California

Well, it's that time of year again to head to California with the family. We started this little tradition 7 years ago, and what a tradition it has turned out to be. We go every fall with Mark's family. Every year it varies a little bit as far as what we decide to do. This year we went to the San Diego Zoo which was so much fun. Maycee is the only one that has ever been to a zoo, and it was when she was really little. Mark gets mad when I say that, because they've been to Disneyland and Sea world a bunch of times. He says it makes them sound deprived or something (which we all know they are not :). Anyway, the kids had so much fun!! Their favorite thing was all of the monkeys and chimpanzees. They could have watched them for hours and laughed their little heads off.


The weather was insane. It was between 80 and 90 degrees all week. We could not have had better timing. So, we spent tons of time at the swimming pool. Our kids also love the koi pond. They think it's funny when they latch onto my finger.





Of course we spent the majority of our time at the beach because we love it so much!! We body surfed and got Maycee, Braxton, Bailey, and even Grandpa to come in and enjoy the waves. It was so much fun to see them all having such a great time. It was really crazy because the water was really clear (a little to clear) because Mark saw a 4 foot leopard shark and a seal whiz right past him!! Holy Crap!! I'm so glad that I wasn't in the water when that happened. Needless to say we didn't tell the kids until we were done for the day :) We also spent a lot of time at the tide pools. Our kids absolutely love it there. We found so many things this time. They love to hold the little hermit crabs and stick their fingers in the sea anemones so they squeeze your finger. We got a picture of a huge one. We even saw sea urchins. It was really fun. We are going to have some marine biologists on our hands!


The funniest part of the whole trip was on Grandpa's birthday. Mark and I got to go golfing with him which was a blast. We never knew Mark had such a good arm (and I'm not talking about his swing)!! We went to Joe's Crab Shack. We had never been there before, so we were excited when all of the waitresses stop to dance and their are disco lights and everything. Our kids and Grandpa got up and danced with them and we laughed our heads off. Well, after our waitress saw how uninhibited Grandpa was with the dancing I guess she figured he was a good sport. Next she brought out a wig, mu mu, ukulele, and stuffed him up nice and made him sing Happy Birthday to himself (by himself). He ate it up and then we all sang to him. I don't know if all of us have ever laughed so hard!! What a fun day it was for us all. Happy Birthday Grandpa Rick!!


The trip ended with a great Halloween. We met up with our good friends Dave and Jamie. It is always so great to see them. It was so fun to see little Mackenzie and catch up! What a great neighborhood to trick or treat at. The houses were decorated to the hilt and there were kids everywhere. They had a blast!! Another great year in California!