California Here We Are!!!!

Well, we made it. After a long drive that included a diet of licorice and Cheese-its, we finally made it to our hotel. See the beautiful picture taken by Taylor of the view from our balcony--not sure what the picture is supposed to show, but I included it anyway. Since it had been a good 24 hours since we had decent food, we decided that we would go and have a nice dinner. The kids picked Joe's Crab Shack. Never been there myself, but we had a lot of fun. Still not convinced that I have had decent food yet.

Since yesterday was spent mostly in the car, we decided that today we would take it easy at the beach. It was cloudy, and the breeze made it a little chilly sometimes, but that did not seem to stop the kids from enjoying the time there. Beats the heck out of spending the day in school.

Kelsea was the most enthusiastic--braving the surf and really enjoying herself. Payton spent most of the time finding seaweed and putting it into a big pile. Have no clue why but he really enjoyed himself. Taylor chilled out on the blanket and listened to music. She is growing up too fast for my liking. Baylee spent most of her time with others--like Riley's little girl Brynlee and the other younger kids who needed someone to play with. She always seems to be looking out for everyone else. We found a lot of shells and even some live hermit crabs. Hopefully none of them made it into the van.

Deb and I just relaxed and took it all in. Deb really seems to be having a lot of fun and even braved the surf with the help of her kids. I think that I have seen her smile and heard her laugh more in the past two days than I have in a year. It was also nice to be with Riley's family and Stephanie's brother Scott and his family. The kids had a great time. We are now exhausted and ready to go to bed with dreams of Disneyland dancing in our heads.

Enjoy the pictures. Hopefully more to come.