California Take 1- Lindbloms

If I didn't realize it before, I do now. My picture taking has reached "addiction" status. I uploaded over 700 pictures off my camera and phone from this trip!!! EEK! So, while this is most definitely a butt load of pictures, you can now appreciate how much I streamlined. :)

We had another missionary discussion with our neighbor, Terry, on Friday night, so we didn't leave for Mesa until Saturday morning. I think this was the cleanest I left my house, when going on vacation. Good feeling! I took Jefferson out for dinner for his birthday that night. He chose RA. I wasn't complaining! I love that boy and appreciate that he doesn't write me off as a fuddy duddy older sister. He's always willing... even happy... to go out with me. 

The next morning, we headed to our parent's 9am sacrament meeting. It felt a little weird because Travis's parents were out of town and my mom left for Paris that morning, so it was just us and David and Craig. Marcie and Austin came too, actually. (And yes, you read that right- my mom was in PARIS! Visiting my brother, Christopher, who was doing an externship for the summer there. Can we say, jealous??!)

We left after sacrament meeting and loaded the last few things into the car. Casey and Shelley had 8am church, so they had a bit of a head start on us. David rode with Marcie and Austin and we caravanned with them.  But first! The sweetest girl alive, Miss Alison, had dropped off 3 boxes of donuts on Marcie's doorstep this morning for our birthdays this week! She knows our love of all things "donut" and our subsequent affiliation with them and birthdays. Shelley and I each got a box of 31 donut holes and Marcie got 25. LOVE that Alison!

On the road again! We had the Lego movie to help entertain the boys and myself. :) They did really well. Each boy slept around 2 hours. Olive slept a bit here and there. We got In 'N Out Burger (Chipotle for me) in Yuma and made it to Oceanside in 6 hours! Woot woot!! My happiness was beyond compare, pulling up to our beach house. We got the same one we've used the past several years. It was kind of nice now though, having less people and more room. We unloaded then headed to Claim Jumper for dinner. That's where we got the idea to buy their Motherlode cake for our birthdays! But more on that later. 

Monday

Monday morning was Shelley and my birthdays! We started out by kicking our 31 year old tushies doing a T-25 workout, then going to Wal-Mart to stock up for the week. After that, Marcie watched the boys, so Trav and I could walk up the street to our favorite, Beach Break Cafe. Strawberry French Toast Crunch with freshly squeezed OJ was a good way to start the day!

My phone beeped and I looked down to see that it was wishing me a Happy Birthday. Ha!

From there it was all beach, all day! 

A few months ago I told some friends that my perfect birthday would be spent on the beach, reading a book, without kids, and sipping a pina colada delivered by Travis in a speedo! Haha! Joking about the speedo, but not the rest. ;) So basically, all my birthday dreams came true! They even got better, celebrating with two twinners here! Don't mind us, we are weirdos!

Recently, Shelley introduced us all to Dirty Dr. Peppers. So we were all about these on this trip! It's just ice, Dr. P, coconut syrup and lime juice. So yummy.

I absolutely love that our kids match up in gender and age-ish. :) It was so cute to see Rusty and Weston playing ball together or digging in the sand together and Lane and Collin going after those waves together!

I don't think we even put this girlie in her swim suit until the last day! 

Marcie is the best aunt. I always catch her talking to Collin and asking him questions. She genuinely loves her nephews and nieces and makes an effort to be a part of their lives. In fact, the Saturday night before we left, she took Collin with her to go visit Grandmother. She couldn't wait to tell us about their conversation in the car! They had just bought a new, little car that week and it was Collin's first time in it.

Collin, with much enthusiasm: "I like this small car!" Then with almost a sigh of nostalgia, " I've been living my whole life in a big car." 

Then he pipes up later, "Aunt Marcie, who loves me?"

She said, "Well, I love you! And Uncle Austin loves you!"

To which he says, "I'll give you a hint..... He got nailed to a cross."

Pause. Marcie smiles and says, "Jesus?"

"Yup!" he answers. Then, "I'll give you another hint...... he's a ghost."

Marcie is probably chuckling now and says, "Uhh, the Holy Ghost?!"

"Yup!" he replies. Then finally, "I'll give you another hint. Gaaaaaaaa" 

She had to be dying at this point, "Um, God?!"

"YUP!!" he announces triumphantly.

K. I was falling off my chair when she told me this! Where does he come up with this stuff?! I guess we're teaching him right! :)

This succession of pictures probably doesn't need much explanation, but I'll still call your attention to the order of Collin boogie boarding then crashing, then screaming. Poor Trav! Haha.

That night was one of my favortie meals. I look forward to it all year!! Driving down to the harbor for some fish and chips! Or in my case, fish tacos, clam chowder and deep fried pineapple rings. My mouth literally just filled with saliva. Soooo delicious! We always follow that up with ice cream at a shop next door and take a picture in front of the sunset and boats docked. There is just something about traditions! Love this one!!

After we got the kids in bed we played a card game called Ripple, then added "consequences". It was hysterical!! We all wrote down a consequence, then whoever lost the round, had to pick out of the bowl and do it. Shelley had to do a blindfolded sit up. I had no idea what the scam was, but then David hopped over her and put his bum in her face. Good thing she had her hand shielding her face when she came up! David lost one round and it said he had to sit in the winners lap for the next round. Lucky Marcie!! I lost a round and had to wear a bra on my head. Except that it was black and blended into my hair color... says the group... so I just put in on over my shirt! Austin lost and had to lick my foot! HA! No one could believe he did it! David also had to down a jar of baby food. Blech! It was the funnest night! Highly recommend it!

I think this video takes the cake! I had to prank call a person of the groups' choice and speak in an Asian accent!!! OK, I CANNOT DO ACCENTS TO SAVE MY LIFE!!! They chose Alison to call and she actually answered! I sound more like a baby than an Asian. I couldn't put two words together before she hung up. 

DYING!!! I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard in my life!!! Alison is such a good sport!

Tuesday

Tuesday was another beach day! It was also Marcie's birthday! We celebrated by hitting up the Closet in the morning. Love shopping there! Finally found me a blazer and some stinkin' cute heels!

This chica had a sand goatee nearly the whole week. What a mess! I don't know why she kept shoving handfuls of sand in her mouth! 

Cousins care, cousins share! This was the first of many sandy Funyuns she ate that day. She's not even a year old. 3rd child for sure!

The boys enjoyed playing Kan Jam all the time. I tried once. Fail! Guess my Kan Jam days are in the past.

I did get in the water once! The waves weren't too big, but Davy, Austin and I went out boogie boarding together.

Davy catching a wave!

We FINALLY caught one all together! Trav had been waiting for eons on the beach to take our picture!

She will grab at ANYTHING and try to snuggle it while sucking her thumb. Ive seen her try to cuddle an electrical cord. Marcie's swim cover-up did the trick here.

Rides on the boogie board proved endless fun for the boys and lots of exercise for the men!

That night, we got Johnny Mananas for dinner and Marcie and Austin picked up the Claim Jumper's Motherlode cake for us all to celebrate with! It's $55 and the biggest cake I've ever seen. I bought it for my mom for Mother's Day at least 10 years ago but haven't had it since. It's like a skyscraper cake. We ate on it the rest of the week and still didn't finish it! That night we played a new game called The Game of Things together. Lots more laughs!!

Wednesday
On Wednesday we all split up. We went to Legoland, Shelley and Casey hung around Oceanside and rode bikes at the pier, and Marcie and Austin went to Knotts Berry Farm. 

This was our first time to Legoland! I didn't really know what to expect, but we had a ton of fun. I just can't believe the prices! It's $75 for kids and $85 for adults. Luckily, a free kids pass came with our Lego movie, and a lady in line ahead of me gave me another one, so at least all our kids got in free! It was a really hot day and super crowded, but even still, we had a good time! Olive was a CHAMP. Almost never fussed. Just sat in the stroller and enjoyed the sights. She fell asleep for about an hour in it too.

We started out the day by going on the canal boats. They are like the Storyboats at Disney. 

Family Selfie!!

All the monuments were really cool. I couldn't believe what they had made out of Legos!! Hundreds of thousands of them! I had to text them to my family and tease that we had seen everything they did this summer... the Eiffel Tower and Mount Rushmore! ;)

 So now we know, if you want to do the Sky Cruisers and not wait 90 min. in line, get there early and do that first! Since those didn't work out for us, these little go-cars were a good distraction.

This little show was my favorite. We just happened to walk up on it when it was starting. It reminded me of a Disney show or something. The performers sang and danced and did gymnastics, acting out a pretend "Firefighter" audition. And we got soaked! They spray the audience several times with the hose and even dump whole buckets of water on the kids closest! Olive screamed when we got sprayed, so I had to move to higher and drier ground. :)

Trav stayed back with Olive for this boat ride. Boy do I wish I had!! I made the grand mistake of letting the boys steer! The boats move like molasses so every time you turn the wheel, it doesn't respond for forever! We kept bumping into the guardrail and then all of a sudden we had created a massive pile up! We were completely turned around and warnings started sounding to go the other direction. Other people had to help push us back in the right direction. EMBARRASSING!! And then I look off to the side and see Travis witnessing and taking pictures of the whole thing! Haha! Don't mind us!

This massive tree house alone could have kept them busy the entire day! Who is Weston holding??!

This was about the time I started to lose my patience. Trav was in line for this ride with both boys, but then I got a call from him that Weston had to poop. I maneuver my way over to grab him and as we are walking away he realizes he's going to miss the ride and throws the biggest tantrum of.his.life. I don't even know if I've ever seen him act this way before. Completely hysterical, flailing all arms and legs and screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. Second time I was massively embarrassed at Legoland. And he wouldn't stop!! I seriously couldn't calm him down for anything. And there's no where to go to not be the center of attention AND I'm trying to push a stroller. After at least 10 minutes of hysterics, we make our way to a Family Bathroom, where we wait in a huge line. Then, right before we get to go in, a lady just walks in with her son without realizing there's a line. And takes FOREVER. Bah! I think I had daggers coming out of my eyes at her. THEN, it just so happens that right as we walk back to that ride to wait for Collin and Travis, they pass right in front of us on the boat and Weston goes berserk again!! When that whole fiasco was over I had to take deep breaths to remind myself we were there to have fun!

Trying to be prepared, I had packed an entire extra set of clothes for all the kids. Well it worked out in our favor because there was a whole water section for the kids I didn't know about. So we just let them go wild in their clothes! Weston loved this water slide.

So at the very top of the structure is a massive bucket that slowly fills with water, then dumps a torrential downpour every 5 or 10 min. I had told Weston to stand underneath for a picture, right as the bucket came down! I don't even know how he stayed standing!

Duplo Village was another place the boys could have spent hours. And with our Frozen Lemonades, we could have let them!

Wild Style and Emmett from the Lego movie made appearances at set times for pictures.

Also at Duplo Village, there was a huge room where you could walk around and see the actual Lego sets from the Lego movie. I thought it was pretty cool!

Where are My Pants?!! ;)

Then we went to a show that turned out kind of lame. Not to mention the fact that we BAKED in the sun. But, Collin got chosen as a volunteer for part of the show, so I guess it was worth it. He held a magic wand and told the wizard what animal he wanted the squire turned into. He chose a frog. Ribbit!

At the end of the day we decided to hit up some roller coasters. Travis took Weston and Olive first, while I went with Collin. He was ALL game. I even heard people commenting in the line, at how surprised they were to see such a young kid be so excited. We waited 30 min. then got strapped in. Climbing that first hill, he was still happy. THEN we went down it. Hahaha! I got more entertainment out of just watching his face than enjoying the ride! Pure panic. I tried to reassure him we were fine, but he was freaked the whole time. That is, right until we pulled to a stop. Then he was confused why it was already over. He kept pointing to parts of the track and saying we still hadn't done that part yet. I laughed and told him we sure did, he was just flipping out the whole time and didn't notice! So then he wanted to go again!

Then it was Trav's turn to take Weston on a roller coaster he was tall enough for. I took the other two and stood in line to buy our ride picture. I felt like my mom!! We attempted to go to the aquarium, but you had to pay separately for it. Oh well!

Several rides had these Lego making stations for the kids to play at while you waited.

The Safari Jeeps were our last ride of the day! When we first found out that the park closed at 8pm, we were bummed, but by 7:30pm we were grateful it did! EXHAUSTED doesn't even cover it! We had eaten some pizza and BBQ for lunch, but weren't even willing to stick around for dinner. The nice thing about Legoland at least, is that it's just a few miles from the beach house, instead of an hour like SeaWorld. So we kept the boys awake on the drive home, did baths and we ALL went to bed!

Thursday and Friday

On Mon, Thur, and Fri mornings we all ended up exercising together. Trav and I brought the T-25 DVD's, so at one point or another, everyone got a taste! My new speaker came in handy to blast the ghetto beats. :) Then Casey had us do a Cross Fit combo. 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squats, 10 times! WOOF! I went running on Tues. morning, but didn't do anything Wednesday since it was Legoland day. Had to do something to combat all the calories jumping down my throat!

 

More beach days! I really don't know if there is a vacation for me that compares to the beach. I LOVE just laying in the sun and feeling it soak into my skin. Walking in the sand and feeling like I'm getting a mini pedicure. ;) Sipping on soda, popping M&M's and Skittles in my mouth and reading a book. It's the life I tell ya!

Olive finally got her swimming duds on! I can't tell you how much I loved her squishy tummy popping out! This chubby baby is the cutest!!!

Aunt Marcie taught Weston how to search for baby crabs in the sand. Priceless gift! It kept him busy for hours!

 At one point, I looked over and saw a lady talking to Weston. I wasn't sure if she was mentally impaired or just really lonely. That sounds awful to say, but it was my honest thought!! But the more I watched, the more I realized it was a match made in heaven. Weston was jabbering back to her just as much as she was talking to him! Looked like it made her day. They honestly talked for quite a while too. Funniest thing about Weston, he doesn't care WHO'S listening! As long as someone is! He'd talk to your foot if it talked back. Must be Grandpa's descendent! After the lady left, she eventually walked back by and saw Lane this time. She kind of made like she was going to say something to him, but he gave her a stonewall face and turned and went back into the waves. Hahaha! Good examples of personalities right there!

I literally don't know how many times I ate Johnny Mananas on this trip. But it still wasn't enough. Carne Asada fries, get in my belly!!

Shelley and Casey had already eaten at Ruby's on Wednesday so they were nice enough to watch our boys while we went on Thursday night. Problem was, it was Outdoor Market night or something, so downtown was PACKED. We had to park a country mile away! Lesson learned, don't go out on Thursday nights in Oceanside!

And look who we ran into?! Just can't escape Mesa when you're vacationing in Oceanside!

Friday night we got pizza and played Ripple with consequences again! Just as fun the second time around. This time the guys got wise and put a lot of exercising type consequences. I think poor Marcie got them all!

Shelley had to stand on her head while singing I'm a Little Teapot, then profess her undying love to someone in the group that wasn't her spouse. Hehehe! I made that one up, thank you very much!

Lucky Austin was the recipient of her love. :)

Shelley also had to do a shot of coconut syrup! Blech!!! Her face cracks me up though!

And I had to take a selfie and send it someone in my contact list of the group's choosing. Of course I have to look like a recovering druggie that night! They chose Jimmy Lindblom. He didn't even respond for like 3 days, then just text back, "I'll definitely be keeping this for future use." Waaaaaa!! How embarrassing! ;) But still, a hysterical night!

Saturday morning we were up and at 'em, packing and getting ready to leave. I coerced everyone down to the beach one last time for a group picture though.

Looking at these makes me so sad!!! I don't want it to be over! We seriously had the BEST time together! It was probably one of my very favorite vacations of all time! I'm so so lucky to have the siblings that I have. I loved all the time we spent together. It was too bad that Jefferson couldn't take off any more work. It's times like these that I want to have a bunch more kids so they can have what I have! Thank you Mom and Dad for having so many dang kids! Haha! Everything is awesome... everything is cool when you're part of a team!! ;) Love them!