All About Cali Part I

We just got back from California last Sunday. We were gone for almost ten days and had such a great time! I feel like family vacations are a true necessity in that you really get to spend quality time together. You know, meaning those oh-so never-ending, obnoxiously continually beckoning chores of laundry, cooking and cleaning are simply just not a worry! WHAT A RELIEF!!! Just good times and making memories is the focus.

Seriously, what is better than that???

So we are a little CRAZY and decided to DRIVE! It actually wasn't so bad- it only took us ten hours total, and the $1500+ we saved by not flying and renting a car was definitely worth it!

The nicest part was that my Mom and Stepdad live in St. George, so we stopped there for a night on the way there and back. It was nice to see them and a great break from driving, not to mention a nice place to stay overnight!

Here are the kiddos doing one of their favorite activities -- playing in Grandma's Jane's guest tub!

That was Friday night, September 11th. On Saturday, we left for LA, where we stayed for a night at my Uncle Mark and Aunt Susan's home before heading out on our Disneyland adventure.

A little sidenote for the family history....

My Uncle Mark (my Dad's brother) is the founder and CEO of WET Design, a firm that designs and makes fountains all over the world. He is truly a creative genius! He has done numerous fountains for Disneyworld and Epcot Center, many of the water features around the LA area including at The Grove and the Watercourt at California Plaza, not to mention works spanning from Hong Kong to Madrid. Probably his most famous water feature however, is the Bellagio Hotel fountain in Las Vegas, which you may also know by it's four-minute scene in the movie Oceans Eleven. Locally, he did the fountain at Gateway in downtown Salt Lake that all the kids love to play in, he did the 2002 winter olympic games huge spiral torch of glass and water that was lit during the opening ceremonies, and his current local project is in the works is for the new downtown Salt Lake City project by Temple Square.

Phew! Just to name a couple. :)

Mark is genuinely one of the most humble guys you'll ever meet. I've never heard him boast about any of his work, even when they obviously deserve some sort of recognition and praise! In fact, most of the time we have to really coax him to get him to tell us much about his projects, as world-renowned as many of them are!

We are so proud of my Uncle Mark and continue to be awed by the many talents and the inspiration he has delivered all across the world.

We were honored to get to stay in their guest house for a night and Parker and Emmie looooved playing with their two kids (their second cousins), Harrison and Madison. Parker gets along great with these two and had such a fun time playing with them!

Thanks Mark and Susan for letting us be your guests for a night and for such great accomodations! :)

Next we were off to Anaheim for six nights! I will post the Disneyland excursion separately, but the other non-Disney adventure we had was going to

NEWPORT BEACH!!

On Wednesday morning we took a break from the parks and headed for the beach, sand and sun.

We all had the best time and the kids totally loved it.

Parker looved looking for seashells with Dad, and Emmie couldn't get enough of the water. She would scream when I would move her away from the waves hitting her little legs.



An excited (and pretty cute) little explorer at Pirates Cove (Newport Beach)Emmie also looooved the sand! No, I'm telling you, she REALLY LOVED THE SAND! EW!

For the girl who puts EVERYTHING into her mouth, why wouldn't she try a mouthful of

sick, germ infested, birdy pooped-on, fishy-smelling DIRT?

UGGHHH!!! LOL

We still love you, Emmie. :) Despite that little incident that unfolded before my camera-catching lens, we still loooooved our morning at the beach!

If I lived in Cali, I think I'd have to arrange for play dates at the beach at least weekly! I might blind fellow beach goers with my glowing white skin as I did on this trip, but eventually I might just end up with tan.

*Sigh*

I think it's been at least a good 8 years since I had one of those... :)