O California, How I Love Your Warmth!

This week was my spring break off of work, and Josh took a day off so we went to California! We left Tuesday afternoon and came back Saturday night. It was so fun!! Tuesday and Saturday were spent driving so we had Wednesday, THursday and Friday to do fun things.

We stayed with Josh's uncle and aunt in Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, California. They are so fun! We enjoyed visiting with them and their two kids, Ryan and Jonathan. I should have taken pictures of them! Darn. Next time.

Here is Day 1:

THE BEACH

We went to Laguna Beach, about 20 minutes away from Ken & Sheri's. At first, Nolan was scared of the water. But then he could run toward it and he loved feeling the water run across his feet. He loved his bucket and shovel and playing in the sand. Josh even buried his legs in the sand! I didn't get a picture. :( It was such a fun day.

Day 2:

THE AQUARIUM.

We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was semi-pricey but so worth it! We had such a fun time.  My favorite part was "Wonders of the Deep." It is so interesting to me that so much of the ocean is in complete darkness. I love learning about the temperatures down there, the fascinating animals and plants that live without sun and medicines that come from the ocean. So cool!

Nolan's favorite part was this outside place. There were little baby sharks you could touch. He mostly liked splashing haha! Also, there were octopuses you could touch and jellyfish! It was fun to watch him splash in the water by the big statues that squirted water. He got soaked. We had to buy him a sweatshirt to keep him warm and as soon as we got in the car, he was asleep. The aquarium wore him out!

Day 3:

THE ZOO

We went to this little zoo in Orange County. It was very small but very toddler-sized. There was a little petting zoo where he got to pet the goats. He liked looking at the mountain lion and saying, "Rawr!" At the end, he tripped and fell and scraped his forehead and knee. Poor guy!



 I want to take him to the Hogle Zoo here in a few weeks when the weather warms up. I think he will love seeing the animals!

We had a great time. The aquarium was our favorite. The tricky part was sleep. Nolan slept in a pack n' play at Ken and Sheri's but he does not sleep well in that. He went to bed late like 9 pm every night and woke up at 6:30 am or earlier screaming. And we were in the same room as him! He only napped one day, after crying for 20 minutes. After that, he only slept in the car. It made it hard because we were so exhausted!

On the way home, we left at 9 am California time, 10 am Utah time. It is about a 9.5 hour drive. We expected to get in 8 pm ish. Well, we had to stop every 2 hours for Nolan to get out and play. And then at 3:30 pm, we hit traffic, almost stand-still, for an hour and a half. We got home at 10:30 pm!! It was brutal. But we're home safe and we enjoyed being together on our trip!