1st Summer Vacation of 2010!

I love summer.  Last summer was my best summer yet and I was 30 years old.  So far this one is not disappointing me.  I just got back from a long 10 day stay in California with my family.  Unfortunately Gerrit couldn't come this time, but hopefully we can visit one more time before we move to Florida in Sept.  I love going to California.  Even when it's totally chaotic, it's still a vacation because my girls are having the time of their life with all the other kids. 

This is what it looked like the morning we left Utah.  Seriously Utah?

Our trip started with a visit to LA to hang out with Jarond and Natalie.   We spent the whole day together up in their hood.

First we toured Jarond's place and put Granner's old marble rack to good use.

Jarond has a really cute place. 

Then we headed to Clifton's Cafeteria for lunch.  This place was built in 1933 by Clifford Clinton and he never turned away a guest even if they couldn't pay. What a cool dude.

The interior is kinda random, like frontier land at Disneyland or something.

Clifton's had a little church too. Kinda strange.

The food was all individually priced. It was easy to do some damage without knowing how much you were spending. I think my mom was a little shocked at the price. Surprisingly the food was pretty good.

Our next stop was the LA Zoo. We heard kinda sketchy things about it, but it turned out to be pretty cool. The weather was perfect too. They had some animals not all zoo's have. Like Koala Bears.

Jarond and Natalie got tired in like 10 minutes. I don't think they are used to all day affairs with kids. At one point we realized they looked like a couple trying too hard to look cool with a kid.

We had a lot of fun watching the gorillas.  It made Jarond feel uncomfortable.  It seemed like we were just watching humans

At the end of the day we had a little time to play at the park, eat Del Taco, and visit two Frank Lloyd Wright houses. I wish we had time to visit more, but these two were pretty cool.

The Ennis House

This house was built in 1924 for Mable and Charles Ennis.  The house is meant to resemble a Mayan Temple and is one of the first times a residence was made from concrete block (it's 1 of 4 in LA).  After lots of talk they have put this house on the market for a private buyer.  If I had 15 million dollars I could buy it and then put about 10 more million back into it.  It needs a lot of TLC.

Because of some serious quake and rain issues this house was closed for tours in 2004.  Sad times.

The Hollyhock House

This home was built in 1921 for Aline Barnsdall.  She loved the Hollyhock flower so the house is named after that.  It also has many features that resemble the flower.  This house does tours but of course not on the day we were there.

These doors are kinda scary and look really heavy.

The view from the Hollyhock house. (The Ennis house is in the distance directly across from the Hollyhock House)

Rachael and her family came the next day and we went to Huntington Beach together.  It was pretty crowded for Memorial Day, but it was still fun.  We walked around a little bit on Main Street and Chloe got her first Jamba Juice (mango a go go)  It was a super fun day.

Chloe has a serious obsession with her goggles.  She wears them all the time.

I went for a jog in the morning and noticed an enormous amount of Sheriff's in the neighborhood.  I finally asked what was going on and they said they were looking for a missing person.  All day this helicopter was flying over my moms house looking for a missing 41 year old mom.  Her abandoned car was found at the park in the neighborhood and they finally found her 3 days later in a ditch in O'Neill Park.  She was fine!  I couldn't believe it.  I think she may have had some mental issues.  Anyway, the kids thought the helicopter was pretty cool.

I thought the sunset was a bit cooler.

The next morning I borrowed a shower cap from my mom.   Uuumm, I didn't know it was Strawberry Shortcakes shower cap.

That my mom and I went to this old theater by South Coast Plaza and saw Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark together. It was so cool! Lots of people dressed up and the crowd was way into it.

On Sunday we took some cute pictures after church.

Karis and her kids headed out too and joined us just in time for dinner.  Chloe and Ellie love each other so much.  Saunja and Dennis were going on a cruise and got to leave their kids with gram.  The kids played dress up and watched movies while the parents hung out.  Gotta love Sunday nights!

Delilah was body slamming the pillows

Monday (Memorial Day) we went to the Beach Club and hung out for about 4 hours.  The place was packed.  Then we had a wiener roast at the Suman's.   Kate, Chloe and Delilah were all sportin' the Paul Frank swim suits.

 

Of Course we had to hit up Disneyland while we were home.  On Wednesday I met my friend Jimmy at Disneyland and he hooked us up with free admission!  So nice of him to do that.  It was actually a pretty busy day, but we still got to do quite a bit.  Dad and Paula came to meet up with Karis' family, my family and my mom for a few hours.  Delilah was having a really hard day for some reason and was pretty much hating all the rides except the carousel.  I thought she would love it since she is totally into princesses now.  Maybe I went wrong with the first ride being "Snow White's Scary Adventure"

Chloe and Ellie are pretty much tall enough to ride everything except Indiana Jones.  So Chloe's first time on Space Mountain was shared sitting next to Ellie.  Karis and I were cracking up sitting behind them.  They were screaming the whole time.  Then Chloe asked me to take her on again and to sit in the very front.  Such a daredevil.

Here is the photo.  Back to front is Kate and Gigi, Karis and Kam, Ellie and Chloe, Braedon and Papa

The only ride Delilah liked that day.  I think we did it 3 times in a row.

We visited the Old Irvine Ranch Historic Park.  This park is 16.5 acres in Irvine and is in the process of updating all 24 building used on this farm.  This home was built originally in the late 1800's but has been remodeled many times and has had about 30 rooms.  It is a library now.  We walked around and saw some of the sites.

The Parlor Fireplace and The Bedroom Fireplace

This is one of the Foreman Row Houses

Over by the Fire Shed was this cool tree that Chloe climbed into

This is the Mess Hall for all the farm workers.  The farm had lots of Avocado Trees.  This was my first time ever seeing one.

The night before I left we had a fun family BBQ in the park with my dad and Paula.  Jarond came down from LA too.

Jarond made Turkish Chicken Kabobs to go along with the Hamburgers.  He also brought a really random sausage.

The kids played and played.  Braedon was really cute with Delilah.  They were just exploring together.

The boys played some Frisbee

The whole gang

The next morning I started the long trek back to Utah.  Let's just say the car ride was pretty emotional for everyone.  Chloe is so sweet and she cries for Gigi every time we leave.  Delilah cried for her dad the whole way home and I just cried because I live so far away from my family.  I guess I'll add a few thousand miles and move to Florida.