The Beach

On Thursday we went to Huntington Beach. We were expecting a hot day and brought all the stuff (a couple coolers worth) to cook hotdogs and make smores at the beach. It was pretty windy. The kids wore their jackets most of the time and I am really surprised Jonah ventured out to touch the ocean. Most of us did go in and jump the waves though despite the cold air and water. My Grandma Buttercup was a real trooper, walking all the way out to the beach, enduring the (probably freezing to her) weather, and waiting it out till we had all had our fill of the beach.

Matt

Our beach family picture

Mom and Dad, I love this picture.

Mikelle's extravagant sand castle, with the help from Grandpa

Kayla, Rachel and Aaron

Tyrel's first ocean experience

Mikelle and Grandpa

The kids

Matt, Aaron, Kayla and Rachel

Me and Jonah

Dad, Aaron, and Matt

Tyrel LOVED playing in the sand

Aaron and Ty

Kayla and Aaron

Jonah

Hollywood and Olvera Street

We went to Hollywood on Saturday. It was a little crowded. I took one picture of Mikelle at Grauman's Chinese Theater, putting her hands on Shirley Temple's hands, even though she has no idea who that is. She just thought it was cool to see "little girl hands and feet."

The 'Hollywood' sign on the mountain if you can see it

We also went to Olvera Street, which is the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles. It is a little marketplace where you can buy "wares typical of old Mexico." It was fun and my parent's bought the kids these little guitars.

Saturday was also Aaron and Kayla's first anniversary, and I managed to sneak this photo. Happy Anniversary guys!

I don't have the picture of it, but on Friday, we had a 'girl's day' where we all went to see Eclipse. That night we had a BBQ and made homemade ice cream.

Disney Land

Going to Disney Land with 3 young kids I expected to stay maybe six hours, and assured myself that if we made it that long, it was worth the money (everyone else's money of course because I got in for FREE). However, we ended up staying a whopping 13 hours and Mikelle, my Mom, and I could have totally gone longer. The best part was watching Mikelle meet the princesses (Matt had to wait in that line for us for 75 minutes by the way). Mikelle also was barely tall enough to go on the Thunder Mountain ride and loved it. Jonah loved seeing the princesses almost as much as Mikelle. They all loved the Pirates of the Caribbean, and when we got off that ride, Mikelle asked "Are we still on earth?" It was a great day and I appreciate all the help from everyone. It's so nice to have many helpers.

On the tram over to Disney Land

Our "First Time" and "Volunteer" buttons

Ariel

Belle

Tiana

Mickey Mouse

Toon Town

The Utah Surprise

As we were heading home from California on Thursday, we were about an hour into our 16 hour drive, when Matt said "Kylee, your parent's house is only about 2 hours out of the way, why don't we just show up on their doorstep and surprise them. We can stay there Friday and Saturday and drive home Sunday," and I of course thought that was an excellent idea. It was so fun surprising them. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner; and we got to break up the drive a little bit. When we left on Sunday, we decided to go the Wyoming way instead of the Grand Junction way so that we could go through another state and make this trip a 6 STATE VACATION: (camped in Colorado, drove through Nevada and Arizona, Stayed in California and Utah, and drove through Wyoming)

On the way, I think he may have known we were heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house

The kids were super excited about going to Utah, and reminded about every 3o minutes that "it's a surprise, grandma and grandpa don't know we're coming, so don't tell them."

My Dad even took Matt 4 wheeling

Ridgway State Park Colorado Camping

We drove down to the South West corner of Colorado to meet the Vincents for camping. We had so much fun. We stayed in Yurts (they are like a combination of a teepee and cabin), they had two queen beds and a set of bunk bed (which the kids loved), and a table, fridge and microwave; which made it my kind of camping.

napping in the Great Outdoors

After we first got there, we headed down to the swim beach and playground...

...and then came back to the yurts and Cindy made the BEST BBQ chicken pizzas I've ever had (and on the grill I might add). We started a campfire and toasted marshmallows for smores. Cindy also painted the kids' faces.

It was just windy enough to keep the mosquitos away which made it a pretty perfect night. We woke up the next day to have pancakes and sausage, and then headed down to spend the day at the Ridgway old town.

the twiners

Then we drove about 20 minutes to get into the "big city" of Montrose where the locals pronounce it Mont-Rose not MonTRose. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant. Then headed back to the swim beach and playground and then went back to the yurts for some BBQ chicken, crock pot potatoes, pasta salad and corn on the cob. We drove around the state park to take some scenic pictures and visit a teepee.

Late that night we made homemade ice cream in a bag and had crock pot apple crisp, put the kids to bed, and then talked around the campfire. We had to get an early start in the morning because we were meeting my family in St. George to start our vacation in California.