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California Summer Trip

C A L I F O R N I A !!!

The last time I took the kids to California was when their cousin Mackenzie got married 4 years ago,
 so it was way overdue to go see Grandpa and Grandma, the ocean, old friends, cousins, taquitos...so off we went

After stopping in Vegas to spend the night with Lisa and La'a,
 we headed south but stopped in Victorville for a much needed lunch and break from some crazy construction traffic

First stop, El Porto Beach!
When we lived in El Segundo, this was our go to beach.
So many memories made there and more to be made on this trip!

Second stop was The Powder Room where Carly, our former babysitter is a stylist. 
She is so talented at such a young age!
And her mom, my wonderful friend Charmaine was there to greet us, I almost cried. When we left 6 years ago, she packed me with flip flops so I wouldn't forget that I am a California girl at heart



She chopped off and weeded out the girls hair. 
They looked very L.A. after she was done with them!

After picking up Clay at the hotel ( he was on a business trip), we headed back to El Porto and into the water.
I can't tell you how good this all felt


our view from the hotel of LAX


The next day we invited friends and headed back to El Porto. We had new boogie boards, umbrella for the fair ones, our old beach chairs....we were equipped for the day!

our friends and old neighbors the Nelsons came


Day 2
Dad rented a surf board and gave everyone lessons
Not to my surprise, Audrey popped right up!
There was also a pod of dolphins just playing around, a sea lion floating in the waves...so great!


prepping

Henry's birthday
13 looks a little moody to me

actually he had a bad rash from the day before so it was pretty painful but by the end of the day he was numb to it all and had a good time

cute little El Segundo houses
This one is our friend, Tara's home

seeing old friends was such a treat!

although, spraining your ankle trying to skim board was not a treat
Chester!

on Sunday we went to church and took naps in the hotel room
no joke, he was asleep in the chair like this!

more beautiful friends



Charmaine took these photos of a perfect evening having dinner, playing games, hanging out
Have I told you how perfect the weather is in coastal L.A.?
One of Clay's associates said about it,
 "the houses are free! you are just paying for the weather"

Clay flew out for work and we headed down to my Dad's 
in Vista, California


We rested our rashes and had fun in Carlsbad
Chester stayed back with Grandpa because of his ankle



collected some itty bitty sea shells, spotted another sea lion
it felt nice to just hear the rolling waves

So Chester had never been to Disneyland and I wanted to bring him and the older kids
His ankle held up most of the day, he got some piggy back rides and quite frankly, he held out for 15 hours. Here we are before the park opened, bright and early at 7:30 am
we left for home at 10:30pm
We did everything we could do! 
Now of course, everyone wants to go back.
It was so fun to go with older kids!!!



I took one photo of us on Big Thunder Mountain!

Next day was spent at Uncle Marty and Aunt Diane's pool 
with cousins and grandparents!


Henry and Avery

Me and crazy little Jonah


Cousin Stew

Later that night we met up with more cousins and watched the sunset
But that darn marine layer blocked it
didn't matter much
the kids ran up and down the beach til dark

it was a magical trip

I realized how much I wanted to show my kids where I lived and where I came from.
Hawaii is a long way away but I lived in San Diego between 1st and 5th grades
You know how smells can bring you right back into the middle of a memory?
as we drove down the 1, the salt and the smell of bonfire ignited some childhood memories 
I wasn't expecting to have that happen but it felt so good 
to feel at home somewhere

it's been awhile

and here we are driving a crazy long drive home, no stopping...just for Subway and smiles!

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