The One and Only

Believe it or not, we just had our first, and probably only California beach trip this summer.  We have grown to really like Seal Beach, so that's where we headed.  We all had so much fun, especially Raquel.

We played hard and were tuckered out by the time we went home.

Dia De Padres y La Playa

Raquel was really excited to celebrate her first Father's Day, and so was Luis.  So excited in fact, that they were a bit cheesy about it.

 We decided to get Luis a croquet set, which will = lots of fun and free date nights for the three of us.

The day before Father's Day, we got to go down to the beach for the first time as a family.  I wanted a nice, warm, relaxing day, but it turned out to be COLD!  So much for relaxing.

Fun With the Mohlmans

Labor Day weekend, Luis & I had a hunkering for some good old beach fun.  We invited anyone to join us, but only one family took us up on the offer:  our very own Mohlmans.  

We headed to Salt Creek Beach, a new one to us, but one I will surely visit again.  The best part?  There is a big parking lot right there, which means we had NO parking spot hunting or constantly feeding the meter!  The worst part?  There is a big hill you have to traverse to get from your car to the beach.  Not bad on the way down.  Much worse on the way up.  

It was nice to escape our 100 degree temps and actually feel chilly.  I was especially thrilled I could keep my much-too-tight swimsuit hidden beneath my layers.  What?  Like I'm going to buy a pregnancy swimsuit NOW?

 

Another favorite for me was watching Luis with the kids.  He'll be such a good daddy!

Later that weekend, we met up with the Mohlmans again to celebrate BJ's birthday and visit Five Guys (much to Luis's delight).

Summertime Visitors

After waiting months and months, I finally got to see some of my family again when they came to visit us here in sunny California.  My sister Charisse's family, Mom, Dad, & Dave all came which meant I got 10 days of visitors!  It has been pretty crazy around here.

Naturally, we started off our fun in the sun.  (Don't look at Luis's legs...he's pretty self-conscious of how white they look.)

Later, some of us crashed...

...some of us cooked...

...some of us played...

...and some of us read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom all alone.

The Fourth of July at Newport Beach

We had the fun idea to spend the 4th at the beach.  We knew it would be crowded, but never anticipated driving around for 1 1/2 hours looking for a parking spot.  It was nightmarish.  When we finally decided to give up and go home, a spot magically opened up.  So we stayed.

At night, we skipped out on fireworks, and instead popped some poppers and ate firecracker popsicles.



We also spent more time at the pool, Heritage Park, and church, but I guess I didn't get pictures of those.

Disneyland
On Day 5 of the vacation, our second batch of visitors arrived and we headed off to Disneyland!  It was so much fun to be there with kids...especially ones who constantly asked to ride with me on every ride.  You know you're on kiddie rides when the wait is only 15 minutes.  It was quite refreshing!

This may be my favorite picture of the trip.  Doesn't Lily's nap look comfortable?

That first night of Disneyland fun, I stayed with my family at the hotel while Luis stayed at our apartment since he still had one more day of work.  Since our wedding, I have never spent a night away from him and I HATED it!  Luckily brother Davey was there to comfort me.

Lu had never been to Toontown before so we made sure to stop there.  And yes, that is Davey dancing behind us. 

You can tell we all had a great time the entire day!

On the last night with everyone, we ate at one of the restaurants.  It was yummy and something I've never done before in Disneyland.

The last day of Disneyland was only the Medicos and I.  We had taken so many pictures the other three days, that I only ended up with one on this day.

I loved having my family here to visit me.  Of course, I've been a mess since they left - crying on and off throughout the days - but I'm sure that will pass.

So, who's next, dear family?