It struck us as odd – that even though Subway is only a few blocks from our house, an hour had passed, and we were in the complete darkness of the desert – Helena never once asked where we were. Only until we were about two hours in, did she finally ask when we would be home. Jordon and I secretly laughed in the front seat and merely said, "Soon." When she didn't bat an eye as I handed her the portable DVD player to watch movies, I knew we were home free. About half-way through, we stopped at a gas station to fill up and "ask for directions". She was still none the wiser.
Even when we showed up in Newport Beach at my friend's apartment, she just assumed Aunt Michelle had moved back to Phoenix. And we needed to stop for the night to get some rest because we were just so horribly lost. The next morning, we caravanned down to San Diego, insisting that Aunt Michelle was going to show us the right way home. Even as we pulled off the exit, Helena cried "I just wanna go home!!!" Luckily, I was able to get the transition of her mood on video so you could witness it as well:
As you can see, she forgot all about her issues and couldn't be happier to get into the park. I'll spare you some details and show you more photos:
The highlight of the day (and the entire trip to her) was getting to play with the dolphins. We got to pet them and throw a frisbee in the water. One of the trainers even gave Helena a fish to feed him! This pulled her out of the extreme throws of depression once again when she was worried she wouldn't get to see what a dolphin feels like. Check out her masterful fish throw:
This is hysterical. We did something very similar to Noa at the end of the summer, We took a surprise trip to Waldameer (not as far as California) but she thought we were going to church, Andy even put on his church jacket and she didnt ask where the heck we were going until we were just about to Erie. She had a similar reaction as Helena. ;) Being a parent is awesome. Are you not just so in love with her? :)
ReplyDelete