spring break 2021

 CALIFORNIA!

It had been more than 2 years since we had visited California, and we knew pretty quick that is where we wanted to go for Spring Break. Dan's sister Kristen, lives a block from the beach in San Clemente. She also has the cutest kids that my kids love to play with. Oh, and her house is absolutely gorgeous. Everything about California is A+ in our books. 

We took Dan's mom and little sister with us, so we had a full car load. Cathy's car actually broke down on her way to our house, so dan had to leave work early to go pick her up. When they got here, we all piled in the car and went to dan's boss's house in St. George for the night. We wanted to break up the drive. Boy do we love St. George. Dan did a morning run before we left and sent the most beautiful pictures. We got to California around 2, so plenty of time to play at the beach before we had a cookout at Kristens house.

Our first full day was Thursday. We spent the entire day at Baby Beach at Dana Pointe. It was perfect for the kids because we didn't need to worry about them being swept out in the waves. Georgia mainly built sand castles, Stori and Sylvie did a lot of paddle boarding with Dan, and I mainly sat on the beach with Cathy and Marisa while they got so so so sunburned :(    some of us ventured beyond the cove and discovered a really fun empty beach with so many sea anemones.

On Friday we made the decision to not spend time on the beach since Cathy and Rissy were so sunburned. So off to Pasadena we went. Stori really wanted to do two things while we were there. See the Hollywood sign, and The Father of the Bride, house. (We took her to those things on our very first visit to California when she was just 16 months old). her favorite actor is Steve Martin hahah, so she was so excited to walk down the street where he did. She was prettyyyyy positive she also saw him drive by while we were there. It could have been, ya never know. :) It was def the same car he had in the movie haha. We saw the Hollywood sign from far away at the Griffith Observatory. The actual observatory was closed (which is so sad, because it's so cool in there), but we still got to walk around the grounds. After the observatory, we broke off from Kristen, Cathy, and Marisa. we decided to go see the Hollywood sign up even closer. Our maps took us on a tour of Hollywood hills and hooolllyyy smokes! I'm so glad we did that. It was the most beautiful drive. The roads were super narrow, and sometimes we had to do 3 point turns just to turn on the next road. The houses were amazing, and it felt like we were set back in the 60's. 100% glad it took us that detour way.

After Hollywood we decided to head to Beverly Hills to play at a playground while we waited for rush hour to pass. We saw a famous person running (well, not super famous, but we at least knew him. Hitch actor). The playground was one we had been to before. We loved it so much last time... water paths running through it, super nice covered toys, huge open grassy area water fountains, etc. BUT this time was less than enjoyable. There was a "Helper" lady at the park, "helping" people be safe.  She went up to my kids and Dresden, and told them that if they didn't put on their masks, that she would call the police on them. So of course, Sylvie comes over to me crying. I told the kids to go play and not worry about that lady, and told them that if she talks to them, to have her come and talk to ME!! not to the little 4, 6, 7, and 9 year olds. So she went up to them one more time and that's when we decided we didn't want to be there anymore. another incident happened at that park that made us realize we fit in better in Orange County, than LA county. Less entitled people in OC. 

We still had a while before rush hour would let up, so we went to see Santa Monica Pier. that was our first time there, and we loved it! We can't wait to go back again and ride all the rides. It's basically a nicer fair, and has all the good smells of a fair, but even better because of the ocean smell too. Also, right when we went to go park, this nice man gave us his parking pass so we got to park for free. Definitely better than our Beverly Hills experience.

Kristen has a super fun play room and a fun backyard that kept all 6 kids entertained any time there was a lull in activities. So Saturday, we let them play at the house until after lunch. We tried to go to Laguna Beach, but it was too busy (Spring break for California, AZ, and Utah). So instead we went to this beautiful park with ocean views. We played there for probably 6 hours. Rick, Dan, Kristen, and I all played frisbee, football, and smash ball. The kids played at the playground, ran through the big grassy area, and then every once in a while they would join us. It was so fun!

Sylvie and Dresden were pretty inseparable all weekend, and when the time came for us to leave, Dresden told Sylvie that she would find Dan a job there and buy her a house next to them. haha so cute. We're still waiting to hear back from ya drez.

A few highlights: loft sleeping, sleepovers, In n Out, swinging, neighborhood walks and talks, dan and Stori date night to the pier (they watched surfers jump off the pier, then surf in-so scary), staying up late talking, and trying to convince ourselves that we don't need to move there... still not so sure on that one haha jk-ish