California Day 5 - Exploring the Ranch

We met my parents, Mindy, Greg, and Kristina in Winters at The Ranch.

We said hello to family, and then took a tour. I haven't been

to The Ranch since Bentley was 1, and it has changed a lot!

We rode up to the hill where Jeff and Jenna got married,

and were able to take in the view just as the sun was setting.

The kids were excited to see the pond, the pool, the dogs,

and the trampoline. They were a little nervous about all the

"new" relatives, but it didn't take long for them to love

everything about Morgan's Place. I've wanted to bring our

kids (and John) here for years, and I'm so glad we were

finally able to do it! The trip was even better than I'd hoped it would be.

California Day 5 - Saying Goodbye

While we were in Pasadena, Jonah decided to be a nature photographer.

He and the other kids got some great shots of wild (and not so wild)

life around Grandpa and Grandma's house. The kids got in another

game of chess with Henry, and then we loaded up the minivan

and left for Winters. The kids were pretty unhappy to be leaving

Grandma and Grandpa's. We'd had so much fun there,

and they weren't excited to see family they didn't know up north.

Alton screamed for most of the 6 hour drive, which made it

feel even longer than it was! We were pretty glad to arrive at the Ranch.

California Day 4 - Tourists!

On Tuesday, we went to Hollywood!

Ruby's birthday party and her Valentine's Box last year

were both Hollywood themed, so I thought it would be

fun for her to see it in person. It was very, very crowded!

We parked at Hollywood and Highland with the plan to

walk around a little and to buy lunch. As is usually the case,

our plan didn't turn out exactly like we thought it would.

We walked around a bit, but the crowds were pretty crazy,

and we couldn't find a good place to get lunch.

We left and planned to find a fast food place between Hollywood

and Griffith Park. Much like finding a drive-thru in

Malibu, it proved to be more difficult than we thought.

After a lot of driving around and searching on my phone,

we found a Fatburger. The food was good, but expensive.

We were glad to find something to eat, and to be on our way.

Griffith Park continued the "crowded" theme.

The parking lot was full at the Observatory, and people

were parked along the road all the way up.

After searching a while for a spot, John decided to drop

the rest of us off at the Observatory and find a place 

to park without us. He let us out, but quickly rejoined us.

He'd found a spot in the parking lot as someone was leaving!

Alton was too young to attend the Planetarium show,

so John volunteered to watch him. The rest of us saw an amazing show!

The narrator was fantastic. It was entertaining and informative.

All of the kids and I enjoyed it. Meanwhile, John and Alton

roamed the Observatory, and Alton amassed a fan club.

He was given a souvenir key-chain, and some of the tourists

asked to hold him and to be in photos with him.

We drove from Griffith Park up to Valencia to see Judy's

new home, and to go to dinner with Ginger, Elliott, Henry,

Brent, Carla, Lyle, Judy, Emily, and David. We face timed James,

who is working at the scout camp on Catalina Island.

He'd hit his head at camp a few days earlier and gone to 

the hospital but was doing well. We hadn't seen Ginger and Henry

since Elizabeth left on her mission in November 2011,

and it was great for the kids to get to know their cousin.

California Day 3 - Malibu Beach

Monday, July 25 was our beach day!

We usually go to Santa Monica, but someone suggested

Zuma Beach in Malibu and we decided to give it a try.

Later, I found out that my Dad used to go there with 

his friends. It was fun to go someplace he used to go!

We got to the beach fairly early, so it wasn't too crowded.

We found a place to park, a spot for our stuff, and then

we hit the water. The sand was so hot it burnt my feet to

walk on it, but the kids didn't seem to mind. When they got

cold (Milo), they'd bury themselves in the hot sand to warm up.

It was so great to play in the waves and enjoy the sunshine.

At lunch, we took a few things and walked down the beach

to buy lunch at a shop there. But they didn't take credit cards!

In 2016!!! We didn't want to trek all the way back to our stuff, so

we left it there and drove into Malibu to find some food.

Unfortunately, there are NO DRIVE-THRUS in Malibu.

John hadn't worn a shirt, and the rest of us were also just in our

swimming suits. We finally found a Subway, and I went in with

a couple of kids who were more or less clothed. My suit has

shorts, but I was still pretty uncomfortable. We got back to the

beach, and the nice parking attendant let us in without making 

us pay again. We assumed it was a day pass, but we were wrong.

Whoops. We ate our sandwiches on the beach and then got

back in the water. Some seagulls tried to get our stuff,

but we managed to get everything away from them.

Aside from our lunch fiasco, the day was pretty perfect.

Jonah did get a bloody nose when another beach goer

got slammed into him, and then he swallowed so much

ocean water that he puked. Luckily, Jonah recovers quickly

and those two incidents didn't ruin his day. We were sad to leave,

but concerned about traffic so we left earlier than I'd have liked.

It was the easiest drive ever - despite slow traffic.

The kids were exhuasted and either slept or stared out the windows!

When we got home, Carla had a delicious meal ready for us.

It was a pretty great beach day!