California (days 1 and 2)

So, Ellie and I went to California...without Jake. Ha ha ha. I know its mean but he couldn't miss classes. Besides he went to Alaska without us and leaving us to move so I only felt a little bad.

My family had been planning this trip for a while.  They started driving Friday but that is a long drive for Ellie so we flew out Saturday.  Before we left, we took daddy to one of Ellie's favorite places, the indoor playground at the Cherry Creek shopping center. 



 This was Ellie's first flight and she did it like a pro.  We had planned on her sleeping the whole flight but she had other ideas. I didn't let her nap that morning to make her extra tired even. We got on the plane and took a window sheet. The flight was booked so we had some nice people sitting next to us.  Ellie loved watching us take off.  She then continued to entertain herself for the duration of the 2 hour flight.  She played with the menu and safety guidelines; mostly dropping them and then saying "OOOOO" so the asian lady next to her would pick them up.

Luckily and unluckily the pilot was in a hurry.  The flight scheduled for 2 hr and 25 min arrived at LAX 25 minute early.  I called my dad as soon as we landed to let him know.  They beach house was about 25 minutes out.  Although, Ellie had managed to over-fill her diaper on the flight so we had time to change. (FYI, I listened to the same advice my mom gave me when I left for Ecuador.  Always pack a spare pair of clothes in your carry on. It saved me then too, but that's a different story. Thanks mom!)

Next was carrying Ellie, the backpack and carryon down to baggage claim to pick up our 2 bags and the car seat for Ellie.  I managed to drag everything to the doors but got stuck there.  Luckily for me, there was this very nice man who had been on the same flight waiting for his ride.  He helped move the stuff to the curb so we could be picked up.

 The beach house was awesome. Annie and Brian stayed on the bottom floor. On the second floor was the kitchen, living and dining room as well as Kelsey and Grandma Bonnie's room. The next floor was Jeff, Ellie and I, Stef and Macy, Calee and Devin, and my parents. (There were only 3 showers.)  On the roof of the place was a pool/hot tub. At first I thought it a little weird but as the days didn't get terribly warm, it was nice especially at night. Ellie and Braden loved being on the patios; they were short enough wind didn't bother them but it was surrounded by glass so it wasn't like a cage.

There was glass stair railings, table and windows.  Almost all of them were etched with sea scenes and most of that was Little Mermaid.

We just relaxed the rest of that day.

On Sunday, we went to church and then just hung out.  I wasn't informed of plans to attend church so I hadn't packed stuff.  Ellie's outfits included skirts but I ended up wearing a lava lava and a white shirt.  It was kind of fun.

This was a small playground just down from the beach house.  As you can see, many times it was a family activity to go there. Here we have Ellie, Kelsey, Macy, and Grandma Wendy on the swings and Poppy DeVon pushing. Stef and Jeff were walking around.

Jeff and Macy started on this tetter totter but they are hard to work when one side has a lot more weight than the other.  Although Jeff, Macy and Braden weigh about the same as Kelsey, Ellie and I.

 We took Ellie on a walk to show her the beach and let her feel the waves.  She absolutely loved it, until a few days later when she actually had a swimsuit on and we tried to get her in the water.

Jeff using all the muscles in his legs trying to peddle this bike back up the beach.  He did great until he reached the soft sand.

What a gorgeous end to the day.  It was so nice and relaxing.  It really made me miss Jake to sit with this sunset and not be able to share it with him.  Maybe after Law School.