David, Whitney, Mak, and Emmetts Trip to California.

We picked David, Whitney and the boys up at the Long Beach Airport. We wanted to eat at In and Out, but couldn't find one. So we spotted McDonalds on the way to the beach. So in we went. Mak said that he wanted to see Mickey Mouse in California. He was a bit disappointed that he was not waiting at the airport for him.

We were so excited to see Davids family. We were so worried about the cold weather, and yes, it was cold. We knew we couldn't play at the beach, but it was quite close. We had to wait for rush hour traffic. So we found a parking place. It was fun just taking the boys there.

We took this picture of everyone before they got too wet. Darn weather. It was so good to see them all. We drove two cars for everyone to ride in. Natalie knows I can't drive in the traffic and was able to drive the white car.

Emmett made a bee-line and headed right for the water. We really tried to keep him out. But he had "no fear" of the cold water and ran right for it. It would have been so neat if it would have been warm. The big waves would push him right over. I should have kept him dry, but a wave caught us both.

Whitney and I held onto Emmetts hands. But with every wave he was braver and would get wetter and wetter. He would go out a little further each time. You can see by the next picture that he did get wet and fell in. I could not stop him in time. So we wrapped him up in Whitneys sweatshirt. It doen't look cold, but it was just freezing. We had to take all his clothes off.

Mak also loved the waves that kept coming onto the beach. He would laugh and run back and forth in them. But it was just so cold. Those little boys are such good sports. They still wanted to play, and we were all just freezing. The boys would chase the seagulls around on the beach.

I love watching the little kids play in the water. They could have stayed the rest of the day had they not been so wet.

This is just a great picture of David, Whitney and Mak. Later I pulled that tree out of the water. Don't know where it came from, but I pulled in out. This is not a favorite beach, but was close to the airport.

Two boys that picked sticks up and began walking with them. We really had some cute pictures of them drawing in the sand too.

Saturday morning it looked like it would be a nice day. Gavin and Natalie rode with us to SeaWorld, and then went shopping and picked up Natalies picture of the SanDiego temple that Camille had given her. So the rest of us went to SeaWorld. First thing we did was get a map and a stroller. We decided where we needed to go first and which shows to see. Of course Shamu show and the Dolphin show were on top of our list.

I think this is the Dolphin show. Mike went with the kids to see the sights, while I stayed and saved seats for all of us. The next show, Mike saved the seats and I went with the everyone. It was so much fun seeing this with Mak and Emmett. The huge smiles and looks were just priceless.

Mak was looking at the Dolphins. It was hard getting a shot where the Dolphins and Mak were looking at the same time.

Everyone is looking at the Dolphins swimming around. Pretty big fish for us to see. They were being fed by the trainers. So it was great fun. We took P-nut butter and jelly sandwiches with us and a few snacks. So we could have a picnic while we walked around. The day was beautiful and the sun was out.

David and Whitney bought each of the boys a special stuffed animal. Mak loved the Dolphins and Emmett chose Shamu. They carried them around the rest of the day.

Mak took really good care of the Dolphin. It was so cute watching him play with him the rest of the trip while they were at Natalie and Gavins.

This is Emmett in the store as he bought Shamu. He loved holding him. He had a big smile and hug for Shamu.

After going to SeaWorld, we drove to LaJolla Cove. Mike and I love watching the sunset here whenever we are in SanDiego. The wild sealions swim here. But the wind was blowing, wouldn't you know it. Whitney stayed in the truck with Mak who had fallen asleep.

Sunday after church, we went to our apartment, watched a movie and the little kids roasted marshmellows in the fireplace. It was pouring rain outside. I think we even sat in the hot-tub while it was raining. Great memories though.

Monday morning we went to the Promenade Mall. They have a Disney store that had fun Disney animals for the boys. You know, they needed one to take with them to Disneyland on Tuesday morning. We kept watching the weather channel to see if we could go and have a break from the rain.

We just can't go anyplace during lunch time without stopping at the In and Out burgers. We love the hamburgers and fries. So we waited for Natalie to get off work, then we took everyone to lunch. It was pouring outside. We were soaked. Welcome to California. Sorry about the weather. Whitney had the boys in the In and Out hats, and Mak loved the pop.

After lunch, we went to Natalie home and the kids rested and watched a movie. Well, we all rested. Mak played games on the Ipod. He is showing his game to Natalie. I think she doesn't even know how to play like he does.

This is just a cute picture with Whitney showing the boys a game with puzzles on it. I am thinking we were fixing dinner also. Wish I could remember what we were fixing, but I am sure it was good. Wish we could put in all the pictures we have. This will be a posting of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We had so much fun with them. Natalie bought little animals with parachutes on them for the boys to throw off the balcony. It was fun just being all together. Wish all our family could come and play.

Disneyland and Natalie's Orange Trees

Gavin and Natalie planted these trees last year. They are very small, but had a lot of oranges. We have been able to see them grow these past few months. Sorry the pictures are faded out. It is dark outside, but the flash worked great.

Can you believe Gavin and Natalie have orange trees? One evening Gavin thought he should pick them. We just held the bowls. We thought he should have the priviledge of picking the fruit of his labors. He left a few for Mak and Emmett to pick.

We are on the Jungle boat with Natalie. The little boys will have fun on this ride. It will be as much fun as going to the zoo.

We are on the New Orleans river boat. Next week Mak and Emmett will be here. So we definitely want them to see everything they can. The front of the boat is the best view.

We are going into the Small World. Most of the pictures didn't turn out though.

We ate some of the treats that were left from our lunch. Gavin has been at work all day and then joined us for the evening. Someone has to keep us in the lap of luxury.

We wait in line for at least an hour. We just sit and watch everyone go by. Not just a few people, but thousands go by. It is always so crowded. You know, it is the happiest place on earth don't you.

We are waiting on Mainstreet Disneyland for the fireworks. We have a great spot and then as soon as they are over, we can hurry into Adventureland to watch Fantasmic. These are two great shows back to back. You probably are wondering how we get around to all of our destinations. We have a GPS. Mike just types in the address and we are on our way. I don't know how we would get around before. I think Mike just studied the map all night and memorized it. But the GPS makes things easier for him.

Newport Temple and Thousand Steps Beach

This is the Newport Temple. Natalie told us that the people of Newport donated all of the money to build it. The temple was so busy we could not do all that we wanted to do.

We loved walking the temple grounds. So many places to take pictures. I can imagine how beautiful it is at night.

Wish I could capture the beauty here. Every place we look is a great place for a picture.

After leaving the temple, we drove to the Laguna Beach to eat. We ate at Gina's Pizza. Gavin told us that it was the best pizza ever. He was right. We changed our clothes in the bathroom and now we are ready to eat and have another fun day at the beach.

This is Thousand Steps Beach. It is Natalie and Gavin's favorite beach. Natalie was waiting until she thought we could walk up and down all of the steps. Yes, there were a lot of steps. A few years ago, we could not have managed it. But after knee surgery, it is a piece of cake. Ha ha! The scenery is just beautiful. The greenery as we walk down the stairs is so thick. There were so many mansions overlooking the ocean. They have a great view also. But they have to walk down steps to get to the beach just like we do. They do have there own stairs and elevator/gurney type things though. They call it Thousand steps, but we thought only 180.

We love playing on the beach. I try to get pictures of Gavin without him knowing it. He is a great sport to put up with me.

We all walked over to one corner of the beach to watch the waves come in. There is water coming down the hillside and makes the hillside green. Oh, Mike, this is so great. I love being here with you.

Natalie is following with her camera and taking our pictures and our footprints in the sand. You should see all of our pictures that we have. That is why my blog is so long. It is so hard to choose. I have deleted so many. I love the digital camera. Wish we would have had one when you kids were little. I am thankful you all have one now for your families. It would be so neat to have all of you here to get pictures. I feel guilty when you call and ask what we are doing today. Every day is like a holiday for us. I love Mike's retirement.

We love playing with each other. The water is too cold for us. But there were people in wetsuits and surfing gear. Maybe in the fall we will join them.

Mike turned his head, and Gavin hurried and kissed Natalie. He didn't know that I was behind and took a picture. I have seen them kiss before so I wasn't shocked.

"This is the life." No, we are not going to be getting a suntan but the sun just feels good. So great just watching the waves splash on the sand. I loved this beach. I can see why Natalie wanted us to come.

Is this one of those "retirement sucks" days Mike? He said that to us one day as he was sitting on Natalie's love sack playing a game on his Ipod. It was about the funniest thing we had heard him say. It is better than a movie quote.

At the end of our busy day, we drove to Dana Point and looked at the sailboats and yaughts. The harbor was beautiful with the lights. On our way home we drove through the mountains. It reminded us of driving through the Jackson pass. It is so beautiful here.

Sea World and LaJolla Cove

I just wanted to show you this beautiful sunset. Our one of many sunsets at LaJolla Cove. Can you just see why we love being here. Glad we can share it together.

This is one of our trips to Sea World. You just can't have a trip here without a picture of Shamu. We had so much fun watching him. Of course we sat in the seat right in the front center, one row behind the soak zone. And we did get wet. It was a huge shock but eventually did get dry. We loved being there. Natalie was with us. Mike and I are enjoying all of our days to the fullest. We will need a vacation from our vacation.

After Sea World, we drove to LaJolla Cove, where the wild Sea Lions live. There were so many living on the rocks. We could just sit for hours watching them. But we are also loving watching the sunset on the other side. The ocean waves pounding and crashing on the rocks, the Sea lions noise and the sunset. All a great ending to a perfect day.

It is great being here. We always end up at this cove if we are in San Diego.

It is so cold watching the penquins.

The beluga whale is behind us.

We are waiting for the Sea Lions performance. We remember watching this performance when our children were little. Great memories with all of you. The big walrus is not in the act anymore. These are amazing animals and so much fun to watch.

I wanted my picture taken too.

Wonderful Day at the Beach and Hotel Coronado

This the end of our beautiful day. We are watching the sunset from LaJolla Cove. The sea lions are below us on rocks going into the ocean. There are many birds on the cliffs also. The sunsets are magical as we watch the sun dip into the ocean. I tried to get these evening pictures at the bottom of this blog, but was so frustrating. So, you are seeing the end first.

I took about three minutes to record the sun going down. The sounds of the sealions in the background, and the waves crashing on the land. It is so neat being here.

We begin our day at the famous In and Out Burgers. We order double onions, tomatoes and lettuce. That is truly a mouthful to eat. But oh... it is so worth it. We think they are the best burgers around. The frenchfries are so good, and we always have to top it off with a diet cola. Yeah, good stuff.

Mike and I are getting our area ready to spend the afternoon. We brought his kite again to fly. We have Coronado Hotel in the background, rocks on one side and the most beautiful beach all around us. The afternoon is quite warm although we keep our jackets handy.

Natalie and Gavin have their spot ready also. We have loved spending time with them on Saturdays.

Great view of the ocean. Years ago we brought our family to this hotel. This was the place that they filmed Somewhere in Time. We walked through the hotel to see pictures of the famous people that had been there. Now we have been there too.

It is a bit windy, but want to get as many pictures as we can. We keep saying to each other how wonderful it is being here. It is going to be hard leaving such a beautiful place. " It is a great place to be with someone you love too." So many things to do. I did make a list though of things we wanted to do before we went back home. My list is complete. But it will still be hard to leave.

Gavin is a good sport to pose for so many pictures. If he only knew how many more we wanted to take of him. We are always saying take my picture, no, take mine.

We walked out to the tide pools to see the little creatures crawling around. Our children would do that and want to put their fingers in the tenacles to watch them move. We are not that inquisitive now though. Just fun trying to stay on the rocks and not fall. We have our towels on because it is a bit cool.

We took a couples picture, so they are taking ours together. The Hotel is in the background. I keep thinking of the people that settled this area. If they could see it now, and see the people that come to enjoy it.

Natalie must not have fallen asleep as we all did. You can see where she was laying and then decided to get our picture. So you can see how peaceful it is because we are sound, I mean sound asleep. We sure aren't going to be getting a suntan though.

After we left the beach, we needed to wash off our feet. So we took turns.

We are just casually walking and visiting. Is this the most beautiful beach?

A man had been there earlier in the day and built this huge sandcastle. Nixon, I think that your Mr. Gingerbread man was there helping him. He had made three of them. We took pictures of all three. Guess that is what you do in the summertime.

Really amazing that someone could build these. He dug a hole and scooped the sand out. He went down so far and reached the water, so he didn't have to get water from the ocean. He just filled his buckets. Looked like he just drizzled wet sand and let it harden. Now, we all can build one.

This is the front of the Hotel. Look at those cabbage plants behind us. Every place is ready for us to take a picture. We did get a lot of pictures.

Thanks Natalie for looking so I can get your picture. Mike and Gavin were busy commenting on the building and the history, and the famous people that have stayed there.

This is Mikes new backpack he ordered from Cabelas. It is versitle for a great day at the beach, Disneyland and Seaworld. It has room for our P-nut butter and jelly sandwiches and all the snacks we could eat. We usually carry three waters, and yes a few Rockstars. Shawn told Mike about a new energy drink that you can mix in water. So we have finished off a case of that already. We now have been using the small bottle with just a few ounces. But you saw that we still need a nap on the beach though. Don't know if this is "age" or what. We don't get up until 9:00. Maybe it is the late night hours we spend watching Netflick Documentaries.