On Monday, December 2nd, after Abby got out of school, we all piled into the car to head to California for the week...more specifically Dana Point. Jim had to go to California for work so, he invited the girls and me to tag along.
After an afternoon of driving we arrived at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort.
As you can see the hotel was in a beautiful location!
For dinner on our first night what could be better than Mexican food!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night. The girls LOVE hotels!
Unfortunately, we didn't get much sleep that first night but, we never sleep well when we are all in the same room together.
After not getting much sleep we also realized that Jim's credit card was missing...he doesn't remember getting it back from the restaurant. When we looked up our account we did find that someone was trying to use it...GRRRRRR! We had to cancel our cards and have new cards overnighted to us. Not a good way to start the week!
On a better note...while Jim headed off to work, the girls and I headed to the local beach. It was a chilly day but, the girls didn't mind.
After the beach it was time for lunch at the Dana Point Harbor. After lunch we headed back to the hotel for some quiet time and then some pool time!
The hotel had an outdoor heated pool. Even though the pool was heated it was still too cold for me...I stayed in the hot tub.
We had such a busy day that Abby fell asleep on the way to dinner and even at the restaurant she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
After another night with not much sleep for Jim and me, it was time for poor Jim to head off to work and time for another adventure for me and the girls. Our adventure for the day was
Zoomars Petting Zoo in beautiful San Juan Capistrano. It was a very cute little petting zoo and the girls had a blast. Their favorite part, the pen with about 30 guinea pigs that the girls could feed and hold. We started in the pen and then returned to it 2 more times. Here are a few pictures with our new friends...
Pony rides!
Jim got off a bit early on Wednesday so when he got back to the hotel we all piled in the car and headed to Huntington Beach. My grandparents lived in Huntington for many years so, it was nice to see it again!
For dinner we found our way to a local Newport Beach brewery where we had some great beer and a delicious meal!
Ok, so...as you can guess...on Wednesday we had another night with little sleep. Jim and I guess that in the 4 nights we were in the hotel we got maybe 25 hours of sleep in total. Not only did we have to deal with the antics of the girls but the beds were also quite uncomfortable (way too squishy) and the AC wasn't working...triple negative.
On Thursday the girls and I went to check out the
Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach
"Pacific Marine Mammal Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of marine mammals stranded along the Orange County coastline and to increase public awareness of the marine environment through education and research."
When we went there, there were only 4 sea lions being treated. It is great that there were not many sea lions needing help but, this also equaled not much for the girls to look at. We still tried to make the best of it!
After the marine center it was time for a picnic and some play time on Laguna Beach...
After Jim was done with his work we walked around some of the shops in Laguna Beach and then we headed to Newport Beach for dinner at...
It was always a tradition for me as a kid to go to the old spaghetti factory for my birthday dinner so, it was so much fun for me to go eat there so close to my birthday this year.
Another tradition was to weigh ourselves into the restaurant and then at the end of our meal to see how much we had eaten. I didn't find the scale until we were on our way out but, it still counts!
After one last night of bunking in one room together it was time to head home. On our way home we made a detour through Crestline, CA. Crestline is the hometown of one of our favorite horror movie stars, Reggie Bannister from Phantasm. We stopped for breakfast but had no luck spotting Reggie.
We made it back home in time to pick up the pets and for Abby to make it to dance class. Another Roger's adventure in the books. Finally...some sleep!
