Our Trip to Southern Cal

As a warning to anyone who may be reading this: there are a LOT of pictures here. And, this isn't the half of it. I will have to do separate posts for the rest of our trip to California. I can hardly believe it's been over a month since we were there. My memories of how the trip really was are already fading slightly. If you had asked me the day after we got home how things were, I would have told you something along these lines: "I think everyone else had a good time. I'm just really, really tired." The trip started out a little rocky even before we left. I took Quinten to the Dr. Thursday night, (the night before we left), only to discover he had a bad ear infection. We hadn't gotten much sleep the two nights before we left, for obvious reasons, so I started out tired. He had a fever that didn't break until Sunday night. Saturday night was one of the worst, if not the worst, nights we have ever had with him. He cried and screamed for hours on end... literally. Our saving grace was the house pictured below.
This is the beach house we stayed at in Santa Monica. One of the owners of the gym is best friends with the owner of this house and hooked us up for the week. It was spectacular. It had three levels: a main living area with kitchen, a master suite upstairs, and two bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry room and family room downstairs. The garage has this fabulous patio above it with a beautiful fireplace and amazing view. We used the two lower levels and only went upstairs if we wanted to see the view- the house sat right across the street from the beach. I honestly think the only way I didn't pack us all up and leave on Saturday night was because we could separate Quinten from the girls while they were sleeping. They never once heard him.
This was the girls' room. We gave Leah her own bed because the other girls say she moves around too much. :) They loved the beds because they were so high off the ground.
This was in the family room downstairs. We loved the picture behind us- it was huge and so fun.
Saturday night, Andrew and Alexa went to an Angels game. I can't remember who Andrew knows... but, someone who comes into the gym is affiliated with the team... I think. They hooked them up with great tickets. Andrew met a co-worker and his grandson there who drove down from St. George just for the game.
Apparently, Alexa didn't want her picture taken.
The rest of the pictures all took place after a great day at the beach with our friends, the Bushars (who were also going to Disneyland the same day we were), and Disneyland. They will be separate posts because there are lots of pictures. Sunday night we left the beach house and went to our hotel in Anaheim. We were there Sunday night and Monday night. (Sorry, Lauren... the story of me driving Quinten around Anaheim all night will have to wait).
Tuesday before we headed back to the beach house we went to the Griffith Observatory. I think it would have been really cool, except we showed up at the same time five busloads of kids did for a field trip. My kids are probably too young to appreciate it anyway. :)
They really only wanted to see this. We watch way too much Disney Channel. This silly sign is on every show and movie they watch and this is the only thing they wanted to see in LA. Funny girls. Now they've seen it... and they haven't mentioned it since.

This is the Santa Monica Pier. We walked down on Tuesday afternoon to look around.
Callie was terrified of walking on the pier. She thought if she stepped on one of the cracks she'd fall in the ocean. Let me tell you- it took her a REALLY long time to get to the end- even with one of us holding her hand. It wasn't busy or crowded, which was nice.
See Leah looking in the bucket? She was obsessed with finding shells whenever we were near the beach. The problem is she thinks that any broken piece of a shell is a treasure. Ugh.
Quinten spent the majority of his time sleeping in the stroller... probably because he never slept at night! I think I lived off of less than five hours of sleep a night while we were gone. We don't really have any great pictures of him because of this.
On our walk home we stopped to play. Last year when we went the Oregon Coast, Leah wouldn't touch the sand. We had to carry her to a chair from the hotel and then carry her back when we were done. She's come a long way in a year; we are very glad. The weather wasn't great the whole time we were there. We spent more time in our jeans and sweatshirts than I would have imagined. Of course, the day we left it was beautiful. That's always how it works with vacations. :)
My cute, cute girls. They actually look like they are getting along... shocker.
Tuesday night Andrew took Callie to a Dodgers game. He met Scott, Scottie, and Bentley Bushar there. Andrew said it was a different kind of game- not as family friendly as Anaheim... a little bit of a rougher crowd. :)
But, they still had a great time. And Callie even scored some free bobblehead that she proudly displays on her shelf in her room. She has actually packed it to take on our trip to Washington because, "If I am missing Daddy I can hold it and remember that it is something I got from him". My sweet girl.

So, the trip was a success. Even with only a month passing, I have forgotten the worst of moments that may have been. Eventually, I think I will forget them all and will only remember that we had great family time together; and that my kids and my husband were so happy. Vacations will always be work for a Mom, I've decided. However, it's also what you choose it to be. I choose to remember the smile on Alexa's face when she got home from her first MLB game, I choose to remember Leah laughing when she first laid down on her own "big" bed, I choose to remember Quinten trying to climb stairs for the first time and clapping when he made it up one, and I choose to remember Callie telling me about going on her favorite ride again with her Dad... (It's a Small World... twice... isn't he nice??). They were so excited and so happy; and because they were happy, so am I.