California

 Saturday morning we packed up in Flagstaff and bade farewell to the Evans. We had an 8 hour drive ahead of us and we were looking to get it behind us.

We stopped after about 5 hours to get some In 'N Out in a small California town I don't remember. I just remember that no hamburger was worth the madness that ensued in that establishment. Add Olive falling off her chair and getting a bloody lip and I was about to lose it.

Finally, after lots of fruit snacks, Matilda watching and "Don't ask us when we're getting there!!!"s.. we arrived.

Our budding family demanded a new beach house this year. It's on the same street as the other one, just closer to Cassidy St. We were nervous about it being the second house from the public access area, but it turned out just fine. Actually, better than fine! This beach house was awesome!! I can't believe I didn't take more pictures inside. It had two, big living room areas, a huge, sweet kitchen, 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. Even still, we didn't quite fit, so Christopher and Jael took the extra condo at Northcoast Village and just drove over to hang with us each day.

As we can't ever wait to get our hands on Johnny Mananas, it was carne asada fries and bean burritos for dinner that night! Then, Casey, Shelley, Christopher, Travis and I squeezed in the car after kids were in bed to score some Thrifty ice cream at the Rite Aid up the street. But to our absolute horror, it was CLOSED!!! At 10pm on a Saturday night. Lameeee sauce. So we spied a Baskin Robbins up the street and huffed it over there quick to see if they were open. Nope! Shelley trotted over like she was going to bang on the window at the poor workers sweeping up. We Lindbloms need our ice cream!!! Luckily, a Cold Stone was still open a few miles away. Not a fan of Cold Stone, but we were el desperado.

The next morning was our traditional sacrament meeting in Oceanside 2nd ward.

As we were getting ready, I spotted 4 cute boys looking ever so longingly at the beach down below. (Do you like the netting we had to cover the entire bench with? Normally, it's just my mom that is paranoid about kids falling through, but this year and I shared her anxiety. Doesn't do much for keeping them from falling OVER though.  

As I was taking their pictures, my dad thought he was funny and took one of me to text to all of us saying, "The net doesn't keep mother's off it either." Har, har. ;)

I hardly ever curl Miss Olive's hair, but when I do, it's for church. :) And I can't get enough of it!!

It is WAY more fun to hold a baby that isn't yours in church. I don't know why, but it is. Christopher and Jael aren't big on headbands, so while I was holding Lucy, Marcie slipped me one of Scarletts. I think she rocked it. :)

I don't think Olive let Scarlett drink a bottle without her help the whole week. She was LOVING on baby Scarlett.

These boys too.

Hmmm, maybe it's time for another baby.

We had to start kicking these girls out of Scarlett's bouncer. Good thing those are pretty indestructible.

We played games that afternoon and had taco salad together for dinner. Fasting on vacation is not so much fun! But I think my stomach needed that rest.

That evening, we walked around on the beach and did a terrible job keeping the kids out of the water.

And of course, I took WAY too many pictures. It's pretty obvious who the reigning favorite is right now. ;)

(Please note the first ugly, photo bomb of the week, haha)

Those surprise waves are a booger!! 

Sand crabs would keep them busy for hours.

I think Lucy could eat Scarlett. And she seems to be doing so here! Hehe. At least Scarlett thinks it's funny.

Sunday night, Marcie's Nail Service was open for pedicures. (It's really the best way to Olive's heart)I don't know if the boys just thought it was funny or what, but they all lined up! (It just took us several days to figure out that was the reason Collin refused to wear flip flops the rest of the week!)

Let the GaMeS begin!

Monday

OK, interesting thing about this week... it was much warmer than usual! And I felt like the clouds cleared out way earlier than in years past. We're used to having to wait til noon to hit the beach and even then, sometimes with a light jacket on. Not this year! We didn't need jackets or pants even once and the beach was calling our name by 10:30am at least!

Unfortunately, I don't think we ever did get out to the beach that early! Every morning, something was going on. On Monday, it was of course the massive Wal-Mart shopping trip to stock up for the week. Once that was out of the way, it was beach time!

It looks like the videotaping gene has passed on!!

This was taken a few minutes after an all out brawl over a Gatorade lid.

Sheesh. Alley cats behind those smiles. I promise they love each other. 

Monday night is always Harbor Fish and Chips night. Talk always goes up about whether we want to change this because several family members don't dig on seafood. I'm sorry, but they are the losers!! I will never deviate. That fish taco is arguably my favorite meal of the entire year!!! Top it off with amazing clam chowder and deep fried pineapple rings and I will gladly pay any heart attack causing hospital bills. 

The ice cream shop around the corner is a nice finish. I'm glad I got Olive the hardest color to get out of a white shirt. 

Monday was also my parent's wedding anniversary! 33 years! And so we all settled down to watch what my mom thought was the old DVD compilation of family photos from their 25th anniversary. But my Dad surprised her with a new one of pictures from the last 8 years. Bonus points for Dad! It was a really thoughtful gift.

Tuesday equals more beach fun!

(Prefaced with a shopping spree to The Closet, of course!)

These boys want to play ball all day long. We started really thinking when we assigned Lane to do the pitching.

Skittles, M&M's, nachos and soda are our beach snacks of choice. You just have to hide them from these scavengers. Abbey was targeted!

Collin sort of vacillated between chasing waves with Lane or digging in the sand with Rusty.

The waves this year were GINORMOUS. And would crash with fury, right on the beach. I think it was an honest adrenaline rush for this one. Can you imagine a wave higher than you crashing down on top of you??! He was playing with fate for sure. :) And his very serious faces while he was running, cracked.me.up. 

Wednesday is usually our Sea World Day. This year we decided to mix it up. But it literally took hours of debating Tuesday night, what we would actually do. Disneyland even held the winning spot for a while. And if it were up to Shelley, that's what we would have done! I was hoping for the San Diego Zoo.  Ultimately, the USS Midway in San Diego won. I was pretty happy though, because that was a mile away from The Donut Bar!! We tried to go last year but it was sold out by the time we showed up. It's supposedly ranked top 5 in best donuts in the country. And I will whole heartedly stand by that assessment. They were for SURE the BEST donuts I've EVER had. I don't even understand how they made the dough that delicious. It was the closest thing to heaven I've ever tasted. Standing in front of so many wasn't even fair. I ordered a dozen and got one free. That was pretty nice of them considering, I'd just spent $50 on donuts and milk.

I believe the top middle was the strawberry spritzer?? (It was OK). The top right was crème brulee. Yum.

The bottom right was Butterbeer. 

Three Maple Bacons was NOT a mistake. It rivaled as my favorite, next to the Monte Cristo.

The chocolate looking one was Nutella and the maple circular one was Carmael Latte, I believe.

The Lemon Pistachio was AMAZING. I love tart flavors and they nailed it with that one. The little on on the left was a Reece's Peanut Butter one. And the bottom one is the granddaddy of them all! The glorious Monte Cristo. (A ham and cheese sandwich/donut, layered with jam.) Get it toasted and kiss your arteries goodbye.

Aaaand the second, ugly photo bomb of the week!

I mean, really. You outdid yourself there, Shell! Hahaha!

On to the USS Midway!

I guess it's an old WWII Aircraft carrier that's been converted into a museum.

This took us several hours to walk through. And, as with most museums, would probably have been quite a bit more enjoyable without the chillens. But that's OK. They LOVED all the airplanes.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the bottom levels of the ship with the most massive kitchens and laundry rooms. It's crazy how a whole city basically operates on these boats. 

For dinner, we flooded a yummy Mexican food restaurant downtown called Guadalajara. 

This shrimp quesadilla was no joke.

(And this sweet guy stayed out in the car with a sleeping Olive most of the time.)

Poor Abbey's order got messed up, but we all enjoyed the yummiest fried ice cream as compensation!

That night was GaMe NiGhT!

We all gathered round for our second annual "Ripple with Consequences".

Only Casey and Jael chickened out.

I had forgotten that Travis was undefeated last year. Well, that record came tumbling down this year!! He wasn't reasonable at all though, and refused to go next door and ask the neighbors for a tampon. I mean, come on! ;)

Wearing lipstick was apparently a much preferable alternative. 

David dancing to Gangnam Style, by far took the show! Dumb Blogger won't let a video that big be uploaded though. :(

That night, David, Abbey, Travis and I tried to hit up Ruby's for a late dinner, but it was already closed. Booo. Luckily, Miso Harney Sushi was still open! (Yes, you read that right. :)

So on Thursday, we headed to Ruby's on the Pier for an early lunch.

Several years ago, David introduced me to their Black Cherry shakes and I fell in love. No where else makes them as good. Today, that love was dashed as they told us it's no longer on the menu. Well, thanks a lot, Ruby!!

I will usually brave the ocean maybe once in the whole week. Sometimes, not at all. It's just too dang cold! Well, not this year! I think I went in 3 different days! Yay for warmer weather! 

The most amazing part though was that SHELLEY went in too!! She never gets in. She claims being in cold water is the absolute worst thing ever and not worth it in the least. Well, our gallivanting must have looked too fun to resist because she actually GOT IN for the first time in ten years!! Sound the alarms! Haha!

Don't forget, this was also the year of the crazy powerful, non-stop waves! All of us girls got in and tried to take a picture. Not happening!! Every time we'd get together, the biggest wave would pummel us, knocking us down like weightless bowling pins. We were all screaming, falling, holding onto each other and swimsuits that were getting pulled off our bodies and clamoring to stay alive. It was pure chaos and we were hysterically laughing the entire time!!

Only later did I find out that two sisters got the 'Stephanie Show' as well. I guess I didn't pull my bottoms up fast enough! Soooorrrry!

Shower time is always a good feeling! Cute girls got twinner hair that night!

Friday morning we finally squeezed in Beach Break Café! It's so nice that we can just walk up the street to it. We just need a smaller family so we don't have to wait an hour!

The last day on the beach is always a sad one. :( It's just never enough time.

There was a shower at the base of the beach house's stairs that we put a kiddie pool in. It was warm water, so quickly became dubbed as the hot tub by the kids. Olive and Lindi really loved the hot tub. Since it was so clean, we really had no problem with it.

Olive got a mermaid makeover courtesy of Uncle David and Aunt Abbey.

We tried to tell her to lean back so we could get the full effect.

Oh we got it alright!! HAHAHA! She literally stayed like this, as still as a mannequin, for several minutes. In fact, I don't know if she would have ever moved if we didn't tell her to.

After a week of watching Mommy and all the aunts lay out, I think she finally wanted to see what the fun was all about!



I read the second book in the Selection Series, then started my book club book on our last day.

Again, with tradition... pizza watching the sun set on the last day!

This time, they got something called Jay's Gourmet Pizza I think?? They had a shrimp pesto one that was incredible!

OK, huge tangent...

My mom and I found ourselves telling Craig all about OJ Simpson for some reason. It is crazy to me that something that was that big in the news and holds such specific memories in my life, is something that was completely before Craig's time. I think that a lot about 9/11 when I'm with teenagers that were born in or after 2011 and have no memories of it. Such a strange thing.



That night, Grandma started Tessalations with the boys. They LOVED it and I'm sure felt so grown up, playing a board game.

Turns out, we brought TWO Vitamixes to the beach house, so I made orange julius' and an hour later, Dad made Oreo shakes.

And that was just the kind of fuel we needed to start more games, including Mafia. Ugh. I hate it when I'm Mafia! But the most noteworthy part of this night is the fact that Grandpa Cat stayed awake for all of it!! Yay, narcoleptic Grandpa! 

Saturday morning, I got up with the kids while we tried to let the rest of the house sleep. (Abbey, David, Craig and Lane were sprawled out on various couches.)

That left us with the back porch. Watching the sun rise over the beach was a nice way to say goodbye. I think Collin's sunburned eyes say it's time to go!

We packed and cleaned up, then took one more group picture on the beach. Christopher and Jael were MIA which was a bummer. I love how we all seem to coordinate colors though! Minus gothic David and Abbey. What downers. ;)

Lunch at Phil's BBQ. I love how our traditions revolve around good food.

I think the barbeque sauce did something to Collin because he was HAMMING it up. Playing his air guitar so passionately. He had the whole patio's attention.

Grandma couldn't help but follow suit.

We all drove at different paces. Marcie and Austin stayed behind to visit family. Grandma and Grandpa with the trailer. Christopher and Jael taking a whole day with nursing stops. ;) We made it to Gila Bend before we needed a break. McDonald's dipped ice cream cones did the trick. As we were approaching Maricopa, the biggest double rainbow stretched the sky. You could see it from both ends, which is so unusual. I thought it was a beautiful ending to a wonderful week. We are so grateful we have parents willing to take the whole family on a trip together. It really is priceless bonding time and I look forward to it all year. I am SO blessed to be a part of such a big family. We really missed Jefferson this time. He broke his collarbone at family camping and stayed home to work. Hopefully next time, we'll have the whole family together!