We arrived home from our vacation last night and as wonderful as our trip was, it felt just as great to be home and sleep in our own beds!

We had a truly fabulous vacation but our drive home was anything but….
We left San Diego around 7:00 a.m. and arrived home around 9:00 p.m, it was a nightmare drive!

On our way home we went back to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles. The girls begged us to go back to  so that they could get their new dolls ears pierced.  They both got the doll of the year “McKenna” last Saturday which came with a movie. After they watched the movie and saw that McKenna had her ears pierced we did not hear the end of it.

After making our first stop for some doll ear piercing we got back on the road into the LA traffic…. We sat, and we sat and we sat in 111 degree weather for three and a half hours. Finally we made it to Santa Barbara where we stopped for a break. We visited the wharf, had some ice cream and then we got back on the road. As we approached the last 5 minutes of our trip at close to 9:00 pm the entire freeway was backed up with beach traffic, ughhhh, really? We felt so close but so far away from home! In the larger scheme of things we had a fantastic vacation and we arrived home safe and sound so we are all very happy!

Today we went to the Scotts Valley Art and Wine Festival where the girls got some tinsel in their hair and some happy glitter tattoos!

Soon I will be posting some photos form our 10 year wedding vow renewal on Coronado Beach

We are still in San Diego and we are having a great time! We have laid by the pool, done some shopping, rode a ferry and we even rode a quadracyle four wheel bike along the bike path on Coronado island. We also rented a pontoon boat on Mission Bay where we parked in front of Sea world and caught a glimpse of one of their water shows.

The evenings have been warm and beautiful and we have enjoyed lots of outdoor tropical dining by fire pits. Tomorrow is our ten year wedding anniversary and we are all excited for our vow renewal on the beach at sunset!

And here are some not so great, but very memorable, photos form my iPhone.

Day two of our family vacation:

Today is my hubby’s birthday, happy birthday Reggie, I love you!

We celebrated Reggie’s pre-birthday last night at the Ritz and today he earned daddy of the year by celebrating his birthday at the American Girl Store in Los Angeles. He is such an amazing daddy and he was a great sport about spoiling our girls on his birthday!

Kinley and Hadley had so much fun today. They both took rolling bags filled with American Girls to the store, totally normal, right?

The two story store had a doll hair salon, hospital, cafe and more. Kinley and Hadley got their dolls hair done at the hair salon, had their dolls ears pierced and we dined at the American Girl Cafe with their dolls. They both told us that it was more fun than Disneyland so I guess it was a hit!

Tonight we are in San Diego and we had a very nice dinner by the bay for Reggie’s birthday and we watched fireworks from our hotel room balcony. It was a great day!

 

 

Today is day one of our family vacation and so far we are having a fabulous time! We headed out at 5:00 a.m. this morning and we drove to Marina Del Rey. Reggie and I had so much fun on our little road trip, we laughed harder than we have in a long time, so hard actually that I spit my water all over the entire windshield… Whoops!

We are currently at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey, California and it is absolutely beautiful! Tomorrow morning we will be celebrating Reggie’s birthday by having brunch at the American Girl Store, what a good Daddy he is!

After our adventure at the American Girl Store we will be heading to San Diego for a week where we will celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary and renew our vows on the beach.

Kinley and Hadley love American Idol and we have a fun time watching it together as a family. This is the second year that we have taken them to the live tour concert. The girls were so excited to go, they even picked out some hot sparkly outfits!