CA Trip June 2013

I'm a sad excuse for a blogger. There are lots of pictures and some of the order is a bit random...but scroll through and check out the trip if you'd like.

We recently got back from a trip to CA to visit J's family. We hung out with family and hit Sea World...but mostly, spent a lot of time at the beach. The kids love, love, love to swim. The weather was wonderful - warm inland and cooler by the water. We stayed with J's mom and fiance for some of the time and stayed at a hotel for a few days in the middle. The trip was a great mix of a little bit of touristy stuff and a lot of playing at the beach. It went fast and we were sad to leave....but happy to sleep our own beds again!

Lots of swimming at Grandma's community pool!

The views from the pool were beautiful!

Dad got a shoulder workout throwing the kids.

Meaty got some serious air time.

Our first ocean stop of the visit. We popped over there quick the second evening 

we were there and the kids got soaked. Totally worth it.

They could not get enough ocean time.

She really could live IN the water.

 

Brothers.

Quick break.

We stayed at a hotel in Carlsbad for two nights. 

I took this picture while sitting on the beach, looking up to our hotel.

The location was PERFECT.

Soaked!

There's a worn out boy under there.

Sand mustache.

They don't look it, but they were crabbbbbbby this night.

Totally fake smiles. All four of us.

Still crabby.

We made them hang out and watch the sun set.

They'll appreciate it someday....right?!?!?

Will mug for camera even when crabby.

Can you tell that the guy in the red shirt has an iguana on his shoulder?

Sunsets over the pacific. Glorious.

The view from our hotel room patio.

At Sea World in the polar bear exhibit.  It was cold in there!

Waiting for the Shamu show to start!

If you look closely, you'll see two performers up on the u-shaped swings.

Riding a killer whale!

We walked through a tunnel with sharks swimming all around us. 

Sorta creepy, but mostly really cool.

Sky ride over Sea World. 

This was a fun way to see the whole park from overhead!

Our good friends came to spend the day at the beach with us.

This was easily one of our favorite days of the trip. 

The kids got along great!

These animals are ginormous. The show featured SIX whales.

We ate good food. This was a pesto, artichoke and chicken pizza from 

an awesome place in Carlsbad called the Pizza Port.

Still swimming!

Pretty much sums up our day!

Forever friends.

M-E-L-T-D-O-W-N

He was obsessed with finding a "straight hat."

We found one, thankfully. I'm really not sure where this

skater look is coming from, but kinda hope it passes soon...

There were three adults building AMAZING sandcastles on the beach.

So cool. I would have loved to know more about them. Did you take the day off of your real job to do this? How did you learn to create these?

Loved the airplane!

The Atlantis ride at Sea World. Banany LOVED this ride. 

Meaty...not so much.

You can find mishaps even in the land of fashion.

This was more Meaty's style. I think he went on this ride about eight times.

My girl and me on the skyride.

The training of these animals is really impressive.

One of my favorite photos of the whole trip. Pure joy.

Yum! Pizza after a day at the beach!

Playing with friends!

And because eight hours in the ocean isn't enough, 

swimming in the hotel pool after dinner.

New tank top and earrings.

Uncle Bob brought Smashbol to play at the beach.

Meaty LOVED it. J and I happened to find a set while we were 

out one day and bought our own to bring home. 

More sandcastles made by the pro's!  The smaller castles were actually

more impressive to me because of the detail.

Most days were actually pretty cloudy down by the water because of the marine layer.

But the air temp was nice and we welcomed the sun when it finally came out at about 5pm!

Getting ready for a simulated helicopter ride at Sea World. 

Meaty loved it because it felt like we were inside of a video game.