Roadtrip Part 3 of 3 - Headed Home

Back on the road...Leaving Las Vegas...we all want to be home...long car rides ahead though...

 Bathroom break

These kids slept a lot in the car during the two weeks we drove around. Here they are getting a good nap in between Las Vegas and Modesto

After we left Las Vegas, and about half way to our destination (which was Palo Alto to drop off Teresa then head home) Teresa asked if we could make another stop to visit one of her sons in Modesto, CA. It wasn't too far out of the way, so we did. It was a very long drive that day! We stayed that night with Armando's cousin Selso, his wife Edna and their two kids Alondra and Diego. The next day we let the kids run around their big yard for a few hours, playing in dirt and climbing trees while Selso started the BBQ for lunch and we all visited.

This is the first time she's climbed a tree of this size 'almost' all on her own. She was fearless of course.

Sword fighting: because they don't fight enough as it is. Not sure what I was thinking when I bought them both these $3 wooden play swords back when we were in the redwoods. I was so excited to have stumbled upon such cool toys for them, and regretted the purchase just the same. Likewise, they each loved having a sword, but disliked the other having their own. We all still have love/hate feeling towards them.

 These kids acted like they hadn't played in a dirt pile in months! It was a very warm February afternoon...much different than our weather this time of year at home. One of the differences to California life I suppose, dirt never turns to mud.

Selso, Diego, Alondra and Edna Valencia. 

The reason they have the same last name is because Selso's dad (I don't know his first name) is cousins to Armando's dad. Berta's husband is also a Valencia (cousin to Armando's dad) making all their kids Valencia's as well. So, Angelina and two of her sisters all married Valencia's. I guess thats what happens when you grow up in a small rural Mexican village/town like Aguililla. 

Teresa with her son Selso & Angelina with her son Armando

After the kids played most of the afternoon in the sunny yard, it was time to move on to the next place. One step closer to home. Palo Alto was about 2 hours away.
Here's Esperanza sleeping with her stuffed toy lot winnings from Las Vegas

 Unhappy road tripper

lots of windmills, beautiful green hillsides and blue skies between Modesto and Palo Alto.

Back in Palo Alto we stayed the night with Victor and his family again. 

Then got up early to pack up, say our goodbyes, drop off Teresa and meet one last group of cousins. Armando's cousin Carlos is Teresa's 3rd youngest son. He is married to a Japanese woman who was at work when we got there so we didn't get to meet her. They have 9 month old twin daughters. All of Carlos' wifes family live in Japan so the couple felt that since they wouldn't get much Japanese culture, they gave the twins Japanese names so they had something Japanese to take with them throughout life (as if their very dominate Japanese features weren't enough). I think their names were Kaote and Akote (or something similar to that). Teresa watches them daily. Her spontaneous vacation to Las Vegas with us was a big break from her usual daily routine with these two babes.

Not sure what this means, but it was posted in a Starbucks we stopped at for coffee on our way back on the road. This is my reminder to look it up.

We had planned on making the drive from Palo Alto to home in two days, stopping to stay the night at a motel half way. Instead, we stopped in Redding, CA for a few hours to run the kids and eat dinner before making the remaining long drive home all in one day/evening. I tried to find a place with a play ground. Instead, I found a nice place called Turtle Bay where we saw ducks, fishermen, walked along some trails and across a really modern looking bridge called the sundial bridge. It must have been close to 80 degrees that day. It was surprisingly hot!

Angelina's plans to stay with her sisters in California changed. Armando and I think it was because she spent/lost too much money in Vegas but she says it's because she forgot about a doctors appointment she had. Either way, we were happy to have her with us the whole time.

The rest of the drive home was really, really, really, reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy long...yet pleasantly uneventful with no vomit, diarrhea or major tantrums. Shasta Mountain was the last thing I took a picture of.