VaCa- Take 2- CaLiFoRNiA!

Every summer, my family vacations in Oceanside, California, and this year we finally were able to join them! As you can see, Collin was a bit apprehensive about the 7 hour car drive (usually it's 6, but pulling a trailer coupled with my mom's begging slowed my dad's normal 80mph driving to around 70mph :) Luckily he did great and we cruised into Oceanside around 5pm Saturday night.

The next day was Sunday, FAST Sunday, mind you and we were good little Mormons and headed off to church. My dad had to leave after Sacrament mtg, though so he could go pick up Jefferson from the airport. (He was at Lake Powell all week with his friends and got back after we had left) WELL, church ends, and there is no Dad or Jefferson. Because of heightened security at the airport and bad traffic, we got to spend a whole extra, blessed hour chillin' in the foyer. Lane was acting like he had had Red Bull for breakfast, running around and shrieking with delight.

My mom was catching the fever and getting worked up right along with him.

She also busted out the video camera to document.... well nothing really. We chastised her for doing so (it has to be against church policy, right?) But when I couldn't beat her, I joined her and started snapping pics!

Well at one point, Lane started rolling around on the floor. My mom loves to make the comment whenever babies or children are acting un-adult-like, "What if we all...... fill in the blank with whatever the baby is doing......" Marcie acts mortified at the thought and my mom sees a chance to embarrass her children, yet again. We didn't really think she'd do it.... we should have known better. I think Casey's face is classic.

She only laid on the ground for a moment and somehow I missed that moment, but you can see Casey running away now.

And here he is acting like he doesn't belong to this family. Haha, actually we were all acting that way by now!

And here is the lone stranger just sitting, acting like he's not paying any attention to our fairly disfunctional family, but I saw him steal glances whenever he thought we weren't looking.

FINALLY, after an hour of waiting, here comes father and son. Apparently he got pulled over because Jefferson wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Guess how much the ticket was. Just a measly $300. Way to go Jeffers!

Sunday night we like to walk along the beach and take pictures in the sunset. My parents had their 27 year anniversary the next day. They're still in love and best friends after knowing each other over 30 years. I feel so blessed to have parents who are not only still married, but HAPPILY married. (And if you're wondering why my dad has a panda on his shirt, please don't confuse him with some environmentalist-I don't know if there's anyone farther from it- it's just a skate brand called Enjoi.

Lane LOVED the water. So much so that he soaked his clothes and Shelley let him run amoke in his birthday suit.

Thanks to the beauty of photoshop, we were able to make this pic PG :)

So basically we were just beach bums all week except for Wednesday. I finished reading Joy Luck Club and started in on Confessions of a Shopaholic whilst trying to tan my embarrassingly white skin. My two sisters put me to shame.

Collin sported a new rash guard which he wore under the shade, far from the water. Just a bit too cold for him! A well spent five dollars.

Monday night we walked to the harbor while the sun was going down.

The first of many family pics.

We ate dinner at Harbor Fish and Chips. Yum!

Topped off with some icecream.And back at the condo we discovered what a GREAT job the spray sunscreen did on Trav's back! I was in an artistic kind of mood when I put it on him that morning.

Tuesday brought more beach bumness... We played a bunch of paddle ball and Trav and I finished off the week with the best score of 600 without dropping the ball. Woo.Hoo!

This is the view from the condo my family stayed in. We shared a condo with Shelley, Casey, and Lane and had a great view too.

Tuesday night we watched some Jim Gaffagen, then some people conked out.

Man, I can't wait until my kid can entertain himself while I sleep in!

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at a yummy restaurant called Marys. With fresh squeezed oj and homemade pancakes in our stomachs we were ready to party hardy at Sea World!

We passed an accident on our way there that was being taken care of by the Geriatric Patrol :)

Every year our family gets their picture taken in this exact same spot.

Trav wanted it made clear that he wasn't trying to be a gangster, he was trying to shade Collin's face with his hat :)

Lots of walkin'!

While everyone went on the Atlantis ride, Collin and I took a break under some shade.

And savored a frosted lemonade and churro!

Poor guy got sunburned right around his eyes. Didn't think to put sunscreen so close to his eyes!

My mom watched Collin so we could ride Shipwreck Reef Rapids. It's one of those big circular tube rides that seats 9 people. Needless to say we got soaked!

And by the end of the day, pregnant Shelley had had enough and lost her senses. She protested any more walking by laying on the ground. Lane's is wondering what happened to his normally sanitary mother.

At the beginning of the day, one of the workers commented on how cute our matching outfits were. Sigh. I got dressed first! His rebuttle was that he planned his outfit way in advance. That's just girly :)

Mom and Craig at the Shamu Rocks show. Totally fits their personalities.

Thursday morning brought more beach bumness.... haha.

As Trav likes to say, CRACK KILLS!!

Can I get a little respect please?

It must have been "show your stuff" day at the beach, because then we spotted Father and Son Speedos.

Collin decided if you can't beat em, Join Em!

We got in some games of wiffle ball.

Then we spent the evening playing Village Idiot and the "Lying Game".

This is the reaction I got when I told them to act like they were having fun.

Friday morning we shopped til we dropped at The Closet. I. Luv. Shopping. Pure Bliss.

I didn't want our last day at the beach to end. We ate pizza while watching the sun set.

My mom got Collin a little souvenir. How did she know?! :)

Saturday morning we miraculously packed up by 10am, drove into San Diego and ate lunch at the best BBQ place ever. You know it's good when I'm eating a pulled pork sandwich. We were in hog heaven. Then my parents dropped us off at the San Diego airport at noon and we begun or cross country trip home, arriving at 11pm.

We had such a great time! Thank you mom and dad for providing such a fun time for all of us. We love our big, crazy, happy family!

For a parting laugh, you have to watch this video. If you don't know what "Kidsongs" are, they are DVD's of kids singing songs based on the theme of the particular show. Like, "A Day at the Farm" is all animal songs. We all grew up watching them. They are incredibly cheesy. And yet, my uber cool, teenaged brother broke down all pride when his FAVORITE song came on. He just had to join in :)

VaCa Take one- AriZoNa

There's nothin' like summer vacaction.... or 110 degree weather. We figured it was about time to introduce this little guy to skin scorching, body melting heat!

We stayed with Travis's parent's in AZ for our first week home. We did all the usual stuff like gorging ourselves on Cafe Rio, Gecko Grill, In'N'Out Burger, Panda Express, and Ned's Crazy Sub. Oink Oink. We also got to go to the temple for the first time since Collin was born. (Renting clothes is weird.)I got my hair done by the stylish Marcie Moo. We were able to hear Trav's sister give her homecoming talk in church. (She got home from Portugal the week before) and much much more!

I thought this was hilarious, and had to document... my family running Nursery. It is my mom's fav calling. What's better than kicking off your shoes, playing with toys and eating a snack for two hours of church? My sis, Marcie has had this calling for several months now, but the latest addition is my father! After paying his dues in numerous bishoprics, high councils, and YM presidencies, he finally hit the big time. :) He has been swamped at work, traveling most days of the week and getting about 4-5 hours of sleep a night, so this came at a most opportune time! I snuck in for the last hour and enjoyed watching my fam in action. When I pulled out my camera to take a inconspicuous "candid shot", the kids spotted me right off and the little boy in green starting giving me the biggest smiles without any prompting. Too funny. He's well trained!

Davy and his luscious locks :)

We had lots of down time to just visit with family and Collin was quite a hit among his cousins. I only got a little apprehensive when I left the room, then heard my sister in law, scold her kids, saying, "Don't jump over him! You're gonna squish him!"

Trav's dad loves to do photography, and one night he transformed the basement into his own little studio. The mission- get one pic of all ten grandkids, smiling and looking at the camera. Thirty-six pictures later... mission failed. I love Neil's face in this pic. Such a boy. If it wasn't him though, it was crazy Abby in the back who was being silly. E for effort!

One night, Trav's mom planned a BuNkO NiGhT! We were just one person short, so my mom came over at the last minute. Yeah mom! She started out at the bottom table and stayed there for six rounds! What a good sport. :)

We both got some cute fall decorations. So I'm thinking I want to start a Bunko group out here, it's really fun and who can dispute another girls night filled with chocolate?!

I also took Collin over the doctor's office that I used to work at so we could visit my two favorite ladies in the world, Carrie and Diane! They are seriously the best. I miss working with them so much. They were like second mothers to me at that job.

And we also stopped by Trav's old job, Swim Kids. He was a swim teacher for many years and he sure misses all that chlorine! It does wonders for the skin :)

We went to dinner one night with Trav's best friend from high school, Chase.

My best friends, Leah, Jenni, and Shelley came over to my parents house to go swimming one afternoon with their kids. Of course, MY kid decides to sleep through all the fun. Figures. I'm always the childless one in this group :)Collin came out to play later and Trav is already ancy to start teaching him stuff in the pool.

We also hit up Big Surf. Fun, but WAY too expensive. It's $26 per adult now. I was tempted to ask them if we could like lifeguard or something for a couple of hours to pay our way. Ridiculous.

We did try to get our tan on though, to prep us for some California fun the next week. Stay tuned for some inappropriate pictures and classic "Lindblom" moments!