This year we decided to take our first ever family vacation and go and visit Kayla, Jeff, Rachel & Jaki in Huntington Beach, CA. They were so nice to let us come and stay with them and to hang out with us and show us a good time!
We left on Thurs. (9/3/10) late afternoon. The kids and I took David to work that morning, so we could just pick him up on our way out of town, thus saving him about an hour's worth of driving home and heading back the same direction. This was the longest car trip either of our kids had ever been on, but other than general whining and wanting to get out of their carseats they did okay. Neither of them, but especially Mary, have the greatest attention span when it comes to movies, but the Sesame Strett DVD's kept them semi-entertained. Mary didn't sleep at all until about the last 20 minutes of the trip, and by then it was about 11:00 pm! Crazy girl.
Friday morning we took Kayla with us to check out Balboa Island, since it came highly recommended from some of our friends (Jeff had to work). We took the ferry across 100 yards or so of water to the island, and let the kids play for a while at a park we came across. We walked around a bit more, admired the crazy-expensive houses, stuck our toes in the water on the beach then got back on the ferry to go back to the "mainland" to ride the ferris wheel.
Friday night we all went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and had to wait For-ev-errrr! It was a little tough keeping the kids entertained that long, but somehow we managed.
It was fun to see Rachel & Josh having so much fun together. Rachel is almost a year older than Josh, but they would sit next to each other in the van and laugh and giggle, and hold hands like this almost everywhere they went.
On the ferry ride over to Balboa Island
I thought Josh might get a little scared on the ferris wheel, but he loved it...
...and so did Mary!
David had quite the following!
On the pier at Newport Beach
Mary decided she wanted to be part of the choo choo train too
Three cute girls sitting in a tree!
On Saturday we woke up to a pretty hazy morning, but went to the beach anyway. The water was COLD, and it was even a little chilly out of the water to us "Mesans." Mary had a bit of a runny nose and didn't seem to be feeling the greatest, but I was glad that she perked up later in the day. The sun finally came out after an hour or so and David and I braved the cold water to do some boogie boarding. I think that's the first time I'd ever done that, and I caught a couple of good waves just right and had a lot of fun. The kids had a ball playing in the sand and running away from the waves. It was a fun day.
Saturday night we got a baby-sitter and Jeff & Kayla and David & I went to eat at Pei Wei, then went goofy golfing. I was totally on my way to winning and finally beating David (for the first time) until about the 2nd to last hole where I blew it. Dang it!
Josh testing out the water
We got a cheapy kite from Big Lots before heading to the beach and the kids LOVED it! Rachel hung onto it most of the time, but here's Josh with a turn.
Josh went and laid in the sand for a while...it looks like he was throwing a fit, but it wasn't. He just went and laid down for a bit then went back to playing. He must have been getting tired.
If you look closely, you'll see the kite handle hooked onto the boogie board handle strapped to Rachel's wrist.
Our lovely host and hostess
David the one-finned Mer-man.
On Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting with Kayla's family, then went to see the Newport Beach temple. The whole way to the temple Josh was upset about not going to class...I guess that'll teach us to ditch the rest of church! The temple grounds are beautiful, and the kids loved running up and down the wheelchair ramps.
Monday we packed up and headed home, and made pretty good time until we hit the Buckeye area, where a small fender bender (at least that's all we could see) left us stuck in very slow moving traffic for about 45 minutes. That was fun trying to keep the kids entertained for that much longer! But, we made it home safe and sound.
Thanks, Kayla and Jeff, for a great weekend!
Trying to blow out the candles. Josh and Joseph had to help her out. I made a butterfly cake for her. It definitely wasn't as elaborate as Josh's 2nd birthday cake, but she was happy with it!
