Gibson Family in California

In August, our family joined up with the Gibson clan in San Clemente, California for a vacation. But we made our one-week beach house vacation into a two-week vacation. We started with our typical Albuquerque pit stop with our dear friends, the Greenfields. Our first get-together was before we went to Missouri shortly after we were all married. We have shared a moving truck with them every step along our journey--we've always lived relatively close together. I'm pretty sure we've been the primary beneficiaries of our relationship with them and I'm convinced God had a hand in our friendship. Brendon even mentioned recently that it was a conversation with Ben that motivated him (Brendon) to interview in Missouri. We got married around the same time and have had three children close to the same age. Anyways, we love them. We stayed with them for one night and continued on our journey.

Our next stop was with my dear friend, Rachel. We were friends in high school and college and continue to call and catch up. It was so fun to see her and her cute family. Our children got along so well and it was fun to talk and talk and talk while the kids made messes and played to their hearts content. We enjoyed swimming in her pool and she almost convinced me that it *might* be a good idea to have a pool someday, but not really. She did convince me that it would be amazing to be neighbors, though. Now we just need her to move closer to me. If only.


After swimming, seeing Rio 2, playing, eating, and meeting up and Brendon's brother, Cody, who just moved to Arizona, we were off to California to see Grandma Sheryl. It's always a treat to go to grandma's house and she loves to spoil us with our favorite meals and is always a good playmate with our children. We were there one night and one morning, then we sped off to San Clemente.

We met up with my family at a beautiful beach house about a quarter mile or so from the beach. After exploring the house we walked down to the beach. Henry screamed with every wave that came in. Obviously he's not a California beach boy who sees waves very often. Maggie chimed in to be like her brother, squealing every ten seconds with the waves crashing. Brendon got his surf gear and went surfing with Austin at his first opportunity while the rest of us went back to the beach house.
(Click to enlarge photos.)

We woke up early the next morning (although not as early as Brendon who went surfing nearly every morning before the break of dawn) to drive to Sea World. We had a lot of fun showing our kids all the fun animals and riding rides (who knew Sea World had roller coasters, kiddie rides, and Sesame Street characters to meet?). After Sea World we all went to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant that I don't know the name of. It's amazing and we all gorged and left happy.

We took it easy the following day with a day at the beach and the house. Grandma Sheryl came out to hang out with us and we loved having her there. Henry loved chasing the birds, the same way he did three years ago. He wasn't a fan of the water unless he had his floaties on. We screamed "tourists" at the beach with our kids in their puddle jumpers. But they loved it. Henry even went out in the waves on the surfboard with Dad. Maggie thought she wanted to do the same until she and Dad hit a couple of unpleasant waves. Tony had his first surfing lesson. The day at the beach was a success. Fun was had in the sand and water. That night we played Catch Phrase, one of my favorite games and we played and laughed and had so much fun.

We went to church the following day. Mind you we had been on vacation for awhile now. Maggie cried the whole meeting. It was not a fun day at church. We hung out at the house the rest of the day and celebrated Brooklyn's birthday. Favorite quote of the trip came from Brooklyn, who said in all sincerity, "It's so weird. I still feel like I'm six!" Love her.

The next day we went to the tide pools to see the animals. It was fun and the kids had fun with dad in the water. Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at an amazing sandwich place near the beach and headed back to Norco/Corona to visit Grandma Sheryl and Grandpa and Grandma Holmes, who we love so much. I was excited for our baby Hazel to meet Grandma Hazel. We had the complete Hazel Shirley photo with the two extraordinary women she is named after. Grandpa Holmes is the sweetest great-grandpa I've ever met who plays with his great-grandchildren. He's adorable. We ate dinner with the family and bathed our potty-training children in Grandma's tub before making our way back to the beach house.

Tuesday was Disneyland day. I was glad I had lots of extra hands to help with my children. We went on all the "must do's" on my list: Space Mountain, Star Wars, and Peter Pan. Henry's must do was Buzz Lightyear. I showed him the rides on the internet weeks before going to Disneyland and he still talks about that ride and how he "rode with Dad and killed the bad guy." My favorite was Henry on Splash Mountain. Little Maggie couldn't ride it and Henry excitedly came back and told her, "Maggie!!!! All the animals TALK on that ride! The birds! The fox! The bear!" I love that wants to share his excitement with her. Maggie was a mess the whole day with melt down after melt down. Fortunately, she was compliant with Grandma Sue on the toilet and even ended up falling asleep on her lap after Grandma tickled her back. Maggie loved seeing Minnie Mouse. Her mouth dropped open when she first saw her. She walked away from the park with princess flip flops (she's such a girly girl) and Henry with a Buzz Lightyear toy.

Sadly, the beach house part of our trip ended the following day, so we packed up. Before leaving San Clemente, our little family went shopping by the pier. At 10:00 am, Henry and Maggie were asleep in the stroller. They were exhausted. We had a successful shopping trip: we found a San Clemente ornament and bought a handful of much-needed t-shirts for Brendon. We returned back to Norco to visit Grandma Sheryl for one last day. We had fun with Jordan's family. Five of our six kids ran around and laughed and played to their hearts' content.

We headed over to Arizona to stay with Cassie. We were greeted with delicious hamburgers (I was just thinking about how good they were today) and played and talked and enjoyed their company for two nights.  We went to the park one day for a picnic meal while the kids played. I wish we could live by her, too.

We then made the 11-hour drive home in about 13 hours. It went really well. Hazel screamed in about every car ride except for the last day. We only had one long stop. We got a Little Cesar's pizza and played at the park. A pull-up on Maggie helped us complete the drive so quickly. All in all, it was a good drive.

The vacation was a special treat and we have never gone on such a long vacation. It was fun while it lasted and it was good to get home.