Vacation, all I ever wanted

So we spent the last week away from our regular laundry and homework filled life, and had ourselves some much needed R&R. After spending a really nice day and a half in Fresno with my family for Easter, we headed down to Southern California.

We were so lucky to be able to stay with/hang out with one of my best friends and former college roommate Marie and her lovely family. The first order of business was some good beach time. Marie took us to a fun beach in San Clemente where there were some swings and slides right on the beach, and occasionally the commuter train would come by, which was a big hit with all the kids.



We had so much fun until we left the beach and realized that Clay and all the girls were sunburned. Why am I not surprised. I try to be the sunscreen nazi, but it seems like no matter how thorough the application or how often we reapply the white Callaway's always get a burn. At least this time we avoided the whole body burn and ended up with a few small spots of peeling burn.

On Wednesday we headed out early to Knott's Berry Farm. It was pretty busy in the middle of the day, but as the day wore on the lines got shorter and shorter. The weather was perfect, I am getting so spoiled. All three of the kids are thrill seekers. They were all asking for the biggest scaries rides, which alas, Neve and Kiera were too short to ride. In a few years...



The the first big ride with Neve ended with her screaming "Let's go again right now!" Maren was tall enough for all the big rides, so her and I tried one out. She had a little nervous anticipation as she watched the trains in front of us. This was especially brutal because the during the ride the train came back through the station right in front of us at about 60 miles/hour, but she didn't chicken out. When the ride ended she repeated "I think I died...I think I died". Then she went on it again with Dad. Kiera was hilarious. She wanted to go on all the big ones and was bugged when she was denied. Luckily the park is set up pretty well for little ones and she rode the little ones to her heart's content. We told her she had to keep her hands up the whole ride every time. She was all about that and squealed that belly laugh the whole time.



We thought we managed not to get anyone more sunburned until Clay realized that night that the beach sunburn he got on his leg the day before now had sock tan lines. Please note the photo of the man's attire for the day.



Are those jeans you ask? Why yes they are. The man got sunburned THROUGH his jeans. I am thinking that the getaway trip we are planning to Hawaii maybe isn't the best idea...hmmm....Ireland maybe.

The rest of the week was spend just having some laid back fun. What can I say. We stopped by the Newport Beach temple to check it out.



Rick took Clay surfing at old man's...Clay's arms were pretty sore the next day.



We got to see our good friends the Yen's in Laguna Beach that we haven't seen for almost 2 years. All the kids played "I can stand on one leg and not get swept away by the waves", which naturally ended with wet, sandy kids.



On the way back up north, we stopped to walk the grounds of the Los Angeles Temple.



And then we spend a couple of hourse enjoying the Getty Center in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains. I hadn't been there in many years and was still so impressed by the architecture and gardens. I'd like to just move in.



A lovely end to a lovely trip.