It takes a village (of in-laws)

Kelvin had a CME conference in Anaheim this week, so we came down to SoCal as a family so that the kids could have time with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (and so that I'd have help, as taking care of both kiddos at my in-laws' place and driving around the unfamiliar roads and traffic of southern CA with two kids in tow while Kelvin is gone is not super enjoyable and is actually rather stressful for me). Things have been complicated a bit by the fact that K's mom doesn't really drive and his very involved/helpful dad is recovering from surgery that he had the day we arrived, but I am nevertheless thankful to have had a lot of family help around to help pass the days with the boys.

The flight from Arcata to LAX was on time and went very smoothly (we didn't buy Niall his own seat but there happened to be a free one next to Kelvin).

 

We've had a lot of park time-- many of the parks here have sand floors.

Mother's Beach (Long Beach)

  

It's been warm here (80s) so we've been to the nearby Westminster mall/indoor playground several times to get a break from the outdoor heat and sun.

 

buckling up 

We've had several family dinners with the identical-in-age first cousins (Iver and Kingston, 4.5, and Niall and Klian, 17 months), where Kelvin's amazing mom has cooked for us.

 

Iver's really gotten into board and card games lately.

Here is him playing Uno with aunt Theresa, and cousins Kingston, Subi (12), and Angel (6.5).

Do you know how you get four kids to be very quiet? See who can hold the tree pose longest!

  Four little yogis 

Twinsies

 

More mall time with Angel

The sisters Niall'l never have...

While I took Niall to the Huntington Beach library and grounds, Kat took Iver to spend a half day at Kenn/Lisa/Kingston's house playing with water, and then to Pump it Up, an indoor bouncy gym.

 Cuties around town

 

 

"Kli-Kli"

Tuckered out from playing (while both of our kids have slept well at night, naps for Iver have been nearly non-existent)...

 

Art with auntie

Best. Auntie. Ever.

 Kelvin comes from a big family (he is one of four kids, three of whom have spouses).  While when we are here, there is always a lot of talking (often in Vietnamese), coordinating (rides & other), plan-changing, moving parked cars (there is very little street parking in Westminster), shuttling people around, switching carseats, food-shopping/food-getting, squabbling amongst siblings (and cousins) and general chaos, which does sometimes get overwhelming for me as an introvert (from a small nuclear family) and to which I definitely take a back seat.  Nevertheless, lots of people locally means lots of help (and where we live in Humboldt, we have zero family members around or nearby). Every time I come here, I'm struck by how much of a difference it makes to have extra hands in child-rearing/child-care (even more so because we K and I get to have a kid-free getaway next week due to gracious grandparents, aunts, and uncles). It really does take a village to keep your sanity and raise a child (/children). Thank God for my SoCal village of in-laws.