California Visit

In late September, we had the chance to sneak away for a long weekend to visit my dear friend Ashley and meet her new baby, Penelope!!!!

Juliana was SUPER NERVOUS about flying (not really sure why since she never has been scared before).  We had to get up really early to leave for the airport, so it was a LONG day for all of us.  Connor loved (and still talks about and acts out) the little shuttle van from the parking lot to the airport and also to the rental car place.  The plane ride went fine once we got up in the air.  Juliana was so scared she was crying pretty loud at takeoff.  She just got worked up in her head!  Then she was fine.  Landing was a bit rough too because the kids were fighting over the window.  Oh well...

playing in the airport before our flight

We waited FOREVER at the rental car place :(    And then, we had a bit of a meltdown over which car to get.  Connor wanted red.  We didn't get red.  Tantrum in the parking lot.  But then we ended up with a car that everyone was happy with.  It had sliding doors like a minivan!  We had a bit of a drive from the airport.  Once we got there, we hung out and then went to the pool.

 the foothills...almost there!

The next day, we took a whale watching trip in the morning.  We didn't spot any whales, but we DID see a whole pod of dolphins!  Our boat driver drove in circles around them, creating this giant wave.  The dolphins loved "surfing" on it!  We stayed with them for about 15 min.  Juliana was in heaven!  The boat even sent out a drone with a camera to get some pretty amazing shots and video of the whole thing (of course, you could purchase a 2 min video for $25!)

Then, we hit the beach.  The kids had a BLAST in the waves and looking for seashells.  Juliana ended up with 110 shells to bring home!!!!

 

On our last real day there, we went to the Irvine Railroad Park in the morning.  There was a ton for the kids to do: cookie decorating, panning for gold, a haunted house, a bounce house, face painting, a tractor to drive, a corn maze, and a train ride!

a beautiful drive to get there!

After lunch, we headed to a science-based children's museum called the Discovery Cube.  Connor's favorite part was the Hot Wheels exhibit!

It was so sad to have to say goodbye the next day:(    We watched a bit of Juliana's Frozen show and Connor and Juliana worked on pictures/books for Ashley, Aaron and Penelope.  Connor was great at getting some HUGE laughs out of Penelope with peek-a-book.  A few last hugs and then we had to head to the airport.

The kids are still talking about how much they love and miss Penelope!  Thanks for letting us come stay with you guys...can't wait to do it again!