Monday, October 21, 2013

California Road Trip 2013!

To say that I love our California road trips would be an understatement! I really look forward to seeing our family and friends and we always start our summer with a countdown until the day that we leave on the trip:) This year was no different!! We rented a car this year deciding against putting the 3000 miles on the old Explorer.

We actually left on Cameron's Birthday so it made for a memorable day for him! I wanted to make sure he had a special day even though he was stuck in a care for most of it . Every couple of hours he got to open up a fun gift:) He also got to pick most of the places we stopped to get food and snacks at. The best part of the day for him was that we ended up in Las Vegas for dinner! Not many 9 years can say they had there birthday dinner in Vegas!:)


Happy 9th Birthday Cameron!!! We love you so much!


A little gift!!:)



Driving through the Rockies

The first of many states on our trip:) 


Vegas Baby!!



On our way up to the Bay Area we got to stop at the home of Cesar Chavez, the famed migrant civil rights leader. His house and compound now service a meeting place for leaders to continue his work for equality and rights. It was a great place to take the kids and explain to them about his amazing work!




Next it was on to Grandma and Grandpa's house!! When we got there everyone was waiting for us and the cousins immediately took off and started to play:)  Cameron got a very special party topped off with an amazing strawberry pie from Grandma!! 

Yummy!

Cameron giving the thumbs up on the party!


After dinner it was time for a little card game with Grandma and Grandpa!

Reid decided he is ready for the big boy Lego's and wanted to play with Uncle Jeff and Cameron:)

Lego time



The cousins even got to have a slumber party!!! Check out these cuties:) They had so much fun!!


The next day we headed down to San Mateo park to check out the feeding of the Koi fish.  We all were amazed that these fish knew 15 minutes ahead of time to come over and wait for some food. The kids even got to feed the fish as well, so fun!






Uncle Chris, Auntie Jen, Myles and Reid joined us at the park for some playtime! One of the best parts about the park is that it has a toy train that the kids can ride in! Grandma and Grandpa treated the grand kids to a ride, how fun!




After we left the park we decided to take a little drive up to the Pulgas Water Temple. 






That night Jen had arranged for the girls to go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday! She took us to a cool place in Burlingame that had a Motown night! Needless to say you know that I love to sing and dance and it was quite the evening. The singing was amazing and I didn't want to go home!!! It was the best night out and Jen and Marilyn made it the perfect evening!! Thank you so much Jen for a great birthday night out!! Can't wait to do it again!!




After a night of fun we headed down to Portola Valley for a park day with everyone. It was the perfect park to hang out and just relax. We played some baseball, played on the swings and just had a great time!!
Just a little cousin relaxing time:)


Cuties!! I love Reid's face in this one!

Uncle giving out some candy

Just checking out Reid


Ashley and Myles are inseparable! These two are so cute together. This time they were having a race.


The next day we headed up to the city just the four of us for some great adventures. We started off heading to Chinatown to meet Jonathan for a great dim-sum lunch. The food was great and it was wonderful to catch up with Jonathan after no seeing him for a while. We then darted around the city and took in the sites! We love the city and it was fun just to have a day to explore.


It was a beautiful day in the city





What a postcard view!




On our last day in Northern California we headed over to the Norton's for some backyard fun! It was such a great night, it even included my new favorite drink, a watermelon cocktail!! Yummy:)

Myles and Ashley, adorable!

Cameron loves his Xena time

Hanging with Grandma and Grandpa!

Reid and mommy!

My cutie nephew Myles!

Jen and Chris have a bounce house for the kids and it was a huge hit with my kids!

hmmm.. what is different about these two pics, maybe my brother-in-law making crazy faces!!:)



so cute!

Grandma and Reid

I love this little guy! He is also the world's happiest baby!!

I have to say out of all the photos this is my favorite. What you can't see is the two of them smiling at each other! Just adorable!!

Snacking

The three amigos


Uncle Jeff and Reid

Chris got out his collection of old Star Wars toys from when he was a kid. It was the best because Cameron loves Star Wars! So fun

Cameron and Myles

My two cuties at the end of the evening!!

We had the best time visiting everyone in NorCal. 



Relaxing at Casa de Fruita




The next day we headed down to L.A. to have some dinner with my brother at the Grove! Such a fun night to catch up and hangout in the SoCal! Uncle Ross had a special Lego gift for Cameron, woohoo!


Uncle Ross and the kids!
Hanging out with my brother at the Grove

We couldn't stop and not get a cupcake from Sprinkles!!!

Cupcake cutie

After a quick stop for the night at my parents house in Palm Springs we headed out to our last stop in Phoenix. Unfortunately Liz and her family were in Santa Barbara that weekend so we weren't able to visit with them. But we still had a blast and stayed at a resort that had a big pool and lazy river. It was great ending to an amazing summer trip! 


Our last night on the trip
my little fashionista!

The hotel had a collection of snakes and reptiles! Glad they didn't get out:)

1 comment:

  1. We have great memories from this summer. Cam and Ash have got to be the best car travelers ever!!

    ReplyDelete