried Carter on her back for me when he freaked out and my back was hurting from carrying him. He really liked the jelly fish though!

We also got to stop in and see Daniel's grandma (or Granana, as we call her). It was just too bad Daniel couldn't be there, too!

This was the best photo we could get of all of us...

And Carter found his own reflection very entertaining!

We also took a trolley in San Francisco, but this was the only photo I got... I really slacked on photo taking during this trip!

My dad did get this gem, however, showing us all eating Indian pizza (SO good!). Notice Aubrey trying to scale the booth...

Anyway, it was a nice trip, but we had to fly to Colorado to move into our new house! More on that later...

We Went to Lima! (Part 6)

On our last day in Peru, we visited Lima. We started at the Plaza Mayor, where we just strolled around for awhile and enjoyed the sites.

On our drive there, I took some photos out of the window. I don't know what this building is, but I thought it was pretty!

This is the Plaza San Martin.

And here is the Plaza Mayor.

Here we all are!

Here's is the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. Apparently Francisco Pizzaro is buried here!

Adjoining it is the Archbishop's Palace.

From the plaza we walked to the Casa de Aliaga, a house Francisco Pizzaro gifted to one of his captains, Jeronimo de Aliaga. His family has lived there since (now on the 17th generation)! Here are some photos from the inside.

I love the beautiful carved wood ceilings!

In the center of the house is an open courtyard with a large ficus tree growing out through the open ceiling.

After the house tour we went to the Larco Museum, where we saw several pre-Colombian artifacts. 

Here's a quipu.

Here are some spinning and weaving materials.

Here is some ceremonial clothing.

These are earrings!

Check out the nose ring!

In addition to all of the pieces they have displayed in the museum, there are thousands of other pieces in a storage room. Here are a bunch of monkey pieces!

And check out all these arrowheads.

So many artifacts!

 Outside the museum were these beautiful flowers.

After the museum, we walked around Lima, ate one last meal, and just enjoyed a little leisure time before we had to drive to the airport. When we got there, we had just a little time to sit together before going our separate ways.

And then it was over, and real life was calling. I had definitely started to miss my cute kiddos, so I was glad to get back to them, but I'm so glad we were able to go and have that experience (without kids, 'cause yeah). It was truly the trip of a lifetime! It exceeded my expectations in every way and ranks as my one of my all-time favorite trips. So thanks, Mom and Dad, for that experience! It was amazing.