Alrighty, folks...trying to keep it simple as I promised. Here's the rundown of our summer months:
1. Spent a week at Marriott's Newport Coast Villas in Southern California. Minutes away from what I still consider my 2nd home: Balboa Island (spent 2 weeks there every other summer growing up). We spent time walking around the island (as much as I could on my poorly-timed broken toe), eating Balboa Bars, enjoying the sights on and around the island, relaxing and swimming at the villas, playing on our favorite beach: Corona del Mar, going for a cruise around the harbor on Duffy boats, spending a day at LEGOLAND (1st and last time) and more than anything, we enjoyed spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Walks around the island with family, time with cousins, and most importantly, Balboa Bars from Dad's.
Amazing gardens and sights on Balboa Island.
Cruising in the Duffy boats.
Corona del Mar: my little brother found a seaweed super hero mask, my oldest brother showed the sand who's boss, Hudson and Grandpa had fun in the waves, and I discovered that buddy taped toes and sand don't jive...at least my nail polish rocked. The wide pic at the top is of my dad, two brothers, my bro-in-law, and a niece all a ways out from the beach waiting to catch waves (body surfing and body boarding).
LEGOLAND with my little brother and his family, my kids and I, and my niece, Becca.
2. After Newport Coast, we headed to Northern California for some quality time in my hometown of Los Gatos. We took my niece with us for some extra time with my kids (didn't hear one complaint from any of them). We stopped at Harris Ranch and Casa de Fruta on the way up. I was an amazingly awesome mom/aunt and paid for the kids to ride the double-decker carousel a the latter. My childhood self wishes she could have ridden it. While staying at my parents' place for over a week, we enjoyed going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, spending time with friends and extended family, going to the park, doing a little bit of shopping, and more than anything, we had a great time being at Grandpa & Grandma's house.
The three cousins together: at The Boardwalk, Casa de Fruta, Harris Ranch, and G&G's backyard sandbox.
Happy 4th of July: The kids spent a good chunk of the day riding scooters in the backyard. They were having fun hamming it up for the camera and Grandpa had fun photo-bombing a totally unsuspecting Hudson.
Day trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium: Hudson got to pet a Bat Ray, we all pet sea creatures in the tide pool exhibits, a saw Bottlenosed Dolphins swimming a ways off the main observation deck (a real treat...they're rarely in the Monterey Bay). The jelly fish exhibit is always a favorite...the one picture shows Hudson's hand with a teensy jelly swimming on the other side of the glass.
Swimming with friends and playing with 2nd cousins.
3. Next up was a trip to my sister's in El Dorado Hills, CA, where we spent the last few days of our trip. I was thrilled to have the opportunity see two of my dear lifelong friends who live in the area. One made the long-ish drive with her cute daughter to see me at my sister's and my kids and I went to visit the other friend and her family at her parents' home near EDH (extra special treat as I hadn't seen her parents in over 20 years!). Aside from visits with friends, my sister and I made sure to fit in some sister time, complete with a yummy lunch at one of our favorite digs, Jack's Urban Eats. The kids spent their time playing with their cousins and swimming in the neighbor's pool.
When we drove home to Utah, my sister and her kids came with us to spend almost 2 weeks out here. One of the highlights of their visit here was our day spent up in Park City where we took the kids on the Alpine Slides (my 1st time ever!) and Alpine Coaster. I didn't get many pictures of our other activities here but I'm pretty sure that only my sister and I would truly appreciate looking at photos of every eating establishment we went to and the foods we consumed at each place.
A glimpse of our days in EDH and at the Park City Mountain Resort.
Now, that was better than my usual wordy self, wasn't it? It was wordier than it could have been but far less wordy than I'm capable of. You're welcome.
2 comments:
Impressive posting, Suzie! You covered all the summer delights in record time and with great photos! BRAVO!!!!!
YEAH! For one, you are posting again. And two, I made it in your post! Thanks again for making the effort to come visit- it was so great to see you! Lucky me to have a lifelong friend like you Darling!
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