One of my absolute favorite places to visit is California. Growing up, our family made the trip once a year, usually more, to visit relatives in San Diego. My sophomore year of college, I participated in the National Exchange Program and attended Cal Poly San Louis Obispo for 6 months. Last time I was in California was to celebrate my good friend Ali's wedding in August of 2009. Since then we have both had little baby boys and other trips, so I have not been able to make it back. This year, Justin & I decided a trip out west was a must, along with a trip to Disneyland for baby boy's belated 2nd birthday present :)
We headed out of MN on a Wednesday morning, leaving our house at 5AM to get to the airport in time. Last time we had to wake up Hudson that early, he screamed the entire car ride to the airport. This time we were lucky and he was relaxed back in his carseat. Of course once we got to the airport we had to watch the planes land & take off :)
Watching the planes on the runway, while waiting for our plane to depart.
We had a short layover in Arizona, just enough time to grab something to eat & get back on the plane. Also enough time for baby boy to have a little bit of a meltdown.
Luckily it was a short little outburst & once we got some food in him he was just fine :)
We arrived in Orange County at about 11:30AM, got our luggage right away, & picked up our rental car.
Has his luggage & he is ready to go.
We were able to check into our hotel in Newport Beach early, so we spent the remainder of the day exploring Balboa island, checking out the pier and the boardwalk.
This view never gets old......
Hanging out, watching the boats
We then grabbed an early dinner at Rudy's Pub & Grill in Newport Beach, Hudson loved his strawberries!
From there we headed back to the hotel to relax and we were all pretty exhausted from the day so it was early to bed for all of us.
Thursday morning we headed back down to the beach for a family run along the boardwalk, beautiful view! After breakfast we made our way to the beach & spent most of the afternoon in the sun & sand. We picked up some sand toys for Hudson, which kept him busy all day. He definitely preferred the sand over the ocean though :(
We stayed at the beach until about 3:30, then made our way up to Riverside to my good friend Ali's house. Hudson made himself at home in about 10 minutes :) We hung out for a little bit then put the kids to bed, before us adults sat down for an enchilada dinner on the patio. Great night catching up with good friends!
Friday we spent the day at Disneyland, I will post separately about that adventure.
Saturday was another beautiful day in Cali, so we headed over to Laguna beach for another day in the sun & sand!
Hudson & Baby Luis "sharing" the toys.
Enjoying a starbucks (it's his water/juice mix)
After a long day at the beach, we headed back to the Arias household for a little playtime before bed. Once the kids were in bed, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner with some drinks and conversation. It was so great to be able to spend time with them. Ali is one of my closest friends from PA school and her friendship definitely helped me through those three years of being so far from home. Do not know what I would have done without her! I am so glad that we have been able to stay so close, even living so far away.
Sunday morning we headed out early to get to the airport. Here is Hudson with his new friend :)
He absolutely loves his doggy (Pluto)
We made it with plenty of time to spare, so we spent part of the morning watching the planes.
Kisses from mama
Overall it was a great trip! We had perfect weather the whole time we were there, not too hot :) Hudson did so well as most days he only napped for maybe 40-60 minutes and slept only 8-9 hours. We had very few meltdowns and he did really well playing with baby Luis :) Looking forward to another visit again soon!
