Raining with Cats and Dogs: A Trip to SoCal

On July 11th we were set to fly out of our new airport by our house to fly to LAX and then drive to Santa Barbara. My mom dropped us off, we got our bags checked and ourselves checked into the flight (all such an easy and fast process since this new airport is so small). About 30 mins before the flight was supposed to leave they make an announcement that our flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues. Talk about disappointment for the kids and frustration for us parents. So we call my mom to come back and get us. Thankfully she wasn't heading out until tomorrow and we happened to be able to get on her flight. So we just made it work and went out to dinner and then stayed with my mom at her place that night. Shockingly that night we were woken up a 4.6 earthquake around 2am. The kids of course slept through it, but all 3 of us adults were up after the big boom and shaking!! I was glad after all that things happen the way they did because we got to be here to experience our first earthquake.

Feeling a bit crazy with a cancelled flight

The next morning, July 12th, we all headed to the airport for round two. We were finally on our way to Santa Barbara for my cousin Olivia's wedding!!!!

We got in just in time to head to the church to check on setting up and for rehearsal. There are a whole lot of little girls on this side of the family so they were all going to be "bubble girls" in the wedding and then my nephew (the one and only boy) was the ring bearer. It was just so nice to finally be all together (especially after barely surviving my dad's big scare only days before). And rehearsal dinner was the perfect place to catch up with everyone!!

Girls time during the hair practice

"Auntie Cousin" Jenna with all of the kiddos at rehearsal

All the girls at rehearsal dinner

The 13th was wedding day! Since the wedding wasn't until the late afternoon, we had a good chunk of the day to play. So we hit the harbour and walked the break water and searched for creatures on the beach.

At the harbour

Walking the beach

Someone found a sand dollar!!!

Afterwards we cleaned up and headed to the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun dance party after. I think it's safe to say we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!!

The boys all dressed in their best and matchy

Ready for wedding time!

Us parents at the wedding

The bubble girls waiting to do their job

They are married!!!

The official bubble girls

Noah and Olivia

Cousin picture

Party parents

Olivia and all the kids at the reception

The following day was our last day in Santa Barbara, so we spent it at the beach for most of the day. The kids all got to play together, some of the brave ones played in the ocean and others stuck to the sand. We all walked away from our beach day with some sort of burn. I guess the cooler windy air made us think we weren't burning. Oops!!

Cammy and Tatum boogie boarding

Uncle Russ digging the kids a hole

Cammy working on her own hole

Look at all those kite surfers in the sky!!

Uncle Russ buried the kids and made them an octopus

On the 15th we left all the family (most were staying a night or two more) and headed on our way. We had told the girls we were headed to the airport to go home, but what they didn't know was that we had a fun surprise for them...LEGOLAND!! And even better we were staying with our friend, Lindsey and kids (Nick had to be working in Arizona) while they were staying at her parents' house in San Diego. Cammy was the only one who was really asking a lot of questions, but we did our best to divert them. And when we showed up to a house rather than the airport we just let them see who came down to the gate (which this was also a surprise for Lindsey's kids) and then told them all what we would be doing together. It was a really fun surprise to pull off and hopefully something they will remember!

Dinner after our arrival at Lindsey's parents' house

So the next two days were spent open to close at Legoland. The kids had fun doing the rides, playing with Legos and just enjoying being together. We did the water park on one of the days, but the weather really just wasn't as warm as we had hoped, so the kids didn't last there too long before getting cold. We all seemed to have fun and what perfect ages the kids were for this park!