California: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

What would a family trip be with the good, the bad, and the ugly?? Actually, we did have a good time in California despite all that tried to take our fun away. The trip there was very eventful to say the least, but we made it safe. The house we stayed in was perfect. It was literally right on the beach!!! We got to see the sunset almost every night, and for all you Pirates of the Caribbean fans out there, there really is a little green flash when the sun finally dips below the horizon. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen!!! So, here goes...our trip (disclaimer: this may be a long post as a lot happened and I want to try to remember everything)

Saturday: We arrive...it was freezing!!!! Seriously, Southern California is supposed to be all sunny and warm. When we got to the house we walked out back for about 3 seconds and then decided that it was way to cold and way to windy to be on the beach so we spent most of the afternoon in the house.
Sunday: Despite keeping the Shelby and JP up late the night before (in hopes that they would sleep in), JP was up bright and early...3:30am to be exact and Shelby followed shortly behind. They were hungry, after all, their internal clocks said it was 6:30am. Thank goodness Pratt and I went to bed at 8:00 the night before. We decided to brave the cold and head out to do some exploring. We walked down Venice Beach. It was good to say that we did it, but afterward, Pratt and I decided that we really love living in our wonderful little bubble called Bluffton, SC. There are some different people out there and Shelby was shaking like a leaf most of the time we were there from being cold and from being scared of a creepy old clown and some weird guy, well, acting weird. After that we loaded up the cars and headed to Santa Monica. Unfortunately it was way to cold to think about walking down the pier so we walked down the Promenade until Shelby and JP couldn't stand it any longer. Pratt and I walked back to the car and headed home. If you would have asked me what time I thought it was when we made it back to the car I would have said atleast 8:00pm, but it wasn't even close...5:30 to be exact. Oh man were we tired.
Monday: Up again at 3:30am!! I can't remember 100% what happened that day, but I think that it rained a lot of it. Pratt and I decided to that it would be a good day to go to the aquarium since there wasn't much appeal to being outside. It was fun and we got to drive through Long Beach which was a really neat little place. That afternoon I went out with the girls and Shelby and JP slept for nearly 4 1/2 hours.
Tuesday: We got to sleep in...until 4:00am!!!! This was one of the best days by far!! DISNEYLAND!!!! All the way there Shelby definitely wasn't convinced that this was a good idea. She even started to cry and begged us to take her home when we parked the car and started to get unloaded. "I want to go home, please. I don't want to see all the people." she would say. After the initial panic of it and once we got her in the park, she had a great time. Of course we avoided all characters and princesses at all costs. We even walked around the castle as she was deathly afraid of it. We rode several rides. The teacups and "Its a small world" were the biggest hits. At the end of the day, JP passed out in the stroller and Shelby talked and talked about how much fun she had. It was a very successful day! That night Pratt went to the Lakers/Nicks basketball game with the guys. They had a great time and got to see all sorts of celebrities....even Zach Efron and Vanessa!!!! I have to say, I was so jealous!!!!
Wednesday: Up again at 3:30am....this by far was the nastiest day there. It poured the whole day and I promise you the temperature never got above 45. Meanwhile, I heard that the weather here was beautiful...go figure. I actually went back to bed at 9:00 and slept for a few hours this day because I was so exhausted. Pratt woke me up around 11:00 and we got ready to meet my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy for lunch. We spent the rest of the day at the house.
Thursday: Another 3:30am wake up call...I really thought that the kids would be used to the new time of things in California by then, but they weren't so we made the best of it. I guess the good thing about being up that early was that we got to see the sunrise every morning, well sort of...we were facing west so we didn't see it rise over the horizon, but we were up to greet it...ummmmm...okay, mental block, I can't remember much of anything from that day. Oh, we went to Long Beach for lunch, we ate at PF Changs. It was really good. Oh yeah...the best part of that day happened about 8:30am. Pratt and Patricio decided to test out their surfing skills. Let me start by saying that it was only 41 degrees out!!! I was laughing so hard at them that I could hardly take pictures. Everything was cold, the air, the sand, and especially the water and to see those two crazy kids in wetsuits....oh, it was hilarious!!! This day the weather started to get nicer. In the afternoon I was sitting in the window watching the water and saw one of the most amazing things...dolphin playing in the waves. You could see them through the water surfing the waves. It was just amazing. Then they would jump out and do all kinds of tricks. It was like they knew that we were watching them and they were putting on a show for us. I can't tell you how cool it was. That night was Jake's graduation party, since Shelby, JP and myself were coming down with some kind of cold we decided that only Pratt would go and I would stay back.
Friday: They finally get it....both kids slept until 7:00am. I felt like a new woman!! Also, it finally started to warm up. I think that the temperature was in the high 50's and the sun was shining!!! We went back to Long Beach and had lunch a great little mexican type place. Friday night was Jake's graduation. It was great. Lee Strobel was the commencement speaker and I wish that I could have heard him talk. He wrote The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for the Creator, etc.
Saturday: Up at 6:00 and then we had to wake the children at 6:30 to head to the airport. Thankfully our trip home was without complication and the flight from California to Atlanta was only 3 1/2 hours instead of the 5 hours that it took us to get out there. It was great touch down in Savannah and know that we would be sleeping in our own beds that night. A super special thanks to Rob for picking us up and going grocery shopping with Pratt that night!!

Some additional thoughts: Shelby and JP shared a room the whole week!! I was a little bit anxious about this because Shelby likes to sleep with the light on, but she did great with just a little night light and JP only got out of his bed once...yes, he slept in a big bed. We requested a crib/pack-n-play, but when we got there it wasn't there and the rental company told us that we wouldn't get it until later so we just put JP in the bed, surrounded him with pillows and crossed our fingers. The house was amazing. It was on the beach in Sunset Beach, I mean literally right on the beach. I spent most of the day in a chair looking out on the water. There were oil rigs right there, some of them so close that it looked like you could swim out to them. There were also oil pumps in the middle of neighborhoods. Growing up we went to Wyoming a lot of visit my grandparents so I know what oil pumps look like, you see them all over there, but in the desert. It was just wild to see them in the midst of houses and such. The beaches were awesome. They have tons of public parking, garbage cans every 500 ft., volleyball courts all down the beach, board walks, etc. I can't imagine how much fun it would be in the summer. Shelby and JP were such troopers. We really pushed them well beyond their limits and they responded well and went with the flow most of the time.

All in all it was a fun trip. I think that nearly everyone ended up with a cold, but we had fun and the memories will last a life time. While at this point I am not too eager to make the trek again, I know that one day we will be back and I can't wait.

Pictures to follow shortly.