Kiersten’s Blog

Yesterday was my dad’s 60th birthday.  We decided to go up and surprise him for his big day.  Tuesday night we drove to Taylor’s aunt and uncle’s house where we slept that night and last night, since they are much closer to where my dad was that day.  He and my uncle Dee were planning on making it to Carpinteria last night.  Once we got up into Ventura county, we called to find out where my dad was.  Then I dropped Taylor off near where they were and he rode his bike toward them.  He passed them about a mile or two later.  They, of course, didn’t recognize him.  Taylor saw them then crossed the street and caught up to them.  He pulled up beside my dad and asked him what he was doing way down here.  Needless to say, he was happy and surprised.  Taylor then rode with them for the next 40 or so miles to Carpinteria.

While they were all riding, I took the kids to Solvang and met up with my mom.  Solvang is this cute little Danish town.  It was fun to walk around a bit.  Then we headed back toward Santa Barbara, stopping to pick blueberries along the way.  I had seen a sign advertising blueberry picking on our way to meet my mom and thought it might be something the kids would enjoy doing.  Boy was I right.  London had a great time picking, but wouldn’t eat them.

Ashton wasn’t too interested in picking at first.  Mostly he just wanted to push the stroller around.  Then I made him try a blueberry.  There was no going back.  He found a bush and started stuffing blueberries in his mouth.  I couldn’t stop the boy!  At one point his started walking down the row toward my mom and I asked him, “Do you want to go pick some more with Grandma?”  He realized he could have more.  He stopped walking, signed and said, “more,” (or, “ma, ma, ma”) and kept picking right where he was.  He would have been content to stay there forever.

Once we had our fill of blueberries, we decided to go to Santa Barbara and see if we could find the men.  We had no such luck and headed to Carpinteria where we checked into the hotel room where they were all going to stay.  Not long after we got there, Taylor called to let me know they were close by and to be ready when they rode in.  We screamed and hollered at them and I was hoping to get a little video, but I pushed the wrong button and got a still shot instead.  According to my dad and uncle Dee, yesterday was the hardest day.  They were glad to be where they could rest.  It was fun to see them and I’m excited to see them again on Saturday when they’re all finished.  I’m so proud of my dad!  But I still think he’s crazy.