California Love

The first weekend of October, the 4th -8th, we went to California for our family vacation and to visit friends. Aspen had never been there and I had only been to California twice and both times were for weddings so I wasn't able to really do my own thing. I LOVE southern California! Aspen and I decided if we could live anywhere, it would be in between San Diego and Malibu....one day:) Matt had rented a convertible so we could travel up and down the coast and enjoy the gorgeous weather! Here are a few pics of our vacation:

Aspen was so excited when we arrived! Even though it was 9pm Texas time!

 Matt was ready to get to our hotel;)

 We stopped by our friend's house to see their newborn baby! We love Baby Benjamin already!

Sea World!! We had so much fun!

We watched Dolphins when we first got there, Aspen measured herself against a grown dolphin. 

 Our favorite show by far was Shamu! We had great seats but it was so hot, and we were supposed to get splashed but we never did. I took so many cool pics of this show!

Our ride up and down the California coast.

The next day we went up to Santa Monica. On our way up we stopped at Newport Beach from Brunch and walked around. It was one of the cutest little towns! So many cute homes and such a beautiful harbor.

Then on to Santa Monica! I could have stayed here all day! I loved walking up and down the 3rd Street Promenade. The shops, the people, the restaurants! Everything was so fun! 

 The of course, we went down to the Pier! The weather was perfect and that made me really wish we had more time to go down to the water, but we had so much to see there just wasn't enough time!

We loved the Ferris Wheel, it was gorgeous up there!

Aspen had wanted to go to Hollywood so we left Santa Monica after a few hours and drove through LA to Hollywood. She was able to see the signs for Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Dr. and we drove past Beverly Hills. She really wanted to go walk up and down Rodeo but I told her we would need to wait and have a girls trip and really enjoy window shopping....one day:) 

For those of you who don't know, Aspen is obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn right now. She loved seeing this statue of Marilyn on Hollywood Blvd. I loved thinking about how all the old classic movie stars were there once, before all the crazy stuff that is there now. 

Aspen also really likes Michael Jackson:)

Shirley Temple!!!

More Marilyn!

That night we stayed at a hotel across from Disney Land, so we got see the fireworks from our hotel room. Aspen went swimming on the rooftop pool and we ate an amazing steak dinner at Morton's. What a fun day!

 On Sunday we drove back to Carlsbad, dropped Matt off to watch football with Austin. Aspen and I were so lucky to be able to hang out with Taylor, Paisley, and Stetson at the beach. (Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Tyrel because he was working)

Aspen got Stetson to smile!

 Paisley kept saying "To the Beach!" she was so excited!

 The water was cold but it was warm enough outside that Aspen didn't mind! She spent hours jumping the waves!

 Beautiful Taylor and Paisley!

 Stetson napping under the umbrella.

 I LOVE this picture of Paisley!

 This reminded me of 5 years ago when Aspen and I drove down to Galveston together for along weekend. We took a similar picture:) See below

She has grown so much!

Aspen making a Sand Angel

After a wonderful afternoon at the beach, we were able to spend a few hours with Meagan, Benjamin, and Austin. 

 The next morning, Aspen wanted to go to the beach before we went to the airport. So we got up around 7am, and walked down to the beach. It was cloudy but still beautiful. There were lots of surfers out. That was one of my favorite things to watch each morning!

 Unfortunately we had to leave...I totally would have stayed if I could! We ate lunch at Anthony's Grotto in the San Diego harbor. It was still a little hazy that morning but it was still so pretty. We could have stayed another week and still not seen everything, but we feel so blessed to have been able to go. God has blessed us so much!