Southern California Adventures - Day 1 in Temecula

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

At least six months in the making, (with a few weeks of being anxious about traveling so long with our bear).. the day finally arrived when we were set to take Everleigh to meet her California family.  :)   After a pretty stressful start... waking up at an UNGODLY hour, nearly missing our flight (only arriving at the gate with about 10 minutes to spare), and a few crazy meltdowns from our bear at the most inopportune time...we hopped on the plane, crossed ALL our fingers (and toes!) and hoped for the best.  We were excited but nervous about how Everleigh might handle the 3.5 hour flight.  Luckily, with lots AND LOTS of snacks, Elmo stickers and iPhone distractions, she did MUCH better than expected with only a few mini restless meltdowns mid flight.  :)  WIN!  

With a pretty laid back plan in place, we arrived without further incident (thankfully!) and headed out to Chad's Aunt Denise & Uncle Bob's house in Temecula (complete with CHICKENS and a garden!).  

Let our California adventure begin!  :) 

Giving her a last minute chance to run around the airport before boarding our flight.  

Taking silly selfies to pass the time :)

Wet willies from Daddy! :)

Having a mini dance party at the rental car place while daddy worked on installing the car seat.  :)

TWO seconds (literally) into our car ride and she was OUT! 

And after a 30 minute power nap, happy as can be :) 

Finally made it to Temecula to Aunt Denise & Uncle Bob's house :)

Making new friends with the CHICKENS!

The reddish one on the far left was named after Everleigh :)

And of course, meeting Mr. Boo :)

Dancing Bear.. burning off some energy before naptime :) 

After a short 2 hour nap..ready for round TWO with the chickens.  :)

Talking to her chicken :)

Working garden! What a spread :)

View from their front yard 

All in all a VERY successful first day in California! 

Everleigh Isabella Kelley - 21 Months and Counting

Better late than never.. 

So at just about two weeks late, I thought it was high time to finally post Everleigh's 21 Month photos. :) Immediately after these photos were taken (on Wednesday the 25th), we found out that my mom had to have triple bypass surgery back in my hometown on that FRIDAY (the 27th)!  What the WHAAAAAT?!  She had been feeling bad and was admitted into the hospital that Monday but we NEVER thought she'd end up having major heart surgery that very week.  Two days later Everleigh and I flew into town to be with her...arriving literally 10 minutes before they whisked her off into the surgery room.  Craziness but so glad I got to see her beforehand.  Luckily, all went well and she was sitting up by the next morning and WALKING by the next evening.  They certainly don't mess around with those surgeries anymore.  After spending a few days back home with my mom in the hospital, Everleigh and I flew back to Dallas last Monday evening just to unpack and RE-PACK again for our scheduled trip out to visit Chad's family in California a day later.  To say that this last week and a half have been nuts.. is certainly an understatement!  

We had a great time in California though (blog posts about that coming soon) but we are ALL happy to be back to our normal and mostly boring routine.  :)  

So without further ado, Everleigh at 21 months :) :)   

 

Everleigh Isabella Kelley - 20 Months and Counting

It seemed only fitting that two seconds into Everleigh's mini photo shoot for her 20th month this past weekend, our little bear would throw a raging fit.  All because I tried to stand her up in her ducky bath.  Inside the house she loves that thing. Outside, apparently not so much.  Even though I had a number of other cute photos to choose from (for her main monthly run-down), I thought the tantrum shot pretty much captured the essence of what has been new, exciting and "oh-so-fun" here in the Kelley casa this month.  Seems like the "terrible two's" might be in full swing at our house these days.  From leg thrashing to the biggest crocodile tears you could possibly imagine... tantrums are in full effect.  Couple that with non-stop allergy issues AND cutting her molars....and you have one HELL of a good time!  :( :(  Poor thing is handling it the best she possibly can I have to say...and for that I'm truly grateful.  

Luckily though...her happy go-lucky self comes soon after every meltdown.  And my phone usually always does the trick to distract her ;)  

So...without further ado..

Everleigh at 20 months.  :) 

And of course to catch up on all her other monthly posts, click on the links below.  

19 Months, 18 Months, 17 Months, 16 Months, 15 Months, 14 Months, 13 Months,

1 Year Birthday Party, 1 Year Photo Session, 1 Year Photo Session - Behind the Scenes

DANCE, Everleigh!! DANCE!!

This is her....dancing.  ;)

Smiling softly after another mini meltdown...over who knows what.  ;) 

And she's IN!! Finally! :) But not for long..lol. 

Definitely preferred to play with the water from the outside.  :) 

And then we tried the sprinkler.. 

Set on low...to tease her just enough.. ;)

Until she got her head wet..lol.  :)