As I type this, it’s January 2nd and our vacation to CA is coming to a close. It’s been a VERY BUSY 2 weeks. We will go home tired, but with so many fun memories of family!
Pictures say it best, so here is a glimpse of our 2 week trip, minus Disneyland and CA Adventure, because they deserve a post of their own!
As Ashley said, “It’s finally our turn to get on a plane!”
On the plane and ready to go!
Late night snack on the way home from the air port. I wish In-N-Out would come up to Washington!
The first day of our trip, we started off at Roger’s Gardens. It was raining. 🙁 I hardly ever rains here, but yet it rained quite a few days of our trip!
First family picture of the trip!
Hanging out with these cuties while Tom, Sage and Mom did some shopping in the Brighton store for me. 🙂
Fashion Island – Dad met us there
All 11 of us!
After the mall, a few of us drove down to San Juan Capistrano and walked around for a bit.
Tom and I went for a walk on the pier the next morning. It was a little drizzly, but hey…we are from Seattle. We are used to it.
On the way to my Dad’s house, we took the girls past the house we used to live in, in Azusa.
We also drove past the school I used to teach at!
We drove through Pasadena and of course had to stop at The Pasadena Sandwich Company and split a sandwich,.
Doc Brown’s house from Back to the Future
We took the girls to see the house I grew up in.
They loved climbing up on the really tall bed. (I used to love doing that when I was little!)
My Dad got my old tricycle out of the shed and showed it to the girls.
Next, we drove out to see the Siekers. Then we drove a bit further and spent the night at Sarah and Jef’s house.
The next morning, we drove into Santa Barbara and visited the mission.
It was so fun talking about the history of CA with the girls as we walked around.
The rain held out as we walked around!
We took a long walk along the beach and through the campground.
Of course we had to stop at the candy store!
I’m not sure what’s going on in this picture
We just love this place!
The traffic was HORRIBLE on the way home from Carpinteria, so the 4 of us stopped off at Universal City Walk. Its so beautiful, especially with all the lights on in the evening!
We would love to take the girls to Universal Studios one day! Maybe on our next trip!
The next day was Christmas Eve and we went to see the lights on Naples Island. What an amazing place to walk around. The houses are beautiful and decorated so well for Christmas!
Getting the stocking ready for Santa
Happy Christmas Eve! It’s so fun to be together as a family!
No pictures of Christmas morning because with 10 of us, it was a bit crazy! But this game is so funny! We all had so much fun playing it!
Can you guess who ended up with whip cream on their face?
Enjoying Mom and Dad’s beautiful yard in the afternoon on Christmas Day.
Ping Pong time!
Enjoying a yummy Christmas dinner – prime rib and goose!
The younger 4
The older 3 and Mom 🙂
All of Tom’s family was here on Christmas for the first time in over 8 or 9 years!!
The day after Christmas we spent the day in San Diego
Beautiful view from Cabrillo National Monument
Next we went to Disneyland and California Adventure, with a day off in between. 🙂
You can view those pictures here.
Tom, Sage and I went to Downtown Disney for a few hours on New Year’s Eve.
Happy New Year!
So fun being together to ring in the new year. Sage, Molly, Ashley and Alyssa fell asleep before midnight, but the rest of us made it!
We head back to Seattle tomorrow. I think I’m going to need a vacation from my vacation…
What a fun trip! I don’t know how you all did it – I’m exhausted just reading about your trip.
Happy new year to your family and may God bless you all this coming year
Love, Denise (CCC)
Thanks Denise. 🙂
Thanks for sharing all your Cali pictures. I would have loved it if you have gotten some of our California sunshine. I am so happy you had a great time with family. Pray you will have a good trip home.
We would have loved more sunshine too! But it is still quite a bit warmer here, so that was nice!
Looks like you had a wonderful trip! Great pictures!! Happy New Year Jennifer!!
So happy you were all together, what a blessing.