I Wanna Go Back!

Here are the promised pictures from California. We had a wonderful trip. The snow we are having today makes me wish we could go back to the sunshine. Oh well, as long as we have electricity, I guess I won't complain about the snow.

Friday-Monday we were in Fresno visiting Mike's grandparents, and some aunts, uncles and cousins who live there as well. We got to see most of them, and just had some fun family time. Part of the reason we decided to go when we did was because Mike's parents were on the tail end of a trip to CA and we thought it would be great to be there at the same time...and we knew if we let them stay away too long, they'd miss us! Or maybe not...either way it was a bonus to be together for a few days of the trip.

The flight went well, and we were SO thankful...we knew anything could happen since it was Aldyn's first time on an airplane.

Spending some quality time with Great Grandpa John and Great Grandma Charlotte!With Mike's cousin, Trevor. He gave us a golf-cart tour of the area.

Monday we picked up our rental car and headed south. I think it would have been fun to stop in LA and take a tour to see where some of the stars live (I'm kinda nosey and geeky like that)...but we had heard several times that the traffic is just awful and we didn't want to risk sitting in the car for longer than we had to with our little traveler. So we bypassed LA and stayed in San Bernadino Monday night and then made the rest of the trip to San Diego on Tuesday. As soon as we got there we grabbed lunch on the bay and then got on a boat to do some whale watching. It was a perfect day and the cruise lasted about 4 hours. We saw some gray whales...they were on their way south to Baja to have babies. They are huge - about 30-40 tons!We also saw a few dolphins swim by...I didn't get real good pictures...but will share what I have.Here you can see the whale spraying. This is how we spotted them, and then they drove up so we could get a closer look.Here are a couple pics of a tail fluke. That's Mexico in the background. A shot of the USS Midway as we were coming back. It was a Naval Aircraft carrier until 1992, and is now a museum. We took a tour a couple days later and it was really interesting. I can't imagine living on something like this for an extended period of time. They called it "a city at sea."

The first couple of nights we stayed at a cute little resort called Paradise Point. We had a small patio and the pic below shows the view. We were sitting out there watching the sunset one night when a few dolphins swam by...wow!

This is the same area the next morning.Wednesday we headed to the zoo...we had heard this was a must. We know Aldyn wasn't old enough to appreciate it...she was just along for the ride...it was more for us.

I think they were checking out the gorillas in this pic...

Thursday we toured the USS Miday...Aldyn and Mike taking a break...she needed to move around a little bit...it was tough constantly being held or in a stroller.
On Friday we drove north up the coast and found these seals on the beach at La Jolla cove.

So many amazing views!
We tried to soak up as much as we could on our final day...Saturday we flew home and all travels went well that day too. We were glad when we finally made it home after a long day!

Until next time...