Vacation 2011

California Vacation

Part 2

Let's see

where did I leave us...

Oh yes,

it was our first full day in Cali

we had done the seals' thing

Christian was snoozing

The big boys and I walked around Seaport Village

I was makeup-less

Next stop

USS Midway

fair warning

there are tons of pictures

you may not be interested

but my mom is

and it's really all about her

so skip to the end if need be

but I'm not promising interesting chat down there either

 The USS Midway 

is an old navy vessel turned museum

I personally find this kind of place

AMAZING

I could spend hours here

when you have 3 tired boys

an hour and a half

is about all you get

Well worth the visit and money

 Connor with his "thumbs up"

his new thing?

 There are tons of things to crawl and play on

flight simulators

over 20 aircraft on the top deck

and of course a gift shop

which was the demise of our day

we didn't buy Connor a jet (toy)

and he LOST it

for realz

it was a "lainey" kind of break down

 Obviously all of these photos were taken

pre-meltdown

once that started

we could not get out the door fast enough

and I'm giving Mark the "eyes"

you know the look

"can't we just buy the toy and shut him up?"

and Mark's giving me the look

you know the one

"HELL NO"

he won

Mark I mean

which was the right parenting move to make

 Colton playing airplane on Daddy's shoulders

love this one

After this adventure

we headed back to the hotel for naps

It was pretty obvious who needed one

Our hotel was on the bay

So while I stayed so the boys could rest

Mark walked around here

Connor and Colton slept

Guess who didn't

 I mean

why should he?

there are so many interesting things to play with

in hotel rooms

like drawers

After quiet time

we were headed to a different beach

to try and take some photos

before heading to the Starnes' house for dinner

This time we went to 

La Jolla Shores Beach

I must say I was not all that impressed

The beach itself was covered in seaweed

YUCK!

And for a cold day

it was very crowded

There were lot of surfers

and folks playing ball and frisbie

Makes it hard for family pictures

We were all wearing our 

cheesy matching family photo outfits

and couldn't even get a whole family picture

there just didn't seem anyone to ask to take one

 and this is how most of the time went

now look who's tired

And this is where my camera bit the dust

I mean sand

here we switched to the camera phone

Here Mark is actually squatted down behind the boys

to keep Christian from falling backwards and busting his head open

Instead he takes a nose dive forward

and eats sand

And now the moment we have all been waiting for

Dinner with Casey

For those of you not in this strange little bloggie circle

you don't know Casey

but you could

and should

check out her blog here

she's a pretty funny gal

I don't know if it's so much her

or her kids

KIDDING

Casey and I used to work together at Michael's in Dallas

we were just a few cubicles away from each other

I was pregnant with Connor and she with Jack

only a few weeks apart

She went out on bedrest

Then I left on maternity leave

She had Jack

and neither one of us went back to work

So I had never met the little punks

only Carter once

And can I just say

this family is every bit as special as one might think

 For those of you who read her blog

Her description of the back yard does not do it justice

It is gorgeous

For those of you who don't read her blog-

could you image waking up to this every morning

Carter is an amazing kid

Mark even commented on how great he was

I don't have any pictures of Jack for some reason

But Jack...

halarious- and a train lover

for sure

  

and sweet sweet Lainey

love you girl

but we are going to scrap behind the swings at 3pm

she was crushing on my man

Truth is

I could have sat on her patio and talked all night

but unfortunately we had sleepy kids

and almost an hour drive back to the hotel

The good news is

there will be more Starnes' crew photos later

because we met up at Disney

YOU STILL HERE??

I will leave you now

partly so I don't bore you to death

partly because blogger is pissing me off

but mainly because my hour is up

and the boys will be waking any minute

and so my day begins

I have a trip to Hobby Lobby planned with my friend

and YES I did say friend

swim lessons and school

I am in major party planning mode this week

Connor's lego birthday bash is on Saturday

PART 3 COMING SOON

lucky you