California Road Trip; Feeling Nostaligic

Brandon and Wyatt playing pirates on the playground equipment.

One day Brandon and I took the kids on a trip down memory lane.  We headed to the place we were raised-- Yorba Linda--and took the kids on a bike ride through Yorba Regional Park (Thanks again Wendy for letting me borrow your bike trailer).  We had a great time pedaling around and even got a few miles in on the riverbed before Ruby wanted to turn around and play on the playground.

Little monkey man-- love that diapered bum!

Little monkey girl.

Which way to the gun show? lol

He was exhausted-- and he wasn't even the one pedaling for 8 miles!

We let the kids play and ride their bikes until they were pooped and then had lunch at Ruby's Diner.  Strangely enough they wouldn't try any of the milkshake we ordered; so Brandon and I took one for the team and finished off their portions.  Then we drove past the homes we used to live in.  In some ways Yorba Linda never ages.  It was still really green and well kept.  And while it was a fun place to grow up, I love my home now and hope that some day our kids will feel the same way about Draper that I do about my home town.

Brandon's old home

My old home.

California Road Trip; Family Get Togethers

The main reason we go to California every year is to visit my family.  My dad, sister, and brother all still live there; so we try and party as much together as we can while we're in town.
Here's a little recap of the fun activities we did together this time around:

Ruby and her cousin Lynsie, whom she idolizes.

Pool party/ Dinner at Farrell's

Having a pool party at my brother and sister-in-law's place has become something of a tradition over the past few years.  They have a nice quiet community pool-- usually we're one of the only ones there.  Plus it's just fun for the kids to play in the water.

Sad, because I just realized that my 11 year-old niece is taller than I am! Seriously, she looks like a teenager, right?

Patiently waiting for our table.

All in!

Further proof that a group shot is impossible.

Coolest balloon animal, ever-- the Little Mermaid!

In the past we've also barbecued  but this year we decided to all go out for dinner.  They've been raving about a restaurant--Farrell's-- for at least a year now, so we decided to check it out.  We waited an hour for a table and then it took FOREVER for them to serve us our food, but (surprisingly) the kids didn't complain once or have a meltdown (some of the adults almost did, but that's a different story).  The food was good and atmosphere was really fun, so I'm glad we hung in there.



Kandace's Baby Shower
My sister and her husband are expecting their first baby this October.  I'm so excited for her and really happy that her friends planned her shower for a weekend when we were in town.  I was able to help out a little-- I made the party favors, prepared the cupcakes and cookies, and got the prizes for the game winners.

My cute little Aunt Muriel drove out from Las Vegas and then headed back after the party.

Mother Marie, Kandace, Mom, Aunt Muriel

My kids enjoyed the tea party theme.  Ruby even wore my old Alice and Wonderland dress.

A lot of my family came into town to celebrate, so it was fun to visit with them.  Plus, can I just say that my sister is quite possibly the cutest pregnant woman ever?  I'm so glad that I got to celebrate this special occasion with her and see her adorable belly in person.

Kate made awesome table decorations.

The party favors I transported from Utah.

Beach Bonfire
My brother-in-law is an amazing chef, so my mom made him organize a family beach bbq after the baby shower.  It was deluxe-- chicken, ribs, hot dogs, flank steak, and all the fixins! Of course, the best part was just hanging out and laughing together.  Although, I do wish I could have witnessed Mike losing the bbq in the middle of intersection when he sped through a yellow light on the way home (don't worry, no one got hurt.  The bbq was mangeled pretty badly from what I hear, though).  I only wish we lived closer together so that we could have more awesome adventures together.  Any chance I could persuade them to move out here?  Less traffic, ya'll...

My brother, the fire starter 

California Road Trip; Connecting with Old Friends

Most of my favorite friends are spread out around the world-- Texas, Chicago, North Carolina, California, and even New Foundland; so whenever our paths cross I make an effort to reconnect with them.  This trip proved no different.  While I missed out on visiting with my best girlfriend, we did get to hang out with the two of our favorite families.

Me and Wendy Girl

Our little men are little buddies

 Neal and Wendy are gems.  They were high school sweethearts, too and are actually somewhat responsible for prodding Brandon to ask me out all those years ago.  They now have two super adorable kiddos-- a little girl just 6 months younger than Ruby and a little boy just 6 months younger than Wyatt.  The joke is that I need to let her know when we're going to get pregnant again so that she and Neal can plan accordingly and follow up 6 months later with their own bundle of joy.  They were great sports and met us at the beach one day for a little family play date.  We spent a few hours visiting, playing, and snacking; but it just wasn't long enough (isn't that always the case?).

Ruby and Kenzie-- this is the best shot I got.  Ruby was a little tired. She actually fell asleep not long after this picture was taken.

Wyatt and Diesel playing ball.

Another night our friends Mark and Kat invited us over to their place for dinner.  Mark and Kat are the cutest.  They were some of our first married friends when we were in college.  Some of my favorite newly-wed memories are from hanging out with them.  Now they have a daughter and son (also just slightly younger than Ruby and Wyatt).  It was great to visit with them and fun to watch our kids interact.  Often Brandon and Mark try to squeeze in a mountain bike ride, but this time it didn't pan out.  At least we got to spend a few hours catching up.

Ruby, Julia, and Wyatt partying late into the night.

Enjoying a bedtime story before heading back to our hotel.

California Road Trip; Beach Bummin'

It's no secret, we love the beach.  When I was little my dad used to take our family nearly every weekend.  We'd stay all day, play in the sand, boogie board, dig for sand crabs, and explore the tide pools.  As a teenager my girlfriends and I rollerbladed and rode our bikes on the paved paths.  Then when Brandon and I started dating we also spent a lot of time at the beach.  In fact, our first kiss happened while we were exploring the tide pools together.  Lots of good memories.... we'd like our kids to love it as much as we do, too.

More evidence that group pictures are nearly impossible with this group.

So, while we were in Southern California we decided to spend a few days at Laguna Beach.  We stayed at the Hotel Laguna so that we could be right on the beach.  It was the perfect choice!  Every morning we'd walk down to the beach, the hotel staff would set out lounge chairs and towels for us, and we'd play until the kids were tired.  

Ruby got so tired that she put herself down for a nap!

We were so close to everything that we walked to restaurants or the local Whole Foods Market whenever we got hungry.  In the mornings and evenings we took the kids for walks to the tide pools or let them play at the playground.  It was magical.

As it turns out, our kids don't totally dig the beach as much as we do, yet.  They did like playing in the sand.  More accurately,  Wyatt liked burying sand toys in the sand and Ruby liked to lay in the sand.  She also got excited about digging for sand crabs and exploring the tide pools.

Teaching my kids the fine art of building a sand castle.

Teaching the kids the importance of adding a moat around your sand castle.

Ruby requested a mermaid tail-- shocking, right? lol

Totally scrumptious!

They weren't crazy about the water, though; which, I guess, is okay with us since they are small enough to drown pretty easily.  In fact, fearless toddlers frolicking in the ocean sounds pretty frightening to me!

4 going on 16....

Testing the waters...

California Road Trip; Playdates with Papa

We just got back from our annual California vacation.  We were gone for 9 days-- 2 of which were spent almost entirely in the car.  Our kids were great travelers, though, and the road trip itself was as enjoyable as  an 11 hour car trip can be.

Stopping at the Scipio petting zoo-- tradition!

Brandon had to wrangle a goat that escaped as he entered the petting zoo.

While we were out of town we got to visit friends and family, hang out at the beach, and have lots of fun adventures.  The kids most looked forward to staying with Papa and hanging out with him.  They know what to expect when he's around-- nonstop fun!  This post is dedicated to all the fun play dates they had with him while we were in California.

Irvine Park-

The goat petting zone is always a crowd pleaser.

Brushing the goats

Wyatt liked petting them, but was amazed when they pooped-- and loudly told everyone all about it!

I love this place-- so many happy memories!  I can't resist taking the kids every time we're in town.  Because of the train, zoo, playgrounds galore, and pony rides they think it's pretty great, too.

Riding the train

Striking a pose on the train

Chuck E Cheese

Only Papa had the magic touch on the horse ride.

Papa supervision at its finest.

Daddy supervision at its finest.

My dad loves to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese whenever they get together.  I think he secretly loves it as much as they do.  I have to admit, he is pretty good at the games and always wins them lots of tickets.  Plus, for some reason my kids actually think the pizza is good.  I can only choke it down 2-3 times a year, though.

Movie Night
The four of us had a fun night out at the movies.  We took the kids to see Despicable Me 2.  It was Wyatt's first time in a theater and only Ruby's second.  They both loved every second of it, though, and sat through the entire movie.  Of course, they also loved the snacks that Papa bought them.  He sure knows how to spoil them!

Aquarium

Don't worry- it's not a real penguin.

Total poser, right?

Petting the sharks

Since Wyatt loves sharks so much we decided to take the kiddos to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  It was a huge hit!  As soon as we walked in Wyatt ran to the large tank and started pointing out the sharks.  Actually, it was more like he pointed to them, screamed "shark!" and jumped around with excitement.

Getting a group picture is nearly impossible

We spent the entire day there checking out the exhibits, petting the sharks (twice), and feeding the lorikeets.

Big scary crab face!

As we left Papa bought them each a souvenir from the gift shop.  Brandon took Wyatt to the stuffed animals, picked up a shark, and asked, "Wyatt do you want a shark?"  He took one look at it said, "No! Big Shark!" and pointed to the larger shark.  So, he ended up with big shark and Ruby decided on a mermaid (after thoughtfully searching the entire store for the perfect souvenir).

Little Man and Big Shark slept together for the entire ride back to Papa's house.

Ruby and her mermaid Diamond Sparkles also took a nice long 2 hour nap.

Date Night
Brandon and I even got to squeeze in a few hours just to ourselves.  We went indoor go kart racing while Papa and the kids hung out at the house.  They seemed to have a really good time watching The Little Mermaid together.  By the time we got back he had them tucked into bed and was reading them bed time stories.  I think everyone throughly enjoyed themselves.