It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted a Crafting With Mema segment.  Teresa has started to “vlog” on Mondays for Monday Mingle, and we will actually be moving the Crafting With Mema posts to Wednesdays.   Just an FYI…

But today… there is no vlog… and actually no Crafting with Mema post.  My family and I have been in California WITH Mema for the last few days, and we had INTENDED to craft our little hearts out while we were here.  My mom had a nice list of things to make with the kids, and the kids had expectations of crafting… but somehow the days went by so fast with OTHER activities that our crafting never happened.  Last night on the way home from church, three year old Martha turned around in her seat and said, “MOM, we never crafted with Mema!!!”

It was past bedtime when she said that. And we are supposed to head home this morning.  Oops!

Thankfully Daddy is NOT a Type A personality, so we’ll probably be leaving closer to lunch time.  That means there will be time for one (maybe two) crafting with Mema projects (and yes, even though I tend to grumble about it, there ARE occasions when my husband’s laid back approach to life works to our advantage).

Anyway, I hope to be back on Wednesday with a new Crafting With Mema segment for you.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about another fun Monday Bloggy “thing”.  My friend Jennifer has started a new blog carnival entitled Making Memories Monday.   It’s the type of carnival I’m going to enjoy participating in, and I know you will to.  If you have a blog and want to write a post about Making Memories with your kids or grandkids, head on over and join in!  If you DON’T have a blog, but like making memories with your kids or grandkids, head on over and read the posts and join in!  Here is today’s Making Memories Monday post.

And speaking of memories – even though we didn’t do a lot of crafting while we were here, my kids are going to remember this trip.  The days were jam-packed, mostly with activities that surrounded them and their interests… with a little of Mom and Dad’s interests thrown in.

When we travel to see my folks, it’s a ten or eleven hour trip and we’re riding in a little Jetta with the kids crammed in to the back seat, three across, but our kids always do fabulously.  We don’t have a lot of room for extra STUFF, and I’m always happily surprised by how well kids can do with just one or two little happy meal toys and an imagination.  Gas station bathrooms are an adventure to them (and to mommy too!), and we enjoy seeing nature in a different way.  (California countryside is a LOT different than the Nevada desert!)  It was kind of a “new” experience for Martha, because she was old enough to really take it all in.  In fact this whole trip to my folks was a “new” experience for Martha.  The last time she was here, she was barely walking.  So, the entire weekend was full of, “Mommy, does Mema have a BATHROOM?”  Mommy, where does Mema SLEEP?”  “WOW, what is THAT??” (in reference to Mema’s back porch).  Her three year old self was pretty amazed at Mema’s HOUSE.

Besides the ride over, we managed to fit in the following memory-making activities:

• a cemetary visit (which probably sounds not-s0-fun, but the kids like hunting for markers with Daddy)
• driving over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco
• a trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.  If you are ever in northern CA, this is definitely a place to try and visit.
• a walk around the Golden Gate park while laughing at and talking to many, many ducks in the pond
• a drive over the Golden Gate bridge
• a trip to McDonalds and 2 hours in the play place there
• breakfast at IHOP with smiley face pancakes
• a visit to the cousins house to play with THEIR toys
• a matinee at the movie theater – How To Train Your Dragon – BIG hit with all the kids, except Martha who slept through it
• a trip to the “castle park” (which is a really cool park in town where my folks live)
• a fun dinner at church with the cousins, and some basketball playing time in the church gym
• and lots and lots of playtime outside at Mema and Papa’s house with all THEIR toys

Yes, I am tired, and rather glad to be making the LONG drive home today.

The kids… they don’t really want to leave, but they are being consoled by the fact that we’ll be coming back in four months.

Oh, and the fact that we will get to do at least ONE Crafting With Mema project before we go.  Speaking of that, I need to go grab the camera …

Happy Monday, everyone!

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