Trip to Cali (from August)

5 Days in California: Playing on the beach with Family

I absolutely loved it. 

The whole week I kept thinking, "wow, vacation is definitely different when you're the parent." It was kinda crazy at times with a 6 week old and an almost-two-year-old, but it was SO much fun to get to spend some time with my family.
Grandma and Grandpa got us a suite so that we could have Justin sleeping in his own room. This was an awesome break, since all 4 of us had been sleeping in the same room for the last few weeks in Joseph City. I always sleep better when there's a wall in between me and all the little sleeping noises that come from my cute boys.

Kayden slept SO good

We were excited to get to spend some time with Sophie, Kinzi & Phil. Justin loved Kinzi (when he wasn't trying to steal toys from her). They had a lot of fun sitting across from each other during meals. Kinzi shared her food with Justin then they took turns trying to throw it or just giggling and making faces at each other. It was pretty cute.

Justin really loves his Grandma

Grandma & Grandpa enjoying a morning walk on the beach. (while the rest of us slept in)

COSTCO! There was one just down the street that we picked up some nice boards at. Dad took this picture of everyone except Phil...he wondered off somewhere...

Part of the awesome looking but never-ending stairs. The stroller made quite a few trips up and down these. And I was super impressed that Justin climbed the entire thing quite a few times.

Justin wasn't sure how he felt about the water...ok he felt fine about it as long as it didn't touch him or get close to his toys. He absolutely adored playing in the sand though. On the last day of our trip he ended up following Kinzi into the water after which we couldn't get him out. I stood out there for almost 3 hours just holding his hands and letting him enjoy the waves. (I was planning on spending all of this time sitting with the boys under the umbrella so I'd neglected to apply very much sunscreen and got a lovely burn to travel home with. Thankfully Justin didn't get burned at all. I was really worried about his light skin, but he was a trooper and put up with me spraying him down with some SPF60 quite often)

This is where Kayden spent the majority of the trip. He loves the baby bjorn (and so do I)!!!

I remember as a kid that Mom was never particularly impressed when we came home with stick on tattoos. Imagine my surprise during dinner at King's when I look over and she's putting one on my child! I wish I would have gotten a picture of the look on Kinzi's face after Sophie put one on her. Kinzi burst into tears when she realized she couldn't pull it off, and kept screaming until they got it washed off. It was pretty funny, and something I would have expected more from Justin than Kinzi.

My handsome snorkler

Kinzi & Grandpa

Can I say how much I love my Mother? She brought a kite and was helping Justin fly it. I enjoyed watching him fly it with her, but I think my favorite part was when she was running around flying it by herself.

Grandma also bought these awesome/weird/gross orange washable bubbles that made pretty sweet prints all over the sand. They made a huge mess, but Justin had quite a bit of fun with them. So did Uncle David... (:

I can't believe how tall Spencer is getting. He'll be a freshman next year and has grown up a ton!