California! Part One

Just got back from a wonderful trip to Huntington Beach, CA with the Adams family. We had soo much fun and took tons of pics.



The first night I was there, we rented out two of the bike mobile things and got pulled up and down the beach.

The beach.

Meriahna and Sydney loved it and made friends with the bike riders. The two biker dudes raced each other, and Sydney created two teams. Our team was "The Winners," and the other team was "The Hutsons." hmmm.

That night brought a flood of s'mores. The kids' hotel had fire pits all over the place, and you could buy s'mores sets. The kids did a really good job with it until Meriahna wasn't paying attention to where her burning stick was headed. Don't worry, I survived.

The next day was, can you tell?, the American Girl Place! Sydney and Meriahna got a few outfits, some books, and a really cool campfire set.

Poor Josephina finally got her hair done. There was a two hour wait in the beauty salon, no joke. Definitely worth the $20 if you had seen Josephina's hair before.

I wanted to take a picture of the girls with their spoils of war. I thought it was fitting that Meriahna held up the receipt that's about as long as she is. I think I had as much fun as they did at the store. It brought back fond memories of the American Girl Fashion Show and saving up my money for different American Girl clothes. Johnny is praying that we have all boys.

The next day was spent at the really cool pool area at the kids' hotel. There were water slides and a huge hot tub. Sydney, of course, made friends with everyone. And the girls spent a large amount of time timing how long they could hold their breath under water. We all got a little bit of sun this day, but it was totally worth it.

That night we went to dinner at the Crab Cooker. I love this picture because I have one just like it from three years ago.

Too presh for words.

So this dinner actually needs more of an explanation than I have given. We got to the restaurant, took the photo, and then put our names on the list. It turned out that the wait was going to be about 45 minutes, so Austin asked if we could go back to hotel that was seven minutes away and get his book. I said I would take him, so Sydney, Austin, and I get in the car and leave the restaurant. We have directions that I start following. The key word there is "start." Somehow along the way we get terribly lost. Like no ocean in site kind of lost.

The only thing Austin and I are thinking is if we can get back to the ocean, we'll be able to take the Pacific Coast Highway back to the restaurant. Only problem, the sun is quickly setting, and once the sun is gone, I have no way of knowing where my North, South, East, and West are.

So we use our Girl Scouting skills and driving toward the setting sun.

Sydney did her best to help with the directions. All of a sudden, we turned a corner, the trees parted, and there was the ocean! We followed the water back to the restaurant, arriving very soon after Scott and Meriahna had been seated. We never got the book.

Now during the meal, Sydney decided that she did not want anything to do with seafood but instead, wanted pizza. There was a pizza place across the street, and Scott took her there after we ate, leaving us to get the bill and finish up. Austin very politely pulls the waitress aside and says, "When you get a minute, would you mind bringing us the check?" She says sure, and we wait a minute or too. We see her walking toward us. She puts a carton of Vitamin D milk on the table and walks away. We all look at each other, and I'm pretty sure one of us says, "Maybe the check is in the milk?" The check was not in the milk, and another waitress brought us the bill a few minutes later. The milk was not on the bill, and we still have no idea why the original waitress brought us milk.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Disney Land!