California Dreamin'

Santa Monica Beach

I have been dreamin' about a family vacation like this since my kids were too little to even consider taking along on a vacation! When Ciara was young, she carried on about wanting to go to Disney World. We told her that when she was 10 we would go to Disney. Well... we're nearly 8 years past that promise and now her and I both get sick on rides at the amusement park (bummer) - so when the opportunity came up for the kids and I to join Luke on business and mix in a little family fun in the sun... we jumped on it! If we wait much longer, our precious grown up daughter will be too busy living her own life to join us on such a trip. Brandon and Ciara have never flewn on an airplane or seen the ocean... so we're gonna wrap it all up this go around and I can't wait!! Luke's travel schedule has been horrible the last few months. I feel like we've barely seen him. He's been flying all over takin' care of business for his ever growing division. (that's another post all together!) He will attend 2 meetings while we're in California, but we can handle that - there will be things the kids and I can do to occupy our time in sunny California until Big Daddy can join us. :)

We will leave Wed. a.m. (that's tomorrow!!!!) and drive to Denver, Colo. where we'll catch a 3:15 flight into Los Angelos. That would be enough travel for one day, but once we arrive in L.A. we'll take a rental car down Pacific Coast Highway and go on into San Diego where Luke will have a meeting on thursday a.m. Once that's done, it's Sea World. Should be a fantastic time. I checked the show schedule and it looks incredible! We are gonna try to get in some beach time too. Then on Friday a.m. we drive back into L.A. where Luke will drop us off in the Santa Monica Boulevard area to hang out while he gets his meeting there out of the way. I'm sure we'll find plenty to while we wait for him... what with the pier and beach right there and shopping galore! After the meeting we'll hook up for lunch and then spend the day sight seeing. Each of the kids picked one BIG thing that they wanna do. Brandon wants to go to the Getty Villa Museum which is a Greek and Roman Museum, Ciara wants to check out Santee Alley which is supposed to be pretty incredible shopping. Also on the list of things to check out are Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Sign, China Plaza, and Venice Beach. I hope we can squeeze it all into a day! :) Doesn't it sound fun??!! The girls wanted to go on a celebrity home tour - but I don't think the guys will go for it. Maybe we'll get lucky and see a celebrity or 2 out and about on our L.A. exploration. That would just be too cool! Saturday morning we catch an early flight out of L.A. back into Denver - hop into the hespe mobile and head for Larkspur, Colorado where we'll take in a Renaissance Festival. I think the whole family will will be highly entertained by that activity! We'll rest Saturday night in a hotel in Castle Rock then once we're up and about Sunday morning we are homeward bound.

We've never taken a vacation like this before - could be a once in a life time for all 4 of us... so I'm really excited about this precious time together experiencing something new. My cousin is staying at the house with little Shoogsie and taking care of the house and outdoor pets. I'm so thankful! Now we can just enjoy our getaway. Please pray for our safety and with a shutterbug like me... you can count on lots of photos when we get back!! Until next time... PEACE OUT!