I took 4 kids by myself to California

Scott had to work, and that's ok. Dads do that and I think it's a good example for the kids to see. We've gone on 2 fun vacations all together already this summer, in addition to endless fun times in between, so it's not like the kids were being deprived or anything. Of course it's always more fun when Dad's around, but I was unapologetic that it just wasn't an option this time. So our choices were either to stay home in the boring dead heat of the Utah desert, or go to the beach without him. Being that Zackrison women can do anything, it didn't really occur to me that I couldn't or shouldn't try to do that drive and trip on my own. Of course it would be hard, but I was being careful not to call it a "vacation" and rather think of it as a "change or scenery". Besides, there are almost no circumstances where the beach isn't better than the desert. So, that being said...

I spent Friday doing laundry, packing, and cleaning. We loaded the bikes on the back of the van and set off bright and early Saturday morning. The kids slept for a long time, and we didn't stop until St. George! We got breakfast at Jack in the Box and got back on the road and didn't stop again until Barstow. We had one other mini-bathroom-stop and made it to the beach while it was still light outside.

The kids immediately got to work playing together in the sand while Stephanie BBQ-ed hotdogs for us. It was so nice to be out of the car.

The next morning we woke up and Huck and June and I set off on our bikes to get donuts. Bike riding at the beach is pretty much heaven on earth to me, and it's fun to have June such a willing and able companion. Huck loves riding along too.

Huck was blown away by the train that goes by about every 20 minutes right in front of the house. He set up shop to watch it up close, and when not in his position here would run out as soon as he'd hear it to try to catch a glimpse.

The ocean was rough at that particular beach spot - rockier than I've ever seen it. Brenden and June had such fond memories of swimming in the waves at the beach in North Carolina, so they were anxious to try it out here. I went out with them the first day and they were both quite disappointed. So we did a lot of hole digging and playing around the house and bike riding instead.

Not having Scott there probably made it more boring for the kids and certainly more work for me. Huck and June were having trouble taking turns playing baseball, so came up with an obvious solution when they found 2 bats and 2 balls - I could just throw to them at the same time.










Riding to the end of the street is an easy excursion - we did that a couple times each day. We also rode to the harbor to get ice cream and around the parking lot to jump over the speed bumps.





One day I took the kids down to San Clemente beach to try to find some more swim-friendly spots. It was much less rocky, so the older boys spent a while out in the water, but the current was strong and waves were kind of scary, so pretty soon they were all on the shore riding in the white-water as the waves crashed.

We got fresh chips and salsa from Island Style Tacos every day. I did a little shopping and the kids played some video games. Laurel was there a few days, Brett was there a couple days, Webb and Truman came for one day and a night. We celebrated Laurel's birthday with an ice cream cake.























On Tuesday we went on an excursion to get out of the house and ended up at the petting zoo in downtown San Juan Capistrano - right by their cute old train station. We called it Huck's Birthday Party to justify going in and doing something he'd enjoy even if the rest of the kids weren't that excited. In the end I think everyone had a good time. This was a funny place with few regulations and lots of hands-on opportunities with the animals. They sold bowls of carrots and lettuce at the front gate and you could go in the bunny or goat pens and feed and pet them or feed the llamas and ostrich and horses and cows through the fence. They had a mineral mining activity the older kids enjoyed and a playground for the younger ones.

The kids took a train ride around the circle, and they even all went on pony rides too. We got frozen yogurt afterward - it ended up being a great outing and I'd say a great way to celebrate Huck's birthday.

We slept at the beach house 4 nights and then packed up and headed up to La Canada. I had to go on a one-day business trip to northern California, so Laurel graciously accepted the challenge of watching all the kids for the day. She was still smiling when I got back that night, and the kids were all still alive, so I think it all went ok.

Brett invited the boys to go to the X Games with him on Friday. They were so excited when he called, having just been watching it on tv and dreaming of going in person, running around the house singing "we're going to the xgames, we're going to the xgames". Sounds like they had a great time watching everything up close with the great all-access passes he had. Having such a cool Uncle Brett comes with a lot of perks for young boys who love extreme sports.

While the boys were gone, I took Huck & June to spend the day in South Pasadena (after the requisite stop at Green Street to restock our Dianne Salad Dressing supply). We went on a train ride, got cupcakes, went to garfield park, and did a little antiques shopping. We drove through our old neighborhood and past our old house 3 times, and went to Trader Joe's. I sure love that town. I had a great time hanging out there all day (plus came away with the cutest little side table and a stack of old books and hobnail pots - that's about all that would fit in my car).

Unfortunately I don't really have any more pictures. I was doing pretty well remembering to pull my phone out at first. But I'm sad to not have documented the next part of the trip.

Friday night we headed down to San Diego to visit Zack & Ana & Jack in their new home. I was excited to have family back out west with us so didn't want to miss the chance to get together with them. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our day with them. We got there late Friday night and slept at their house, then woke up Saturday morning to cooking bacon & sausage, chocolate croissants and chocolate chip pancakes. After breakfast we headed out to the beach. After seeing the cruel beach in Capistrano I told Zack we needed to get a taste of a nice gentle California Beach. They took us to La Jolla Shores and it was indeed the perfect swimming beach. Unfortunately the sun never decided to come out, so it was a little chilly, but the kids played out in the water for a long time, and when they got tired of that we went over to the beach playground and played there for a while.

While Zack & Ana had the boys at the beach, I took June & Huck to the nearby Aquarium. For some reason June had gotten it in her head that while we were in San Diego she really wanted to go to Sea World. I wasn't about to tackle that one on my own so we found a different aquarium to visit. It was fine and seemed to satisfy her need on a much more manageable scale for me.

After the beach and aquarium and playground, we headed back to Zack & Ana's for delicious take out chinese and the kids played outside in the cul de sac with some neighbor kids. June and Jack saw some wild bunnies hopping around and spent the next hour or so building bunny traps. Ana promised them that if they caught a bunny they could keep it as a pet, which really motivated them to work hard. They build 3 traps for their soon-to-be-pets Butterscotch,
Buster, and Love, they found some carrots to use as bait, and spent about 10 minutes out watching and waiting. They came in to report that catching bunnies is really hard and then we went to bed with the promise that Jack would send us a bunny if he was able to catch one after we left.

We packed up the car and headed home bright and early Sunday morning. The drive home was pretty much as uneventful as the drive there - we made one long stop in Vegas to find a roller coaster - ended up at Circus Circus at the world's only indoor double loop double corkscrew coaster, after having been turned away at New York New York's roller coaster since Oliver was 1/2 inch too short. Huck and June and I rode the merry go round while we waited. We got home while it was still light out and everyone was so excited to see Scott - and discovered that he'd installed a projector and screen in the basement while we were away.

3 more weeks until school starts.