The Purcells: Back in Cali...

Well the Cali girls made it back home and have been enjoying just that...being home!

We have loved seeing everyone and traveling but I needed a break from the traveling part and am enjoying being back here!

We came home to flowers blooming everywhere and some great weather...unfortunately with that came torrential allergies for me to the point that I have had quite the man voice the past few days and the few rainy days we are having now are washing these allergies away!

I didn't let the allergies keep me down and in fact I did just the opposite...we spent lots of time outside because it was just too pretty not to!

Last week I finally got Riley the sand for her play table and she had a blast playing in it!

Hank of course had to check it out and I had to keep an eye on Riley because she kept trying to feed Hank sand...yuck!

I bought her the super soft sand and it's so fun to play with!

This girl loves boats!

I did some yard work while Riley played and when it was time to go in we were both a mess so we showered up and then ate dinner on the patio together...it was such a great night!

Riley loved eating outside and I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more of it over the next few months!

Saturday we got to go to Muir Beach...so beautiful!

Riley was tickled to go to the beach and squealed the entire morning while we put on our beach gear and packed our lunch...literally squealed!

Check out this beach girl...

The sand was black...so different than what we are used to...but nevertheless it's sand and it's fun to play with!

It was quite a warm day for the Pacific coast...in the 70's...but the water is always freezing!

I could hardly stand to get my feet wet but it didn't even phase Riley!

She ran in and out of the water, rolled in the sand, played fetch with all of our friends doggies, and we never even ate a lick of our packed lunch because I couldn't get her to get 2 ft away from the waves...she was literally having the time of her life!

Here's all the girls...

Me and my beach girl...

She ate some food when we got in the car and I scarfed down the whole ride home because I was starving...she literally passed out with food in her hand...one tuckered out little girl!

She slept about an hour on the ride home and woke up cranky...as soon as we got home we both went straight to the shower and she screamed bloody murder the entire time...wow. She kept crying for her bed...however once the shower was over she never mentioned her bed again...hmmm...the mind of a 2 year old.

We laid low and were pretty lazy that evening because I was feeling the effects of being outside all day and I hardly had a voice and she was a cranky girl...nothing a little "Chikamunks" couldn't help! She's addicted to the Chipmunks Squeakquel movie...so cute!

Sunday was an early morning for us girls...I had the privilege of going on a spouse flight with the KC-10 squadron and Riley went to play with my friend Ashley and her little guy Blake.

We both had a blast!

The flight was awesome and it was a great day to fly!

The KC-10 is just like a DC10 airliner...a plane you might take to Europe...but since I frequent the US on Southwest this was the biggest plane I had ever been on!

This is a jet that is great to utilize for hops and they frequently carry passengers so it was pretty similar to a commercial flight in regards to our seats and such!

Here's us girls in our seats, with our seat belts fastened and our seats and tray tables in their full and upright position...ready for takeoff!

We all laughed because the boom operator who controls the boom to refuel other jets also has the responsibility of the passengers...sort of like a flight attendant. He went through all the safety features, pointed out the lavatories, and let us know when we were cleared for departure. I was tempted to see if he would redeem all the Southwest drink vouchers I have...hehe!

We flew down the coast of California towards LA and there were two jets full of spouses. The best part of the experience was getting to see these jets do what they do best...refuel.

They had planned this trip very well and made sure that each spouse got to see the refueling process up close. On the way down south, we were the jet taking on fuel and we got to watch the process from the cockpit!

The beautiful coastline and the other KC-10 flying above us!

It's crazy how close these two huge airplanes get to each other during the refueling process...such precise flying to make it all work!

Our pilots positioning the plane to take on fuel...

Some of the views from the cockpit...

Once we made it down to LA we turned around and headed back north up the coastline and this time it was our jet's turn to give fuel to the other KC-10.

As we walked to the back of the plane to step down in the world of the boom operator we were able to grasp just how big this plane is...there was absolutely no cargo on it and it just felt huge!