California Vacation-Part 1

Our Spring Break was a 10, according to the kids.  Mark had them rate our vacation on a scale from 1-10.  I’m pretty sure Disneyland had something to do with the perfect score.  But, chalk one up for us cool parents on a perfect vacation.

We left on Friday morning at 6 am during a snow storm.  Awesome, right?  I was only able to drive about 30 mph through the passes going south through Utah.  So many cars spun out to the side of the road.  We finally hit dry roads past St. George.  The kids were awesome in the car, even with the added 1.5 hours due to the bad weather.  Total driving time…16 hours.  Ugh.  But it was well worth it to make it back to Lompoc to see my parents and to see my house and hometown for the last time (most likely).  Lompoc is not a place you drive through to get anywhere.  It’s more out of the way. 

Me, in front of my house. 

The backyard.  My dad has done an amazing job over the last 23 years.  Imagine this backyard with only mud.  That’s what it started out as.  Obviously my favorite part is the spa area.  I already miss the nightly dips in the spa.

Papa and his girls.  Well, some of them.  Piper was definitely in her “no!” phase on our vacation.

Like father like daughter.

And a visit to Lompoc wouldn’t be complete without a trip to my mom’s school playground and the beach…

Here are the girls at Nonna’s school, one last time.  My dad already retired but we didn’t go by there.  Not sure I need to go inside a jail cell to say goodbye to my dad’s work.  Although, that would have made for some great pictures.

 

 

And of course we had to hit Surf Beach.  This beach became newsworthy when a guy was fatally attacked by a shark last year.  They had a new sign warning of sharks.  Forgot to snap a picture of that, though.  It was a great day there.  Usually you have the fog rolling in a lots of wind, but the day we went was a just a bit breezy and fairly warm.  Well, warm for us Utah people.

This was Piper’s I’m-having-fun-but-a-little-cold-to-be-wearing-shorts face.  It’s also the best smile for the camera I’ve ever gotten.  Normally I get the cheese smile with squinty eyes.

They always seem to line up in order of age.

Showing off their sand dollars and shells they found.

The family.  See the sand dunes behind us?  Yeah, those are still off limits thanks to the Snowy Plover.  They are always off limits since the birds lay their eggs in the dunes.  You can walk down to the shoreline and then a quarter mile to the right and left.  Lame. 

We will definitely miss the beach when my parents move to Nevada in June.  I guess if I can’t have the beach I can at least have the awesome mountains of the Wasatch Front.  We might just have to take vacations to California just to see the ocean.  And, of course, go to Disneyland again.  That post will be next…

So, our short 3 day trip to Lompoc was great (it also included dinner at my favorite Thai food restaurant that our family has been going to for 24 years.  The owner/chef still remembers my brother and I and I got to say hello to him and show off my hubby and three girls).  On our third day we said goodbye to my parents and headed to L.A.  We met up that night with Mark’s brother, Jeff and his family at Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  They were in California as well enjoying Spring Break. 

After dinner we headed to the hotel to meet up with my mom.  She had to work that day but left right after school was out to meet us at the hotel so she could enjoy a Disney vacation with us.  Unfortunately, my dad couldn’t come.  His new knee is still too new for him to walk around all day at Disneyland.