Showing posts with label California vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California vacation. Show all posts

Sunday, August 21, 2011

California Vacation Part 5: Las Vegas Birthday

Friday morning we said goodbye to our family and the lovely beach mansion. Luckily we were able to pick up our newly fixed car and drive home in air-conditioned comfort. We stopped at a Chipotle for lunch. My parents and Angie met us there too.
Jason was chowing down (as usual) on his quesadilla, rice and beans, but he was also getting down with his dancing almost the whole time too. It was hilarious!
That night we stayed at Julie and Scott's again. It was Alison's 5th birthday, so we had a little party.
Alison was super-excited to open our "huge-o" gift (a Barbie Cruise Ship).
We weren't sure if we'd be seeing Heidi before her 7th birthday in August, so we brought her gift too.
Angie and I helped make these sweet princess cupcakes.
Ali making a wish
Angie with one of her creations.
All of the kids enjoyed their cupcake and ice cream!
The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. We drove home on Saturday and were glad to get home and enjoy our few days before heading out of town again to the next family reunion.

California Vacation Part 4: Fun with Family

We snapped this family photo just before taking the bigger family shots. It's too bad it was so bright, because the background is gorgeous.
Here are all of the kids between two and twelve: (top) Daniel, Eliza (middle) Alison, Caroline, Heidi (bottom) Jason, William, Dylan and Parker. They had tons of fun together!
My cousin Adam with Grandma Cannon
My uncles Dave and Al
Stephen and Brad
Viviana and my aunt Suzanne
Aunt Julie with Liesel
My mom and I took a walk and saw these cool trees. I especially like the twisty one on the left.
Here is Ali and I with my sand creation.
It's an iguana.
Liesel hanging with her Aunt Angie. Ben is in the background with the camera.
All of the kids (and maybe some adults) loved this water blaster.
Pete chilling in the sand (right before Dylan came and tried to sit on his head).
More of the sand crabs we caught.
I loved the wave jumping; too bad salt water is so nasty!
Mermaid Ali
Family reunions are so much fun!
Thanks again to my incredible Grandma for arranging it and to everyone else who came and helped out! It was so much fun! We are already looking forward to the next one in a few years.

California Vacation Part 3: More Fun on the Beach

We've been out of town for more than half of the last month, so it's taken me a while to get back in gear and catch up on blogging. I've only got around a dozen posts to go; wish me luck!
Continuing with our California vacation, here are more photos of us playing at the beach in Oceanside. Parker loved riding on the boogie board while I pulled him around.
Jason liked it too!
My mom with Alison and Parker in the waves.
My sister Julie and her son Dylan, as he's sporting a Charlie Chaplin sand mustache.
I can't imagine what he was thinking, but Jas decided to sample some sand...
He was not a fan and luckily was able to get a drink right away. Dylan had been burying my dad.
My brother-in-law Scott with the boogie board.
Angie with her Hagia Sophia inspired sand castle.
My Uncle Jim and cousins Stephen, Adam and Robert took a surfing lesson. In this photo Adam was up and Jim was nearly there.
Here are some of the surfing spectators: Viviana, Julianne, Angie, Claire, Ellie and my mom. Catherine is resting in the back.
My cousin youngest cousin, William, is actually about six months younger than Parker. They had a lot of fun playing together.
My neices, Ali and Heidi.
Liesel was happy to be with Grandma.
Robert, Scott and Stephen building a sand fortress.
Scott showed us how to catch sand crabs. Parker and Brad caught a bunch.
Alison and Heidi collected a lot of sea shells. One morning I went running next to the beach. On the way back I ran/walked along the beach so I could collect a bunch of the boys.
Scott, Heidi, Alison, Claire and Julianne
Jason with "Uncle Pebo" a.k.a. my brother, Peter. Daniel and William were playing with the boogie board.
Brad enjoying the waves
Jason and Grandpa
Here are my parents with all of their descendants.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

California Vacation Part 2: Beach Front Mansion

On Tuesday morning we woke up to another breakfast buffet and then hung out in the hotel until late morning. Then we headed down to Oceanside. We stopped for lunch near the marina at a little place called Harbor Fish and Chips. Brad got some clam strips, but I wasn't feeling very adventurous and just went with a cheeseburger. The boys were fascinated with the taxidermied fish and sharks and the photos of the large catches on the walls. Afterwards we picked up some ice cream and looked at the boats.


We were spoiled rotten to stay in this beach house, or rather beach mansion. It... was... amazing! My sweet Grandma Cannon had rented this large house and half of the one two doors down to accommodate all of our family. It was certainly very accommodating, ha, ha. Here is a view taken from the beach. Yes, I was standing with my feet in the ocean while I took this; that's how close it was to the beach.
If you look up at that first photo, you can see that it has two roof levels. You can see us enjoying the hot tub (or warm tub, so we let our kids in) on the lower level and then the upper deck is behind us.
Here are the views to the right and left. Just north of us you can see the Oceanside Pier.
Looking down off the deck you can see the patio, with yes, another hot tub.
Since the beach mansion can be rented half at a time, there was double everything. This was on the second floor, but there was an identical one at the bottom. There were actually four floors, but the top one is mostly rooftop. There was an elevator that serviced the other three. Even though it was slower than the stairs, the kids loved the elevator!
My camera doesn't handle lighting changes well, so the colors are faded in the photo, but it's the opposite side of the room above.
It was so fun to eat our meals viewing the ocean. At breakfast we could see dolphins or small whales out in the distance.
We stayed in the "Harbor Room". The window seat was Parker's bed, but Brad was trying it out here.
Here is our bed. We had our own full bath too.
Our room faced the front of the house by the street, but you could still look out the side window and see the ocean.
We put Jason's pad down next to our bed.
We went to Oceanside as a family reunion with my Grandma and all of her descendants. My dad has four brothers and one sister. All of them came with nearly all their families.
The photos above and below were taken during one of our fun rounds of Taboo.
I can't remember for sure, but this might have been taken when Uncle Jim was starting off a round of Two Truths and a Lie.
Liesel fell asleep in Grandma's arms during Scrabble.
We were playing another Scrabble game simultaneously. Usually I'm only mediocre at Scrabble, but I creamed everyone with my 180 score that game.
Grandma, Liesel and my uncle Dave.
Brad had been reading First Things First and enjoying the ocean breeze.
Angie and Parker were enjoying the other window seat.
Of course, staying there on the beach, we spent much of our days there. Here my cousin Ellie and nephew Dylan are playing in the sand.
Uncle Alan, Aunt Suzie and my brother Ben
Brad, Parker and I preparing for a wave.
My cousins Adam, Catherine and Eliza in the waves.
Brad helping Jason enjoy the waves.
I love this photo of Grandma and Liesel.
Parker and my dad.
Here is a family photo of everyone who came. The only family members we're missing are: Sonny, Matt, Greg, Angela and Brian.
I have way more photos, so stay tuned for part 3.