Family Vacay - Part 2

On Saturday, in order to do something we love, we had to do something we hate. The four adults woke up bright and early (yuck!), left the kiddos with a babysitter (yahoo!), and went out on the water for a morning jet ski run (yay!). I was extremely nervous leaving Claire with someone I had never met before because (a) I didn't know who she was and (b) it was going to be for half of the day. Since my friend Terra trusted her, I figured Claire would be in good hands and to our surprise, she didn't mind being with a stranger. Uh...that could be a bad thing though. :)

As we headed out onto the water, I started to feel bad for Erik. There were two jet skiis for the four of us and so we had to ride together. Erik is such a dare devil and I get very nervous/skittish when on a small motor craft in the middle of the ocean. It was a cold morning and I knew I was going to be freezing, which added to my guilt of wanting Erik to drive about 5 mph. Thankfully, we met in the middle. Erik gunned it a few times so I screamed in his ears to stop :) and the rest of the time he drove at a comfortable speed we could both enjoy. Jeremy guided us up and down the coastline and we got the best surprise ever! For a short time, we were riding along with a school of dolphins. Amazing! That was definitely the highlight of my day and I could have gone home right then. We rode around a while longer and made sure to visit some nearby sea lions perched on a buoy. The males were very protective as we got close and were barking for us to go away. A couple of them jumped in the water, which made me nervous that they were going to come attack us and we wouldn't be able to get away in time. I am such a scaredy cat! I am still waiting to get the pictures Terra took of Erik and I on her camera so for the time being here are Terra and Jeremy (just picture our heads on their bodies):

Once we finished jet skiing, we grabbed some lunch at a really cute cafe called "Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market". We sat around a table and chatted while we enjoyed our yummy pulled-pork sandwiches. While we were eating, I noticed a very old man sitting on a nearby bench. He was holding a leash to his big dog who looked very hot and thirsty. The animal lover in me made me very concerned for the dog, so I got some water and took it over to the pup. The old man was very nice and out of no where said "do you want to buy my dog?". I was a little taken back at first. He went on to say that he was in his nineties and wanted to see his dog go to a nice family before he passed away. So sweet! Erik thought I was ridiculous for interrupting his lunch to give his dog water, but it was clearly appreciated and it brightened up my day.

After lunch we headed back to the house to pick up the kids. Crew had a birthday party to go to at a nearby park so we played with Claire on the playground while we waited. Of course, she had so much fun and went down the slide about a hundred times.

This was day two of missed naps and late bedtimes, so by the time we hopped back in the car to begin our evening in downtown L.A., Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, the kids were pooped! Claire NEVER falls asleep in the car so the fact that she completely zonked out to the point where she couldn't hold her head up was hilarious!

It has been almost 20 years since I have been back to Los Angeles, which is funny because I've been to California many times in those 20 years. One thing that I had never done on my trips to L.A., was go to Beverly Hills. Here we are in front of the Beverly Hills sign as if you couldn't tell already:

Erik was a trooper as we drove around looking at all of the expensive stores and cars that drove by. Of course, I had to make them take us down Rodeo Drive and when we got to a stop light I acted like a stupid tourist and stuck my head out of the sunroof to take a picture. I probably looked so retarded! Oh well. No one would let us stop so I could walk around so that was the best I could get. Beverly Hills is gorgeous! Later, we drove through some of the neighborhoods to look at the incredible mansions and they really were amazing! There were palm trees and beautiful green hedges everywhere! Erik and I kept asking ourselves "how do all of these people have so much money?". What a beautiful city!

Up next was Santa Monica Pier, another place I had never been to. It is such a unique place. Muscle beach to the south, a mini-amusement park, and a beautiful beach to the north. I have always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel so that was our first stop. Thankfully, we made it before the sun went down and while at the top, we got to see a beautiful sunset. At first, Claire was amazed that we were so high in the air, but then all of the noise around her made her a little nervous and she wouldn't let go of Erik. I had to pry her out of Erik's arms so I could get a picture with her. All in all, it was really fun!

Claire was too small to go on any of the rides by herself so Erik took her and Crew on a kiddie hot air balloon ride. Claire was scared to death! She sat there next to Erik and it looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Afterwards, I realized it was probably a little too adventurous for her first ride being that it went around in circles and flew in the air all at the same time. We probably should have started with the little cars that stay on the ground. To our amazement, when the ride was finished Claire was furious. She immediately screaming because she wanted to get back on. So funny!

Below is a short video of Claire's first kiddie ride:

We spent a while wandering around the pier and then headed over to "Bubba Gump" for a delicious dinner. It was a great end to our very fun and busy day. Probably the cutest thing that took place was on our drive home. I looked over and Crew and Claire were holding hands. Too cute!

 

(Post about our final day coming soon.)