We had a fabulous vacation earlier this week. We headed to my sister Kayla's house in Huntington Beach, California right after our church meetings on Sunday, Sept. 19th, 2010. We left around 12:30pm and arrived at her house shortly before 7:00pm. The trip was fun. I prepared 12 paper bags for the kids to open every 30 minutes. Half of the bags had different activities in them--shapes bingo, coloring contest, ABC sign game, read a chapter from Narnia, word search/dot to dot, read a story from the friend--and the other half of the bags had snacks in them. With all the activities the kids didn't even miss their video games and movie players because we happened to be traveling on Sunday.
Monday we had a lazy morning as we waited for the sun to come out. When it finally came out from the clouds we headed to the beach. I read a book and watched the kids while everyone else played, and played, and played some more, staying for 5 hours. It was SO wonderful. The water was too cold for me, which is why I read most of the time. I only got in when I borrowed Kayla's wet suit, but everyone else braved it for at least a little while. Chad and I even tried to surf but we weren't too successful. I chickened out shortly after I started paddling out. I saw the waves and remembered getting slammed down by them on my last visit. I decided I didn't want to be tethered to a board when a wave slammed me down so I promptly started paddling back to shore. Chad donned Kayla's wet suit and tried to surf too, after getting slammed a couple of times he came back in and said he doesn't have a desire to get good at surfing.
Monday night we went out to eat at Ruby's. It is located at the end of the Huntington Beach Pier. We got hamburgers and milk shakes. I was kind of disappointed in the shakes because they tasted like a burnt out blender smells. Kind of gross. But the hamburgers were really good.
Tuesday we went to Knottsberry farm. It was a blast. I am so glad we decided to go there instead of Disneyland because we saved about $100 a person. They had some amazing roller coasters for Chad, Kayla, and I, and they also had lots of fun stuff for the kids. We never had to wait in any lines. I was glad we decided to go on a school day because I know that made it so there were no crowds. We practically had the park to ourselves. Bryant was brave and road some of the less intense adult roller coasters, we finally convinced Spencer to ride the Big Foot Rapids which he loved. Karalee and Rachel were so fun to watch together. They had so much fun. Marlee and Jaki even got to ride a few of the rides and they stayed happy the whole day.
Wednesday, Sept. 22nd, we went swimming in Kayla's neighborhood pool before our long drive home. Aside from like a million pit stops, the trip went smoothly and we are happy to be home again. Here are some of the pictures from our trip. The blog has a new format and some of the pictures got out of order. Oh well.
 |
| Chad and Spencer got really good at the skim board |
 |
| Lunch time!! |
 |
| When I saw Marlee laying down, I realized she was ready for a nap. |
 |
| Bryant about to embark on his first ever roller coaster ride! |
 |
| Karalee had the grin so many times during the day. Priceless!!! |
3 comments:
Mindy, this trip looks like so much fun. And I loved your idea of the bags every 30 minutes on the trip! I may have to use that one this fall. We have a trip planned to Newport Beach in November.
How fun! I had to enlarge the picture of Kayla in the wet suit to see if it was her or you. I am still not sure! I have never had a hard time telling you two apart before!
Jennifer,
It is Kayla in the wet suit. I am glad that I am thin enough to be mistaken for her again!
Post a Comment