Arrival afternoon and Day 1 Adventure in Weed CA

You always hear of a sleepy little towns, but you never really know what they mean until you stumble upon one. On our family adventure to visit Grandpa Bob ( Josh’s Dad). We stubble into just that, off the beaten path in California out in the middle of nowhere, a sleepy little town called Weed California. A cute little town in what looks like a dessert with mountains. It reminds me a lot of the base we were stationed on In Idaho, Looks just the same, just with trees.

Anyways we came out here to surprise Josh’s dad for his Birthday. What a surprise it was. I think Grandpa was very surprised and I think he almost started crying. He was very happy and excited to see Josh and the Grandkids. I think it is a Birthday he will always remember and I’m sure he will treasure. We sat and visited with him for a while. Got introduced to his albino boa constrictor; a almost 100 lb snake ( pretty but not my cup of tea), his tiny boa constrictor, a bearded dragon named steve, 3 or 4 neat geckos, a turtle named Ted ( which was a hit with the kids and I) and a cute little dog named Angel ( he had the cutest attitude I’ve ever seen and so fat it makes him adorable) We soon had to come back to the hotel and actually get cleaned up. Much to my dismay the whole family was still in PJ’s but as I found out earlier, Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dianna didn’t seem to mind. They were just excited to see us. We cleaned up and took Grandpa and Grandma out for a nice dinner at a local restaurant for his Birthday. We had some good food and talked for a little while, until the kids started getting sleepy and fussy, plus Grandpa looked tired and I’m sure Grandma was getting tired of Adriel splashing peach juice all over her. So we called it a night and planned on meeting up the next day as soon as Josh and I got up and moving.

The next day came fairly quickly and much to our dismay two of the four kids slept horribly. We were up by 6:30 AM. Regretfully moving by 8 AM or so, the coffee tasted horrible at the hotel so we decided to visit a local coffee shop, ironically enough called Ellie’s coffee. I laughed when we stopped in and we decided we would go back and take photos later on. Especially of one of the signs there, “Ellie’s property, violators will be prosecuted” or something like that. We will get a photo of this later to post on Ellie’s bedroom door. I found it fitting considering Ellie has three other brothers. We possibly may pick up a tee shirt too. That way I’m really marked. Lol the tea shirts have Ellie’s on the front of them. Perfect since I am pretty much that. After grabbing delightful coffee it was off to Grandpa’s. We spent most of the morning watching Ted, the turtle crawl around and me asking tons of questions about Grandpa’s well loved reptiles. I learned a lot and kind of fell in love with the geckos, still undecided on the snakes. Though I don’t think all snakes are bad and people do need to be more educated about an animal before they wrongly judge. We were around a 90lb snake and me and the kids are still alright. Heck a small 15lb dog ( not is small but overweight) is still alive and it’s been with the snake for years. None the less I learned a lot and enjoyed hearing about the snakes and lizards. Was sad my oldest daughter wasn’t there as I believe she would of enjoyed it.

After that it was off to go see one of Josh’s old babysitters Di Di. A very lively exuberant lady, as soon as we walked in she jumped right in with the kids and introduced them to some of the coolest musical instrument collection I have ever seen. The kids took to it and played with the instruments for 35 to 40 minutes. Di Di decided that a walk would do the kids some good and may help us be able to talk a bit easier if some energy was ran out. So we went on a walk, there was recently some snow and the closer you are to the mountains of course the more snow fell and was still left on the ground. Needless to say there was quite a bit, enough it covered the kids and ours shoes. We trudge through the snow, Mathias stopping occasionally to play in it. After the snow we hit a dirt road that had tons of mud on it. Di Di asked if it was okay that they were playing in the mud. I figured shoes can be washed, memories like that last forever. So off we went in the mud and the muck. Elijah dug right in hopping in the biggest puddle he could see or get to. Adriel was content holding Daddies hand and walking. Mathias was trying to get into the puddles, but with me holding Ellie it was difficult to allow that without getting myself soaked. He still had fun though and that’s what matter. After trudging through the snow and getting muddy we trudged back through the snow. It helped to clean off the shoes. Then back into Di Di’s to try and talk and look at photos. The twins didn’t really allow it and started melted a bit, they did give us enough time to sit down and look over a few photos. I ended up getting tons of photos of Josh when he was a kid. He was a cutest thing ever. Also got good photos of Josh and all the kids with Di Di

After Di Di’s we decided to drive around and let them rest for a bit. We got ready to drive to Grandpa’s house to go on our next big adventure and noticed his yellow truck at the gas station where he worked, so we stopped in. I thought it would be cool to see where he worked.

. From there it was off to the hatchery where Grandpa Bob use to take Josh as a kid. Of course as soon as we get there Elijah had to go to the bathroom, so Dad and him headed off. Grandpa and I stood and talked for a bit and waited for Elijah to get back. After Elijah got back we went from vat to vat looking at the fish. It was neat seeing such a small little Elijah next to a 6 foot guy. By far the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. They walked and talked about fish, Elijah darting around from vat to vat and Grandpa slowly walking keeping up with Elijah and talking to him about the fish, most of the time they were ahead of us, which was just fine with me. Was definitely a cute sight to see, a memory I’m sure Elijah and Grandpa will have for years to come.

After a long day of walking and visiting it was time for us to go back to the hotel and get settled. I of course wanted some ice cream so we stopped by the little old grocery store Josh and his Mom use to shop at when he was little, the one where he would figure out the total cost of the groceries before the register could. Anyways with ice cream in hand it was time to get back and relax for a bit, the sleeping thing went a bit better that night, but of course Ellie wanted to nurse all night and Mom had enough and needed a break. Josh took her for me and I enjoyed a dip in the hot tub at the hotel. Then it was time to eat our supper. Unfortunately we didn’t happen to think about Weed being a small town and things closing down before 10. So we decided since all the kids were asleep take out was our best option. The latest thing open in weed was a Mcdonalds. So we had that and tried our best to sleep and prepare for the next day.