Sealed Deal: Californa 2016

We've been planning this trip for so long! The beach house was booked, the dates were set, the agenda was (roughly) lined up and we were so ready to go to Cali and have our first real, long get away as a family since Matix was born! Then , Chad gets the call from HP with the dates for his second interview and its the same weekend...in Phoenix. Kind of a bummer but we didn't mind much since we knew a job with HP would be well worth it.
The boys and I packed up and set off wednesday for what would be the longest day of traveling in my life. It wasnt so bad but Liam is STILL potty training and traveling with a sporatic potty goer is always hard i think.not to mention he had the hardest most frustrating regression of all time as soon as we arrived.

It was a long day, that's all that needs to be said.

It was hard not having Chad there. The kids were great, I got good sleep and our friends were beyond helpful and accomidating but I just missed him. A family trip isn't the same with the Chad. The boys were angels...no joke, absolute angels for me and I was so grateful for thier flexibility, it could have gone a whole other direction but they were sweet, Matix was smiling or sleeping the whole weekend and Liam was grateful and kind which is more than I can ask of a 2 year old for a whole weekend. Minus the first night there when Liam decided to just deficate none stop in his pants, everything else went very smoothely.

The Beach house was perfect! SO affordable for what we got! We were steps away from the sand and we each of the three families had their own room and bathroom on our own floors! PERFECTION! Huge shout out to Chelsea who made it happen. Our spot was perfect and the beach was EMPTY! The first full day we all braved Sea world and it was amazing.

The next day, we were full-on beach bums...lots of bum! We spent the large majority of our day in the sun 10am-5pm to be exact. We didn't even stop for food. It took a lot of coaxing to get Liam to drink water periodically throughout the day and we survived on sandy chicken quesadillas I packed. Between building sandcastles, burying and being buried with cousins and friends, boogie boarding, wave chasing and digging for crabs, we could have stayed there for days! It was SUCH a treat having Sam, Preston and the boys come to spend the afternoon with us! Nothing better than Merrell boys and lots of sand. I also didn't mind having a sister to ride the waves with.

Even Matix got in on the fun, aunt Sam helped him embrace the chill! But he had the right idea, he spend most of the day bundled up in a thin blanket under the shad of the umbrella sleeping and staring at the blue sky.

Chad called us Friday night with the great news about his job and made record time driving to Cali. When he finally arrived, Trent got the 1st hug, but I was next in line and jumped all over that man of mine! It's funny, 6 years and I still feel like we've been apart for years after each reunion. We left our sleeping babes with our friends while we enjoyed a quick dinner date and celebrated Chads new job offer. When I'm with Chad, I'm so happy. So in love with that goof.

When we returned, the day in the sun with 10 kids proved to be too much for us rookie parents and we all went to bed....like the lame-o's we are. I think we all decided that while we love our children and we LOVED seeing them play together on the beach and at sea world, next time...maybe not kids, just for a few years until they get old enough to miss the fun too much!

I had so much fun with my babies though, I'm so glad we all braved it together. Getting to know the Martinsens better was so wonderful and of course the Thompsons make vacations complete. I'm so blessed to have Abbie and Chelsea as friends, they are both role-model mothers and wives and thier personalities are dynamite. Plus their kids are the coolest! Liam talks about Crew, Porter, Laney and the babies all the time now. Visiting with the girls on the patio while eating chocolate and enjoying the silence of our sleeping babes was definitely a highlight for me. I didn't have many good girl friends in High school but I think I'm starting to get that privilege as an adult and I'm loving it.

The last day we rushed around all morning to prepare for check out and get ready for another fun-filled day at Seaworld, this time with our main man Chad. Sea world was HUMID! SO hot but we all still had a great time and as the day came to a close our natural tendency was to start planning our next vacation! We just love these people.

Somethings so special about family that feels like best friends and best friends who feel like family!

The fun didnt stop there! We got to travel a little further to hang out at Preston and Sams place is Costa Mesa! We talked politics, talked family and played a lot. We were able to go see the Newport temple on Sunday and plan made up sewer drain tag games. the next day we went to down town disney were we played a little in all the stores and bought absolutely nothing...my kind of shopping.

On the way out of Anehiem, we found the most amazing Italian market called Carinas. It's the best Italian food Chad or I have ever had, its a must for any time we're in the area again. The drive back was a little sad since we each took a kid and drover separately but we talked on the phone most of the time, about how fun the trip was and how excited we were about the job we'd be coming back home to.