Finally getting the chance to post our California trip. After going through all my pictures and deciding which ones not to use, I decided I still had way too many pictures and that I just needed to do a separate for each day for our vacation. So here it goes, Day 1 of our California trip.
My parents and Emily arrived at our house Thursday morning ... well come to think of it, they arrived late Wednesday night and surprised me. It was about 10 or 11 PM Wednesday night. I was upstairs folding laundry for our trip. All of a sudden I hear this knock on our door. I was very hesitant and a bit nervous about answering the door. In fact I was debating about shutting off my lights and pretending no one was home. (Jackson was of course out of town for the night for work). But I figured I ought to just look out the peep hole to see who it was. I was so thankful and excited to see that it was my sister and parents and not some crazy psycho. It had my heart racing there for a minute, not knowing what stranger could be at my door. I guess I deserved the little scare for all the times I have just shown up at my parents house a few hours earlier than expected. Either way, my parents and Emily where there Wednesday night. We got a lot of things done that next day, in fact the list of things kept ourselves quite busy the whole day, it was probably a really good thing they showed up the night before. We were still working on our to-do lists when Jackson got home from work Thursday night.
Well enough about all the pre-work it takes to get on the road, that could get quite boring. Either way we got everything done and left Utah at about 9:00 PM for our 11 hour journey to California. We wanted to leave that night in hopes that Braxton would sleep most of the way and for us to get to California Friday morning since my brother Wade (his family) and sister Melanie (her family) would already be there. The vehicle we decided to take was my parents van. We took their van for many reasons but probably the most important reason ... their van has a DVD player in it, which did most definitely save us a few times with Braxton. Our little man did really well but honestly hardly slept, which I found odd because the last long car ride that we had during the night, he slept the whole time. So I don't know what was so different this time, but either way we made it and we're very grateful for the luxury of having movies in my parents van.
On the road, the beginning of our long car ride!
A picture of Braxton sleeping on our trip.
This was a pit stop we made in Reno either on our way there or on our way back home. Jackson insisted on me getting a picture. I'll be honest, I didn't do my very best at getting a good picture because I had a little bit of fear in the back of my mind about this unfamiliar dog being so close to my son's face. As you can see, the stranger was quite pleased to get his picture taken by the smile he showed. :S Jackson is just so into dogs and will walk up to any dog he sees.
We made it! Hallelujah! That was a long drive! I think it took us 12 hours instead of 11, which wasn't too bad. We hardly stopped but when we did we would let Braxton run around for a bit. Once we got there and unloaded everything and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of waffles and eggs, compliments of our Grandpa Hawkins, we were off once again for another car ride to the San Francisco Aquarium. Thank goodness this drive was only an hour.
It was a really neat place. I think Braxton enjoyed seeing all the creatures of the ocean.
Braxton and baby cousin Aimbree looking at all those fish.
Looking at the boats outside while we waited for the elevator.
A coin machine people could use while waiting for the elevator.
This elevator fit a ton of people, in fact it fit our whole family, including my Grandparents from Cali.
Some pretty cool jellyfish.
A tunnel that you walk through surrounded by ocean.
This bubble was one of my favorite things there, I have no idea what you actually call it, but you crawl up under there and take a peek at the creatures in the ocean. This was the home of an octopus, along with other little creatures.
Ella
Kadie
Rylee
Zaebyn (left) Braxton (right)
I loved this one of Kadie :)
Braxton and Xylie, Braxton was breathing quite hard and made it all foggy in the picture on the left lol.
It looked like so much fun that Emily and I had to give it a try as well!
Another tunnel with sharks in it this time.
This was a different bubble thing to look through that we found.
Another elevator ride with everyone.
This was a really fun room when the kids could actually touch some of the ocean creatures.
After the aquarium, we decided to get a quick picture of all the kiddos.
Waiting in line for the carasouel.
Braxton on his horse with Jackson right next to him. I was anxious to see how he would do. He was definitely a bit skeptical at first.
Rylee up on the second floor. In fact most of the other cousins where up top since most carrousels don't usually have a second floor and they thought that was really cool!
Wade and Xylie
So the end result, Braxton loved it! In fact he cried for a bit when Jackson took him off lol.
We were sitting here waiting for a magic show (at no cost) that was going on at the Pier, when Jackson then soon noticed a sign that said it was rated PG-13 which quickly led us all to leave ... thanx for the warning Jackson.
Sea lions!
This was a really cool staircase there on the Pier. It played the same sound from a piano when stepping on the individual keys. It was really cool! Braxton was of course asleep at this time or close to it.
A "How To Train Your Dragon 2" banner hanging on a building. The twins had to get a picture in front of it. They are major fans of the show.
Our next stop was the "Rainforest Cafe." My siblings and I love this cafe! We make it a goal to go there every time we go to California. It is such a cool place and I was really excited to show it to Jackson since he's never been!
One of the huge Gorilla's that Jackson stood by.
Our two large group of tables we filled.
See the walls, this was the ocean type area. The ceiling on other floors are covered with vines, it truly looks like a rainforest. In fact I'm sure this cafe was the reason I wanted to do a jungle monkey theme for Braxton's room. His room of course looks nothing like the cafe but this cafe is a small part of the reason for me wanting to do a jungle type theme. Our cousin Courtney and her family met up with us at the cafe so that was fun!
The many animals in the cafe. I only posted a few of the pics I took surprisingly.
The frog mascot showed up.
Braxton was pretty tired since he didn't get the best sleep in the car.
Walking around the Rainforest Cafe store. See the vines on the ceiling? I love it!
This lady thought Braxton was cute and had fun showing him some of the animal puppets in the store.
Time to get pictures by the big Gorilla near the entrance.
Great Grandpa Hawkins
My cousin Courtney with her hubby and kiddos. They too live in California. We are very close in age, just a few months apart.
Grandpa Hawkins
Emily
Melanie and her kiddos
Can't remember who it was, but somebody there got Braxton to pick his nose.
Family picture!
What a fun filled day we had for our first day. We did a lot for having a long drive right before hand, but it was worth it. A lot more posts and pictures to come soon!
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