California...Here we come!

It's vacation time! On Tuesday, June 24, my sister-in-law Kim, her children, Emily, Chase and myself loaded up and flew to San Luis Obispo, California. We flew out of KC at 7:00 AM - so we got up at 3:30 that morning to get 4 kids, 2 adults, 4 carseats, 5 suitcases and 6 carry-ons ready to go! The kids did great. They were super excited to get on the airplane.


We had a layover in Salt Lake City so we spent a little bit of time riding on the super escalator walkers. The kids had a ball and burned off a little energy. We bought lunch and got back on the plane. We figured this would take up some time on the second flight. Emily and Aubrey got to sit together by themselves and thought that was pretty neat. Chase finally gave up toward the end of the flight and fell asleep on my lap.

My mom flew out from KS on Monday so she was at the airport with my aunt Barbara and my grandma to greet us. It was so nice to see everyone. Kim and I went to the rental counter to get our minivan that we had reserved 3 months earlier.....but much to my dismay.....it was not available. They didn't have one and there were no other ones with any other company either. I tried and tried every avenue to get something different, but for some reason, we were stuck with a 12 passenger van. It was huge! I tried to find humor in the situation, but it was almost impossible. The kids nicknamed our means of transportation as "the ugly bus!" Here is our crew:

After we had gotten loaded up, we went back to Barbara's house for a beautiful afternoon in her backyard in the sun. There were tables set up with an awesome picnic for lunch. It was so nice to visit and relax together. Grandma was a HUGE help with the children. She was so good at playing with them and just enjoying time having all 4 of them together.

The biggest hit for the children at Barbara's house was the tree house. It needed a little cleaning out (THANKS mom and Barb!) but the kids were up and down and playing all sorts of things. Reminds me of childhood days in the treehouse I played in!

On Wednesday, we went to Avila beach. It was a chilly morning and the water off the ocean was definitely cold. But you couldn't tell with the kids. They went right in the water to jump the waves and throw sand. They LOVED it! Gigi (Great Grandma) stayed in the car but was able to watch the children play. We had a great picnic lunch packed by Barbara that proved interesting since the bees around there were also hungry....the kids ended up walking around the blanket as to keep the bees away.

Emily and Aubrey cuddle on the couch with Aunt Barbara!

Three generations.....see any similarities?

On Thursday, before we started for LA, we went to Avila Pier. This is a fishing pier so there was lots to see. It was again, quite chilly, but so much fun. There was a fishing boat that had come in so the kids were able to see the guys lift up the big tubs of fish and sort into buckets, weigh and go into another container to be sold.

We ate lunch at Olde Port Inn at the end of the pier. The shrimp tacos were delicious and the kids enjoyed looking through the middle of the table since they could see through to the water!

We had a great time these first 3 days of vacation. Thanks to you who worked hard to make our stay enjoyable. It was awesome with lots of memories. We left shortly before 3 pm to drive to LA....in our big bus!!