Ventura, CA
Jason is traveling pretty much the whole summer to Vegas for work, and after spending my first week at home with all the kids all day long we were getting anxious for a vacation. Our friends, the Larson's were so nice to invite us to their beach house in Ventura (or maybe they got tired of Jason giving them a guilt trip for not being able to go on the cruise with us like we had planned :).
I drove by myself with the kids and met Jason in Ontario where he flew into from Vegas. I was a little nervous about the drive, especially since Maddox doesn't sleep in the car and especially since our DVD player broke. It actually went really well, though. Maddox slept for all of 15 minutes the entire 5 1/2 hour drive but he was happy the rest of the time and we actually had a lot of fun resorting to the old school games like the alphabet game, add-on storytelling and dance parties. We stayed in Ventura and had the best time hanging out at the beach. There is nothing more relaxing than laying on the beach watching your kids building sand castles and playing in the waves. They even discovered that if you dug deep enough you could find clams and sand crabs which they thought was totally amazing (and even made up for the dolphins that we never saw, even though the Larson's swore they saw like 20 earlier in the week :).
A long day at the beach, eating at In-N-Out, hanging out at the hot tub and pool then putting the kids to bed and watching a scary movie
(which I've been having nightmares about now that Jason's gone again, and I even had a pillow over my face and my ears plugged for the majority of it).....ahhhh, what a perfect day. And it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary. It was the big 1-0 that we went on the cruise for back in March, but the 19th was our actual anniversary and it was fun spending it at the same place where we took our honeymoon.
The next day we went to this great farm where we picked and ate way too many of the most delicious strawberries ever. Store bought strawberries will never be the same after that.
The kids were in heaven and pretty much want to be farmers when they grow up now and Jason and Joe decided they wanted to start a "J&J Farms" after realizing how much you can make when people actually pay you to harvest your own food.
The tractor ride and feeding the farm animals were an added bonus to an already fun day
and then we topped it off with Wahoo's, swimming at the hotel and running around playing hide-and-seek in the hotel room (we got a loft/suite hotel room that we shared in Ontario the third night).....ahhhhh, two perfect days. The thing I like most about vacations is that I'm finally able to be just "mom". I don't have to worry about what to make for dinner, or if the house is clean, or what errands need to be run, or what activities need to be planned for my calling or if I've gotten caught up on emails and blogs or anything else that distracts me from just hanging out and playing with my kids. Oh how I love summer vacations. It really was the perfect little getaway, thanks so much Joe and Alisa for sharing your vacation with us!
We always love when Grandpa Young comes for a visit. The kids love playing with him and Jason knows that it's the only time I'll agree to go out for real Chinese food. 
Kylie has jumped on the Dim Sum bandwagon and definately puts me to shame. She even out does me when it comes to chopsticks. 
Jayden on the other hand is definately my son. After throwing fits about everything but the white rice, we finally convinced him to eat a little custard pie. After his first bite he got all excited and said, "I'm eating real Chinese food, and I like it!" 
Maddox passed the test when he couldn't get enough of his first taste of rice. 
It was funny, when we were waiting for our table Kylie kept seeing people that looked like her teacher, Mrs. Hsu (all Asians look the same, right Jay? ;) and then when we were eating she actually really did show up! 
After lunch we had fun visiting an art museum and the Asian marketplace. Maddox discovered not only his love for rice, but his love for ice-cream all in the same day. (notice how he is securely fastened in his carseat while in the stroller :)
The kids sure love their Grandpa, he is such a sweet man and we love having him visit!
Jason is traveling pretty much the whole summer to Vegas for work, and after spending my first week at home with all the kids all day long we were getting anxious for a vacation. Our friends, the Larson's were so nice to invite us to their beach house in Ventura (or maybe they got tired of Jason giving them a guilt trip for not being able to go on the cruise with us like we had planned :).
I drove by myself with the kids and met Jason in Ontario where he flew into from Vegas. I was a little nervous about the drive, especially since Maddox doesn't sleep in the car and especially since our DVD player broke. It actually went really well, though. Maddox slept for all of 15 minutes the entire 5 1/2 hour drive but he was happy the rest of the time and we actually had a lot of fun resorting to the old school games like the alphabet game, add-on storytelling and dance parties. We stayed in Ventura and had the best time hanging out at the beach. There is nothing more relaxing than laying on the beach watching your kids building sand castles and playing in the waves. They even discovered that if you dug deep enough you could find clams and sand crabs which they thought was totally amazing (and even made up for the dolphins that we never saw, even though the Larson's swore they saw like 20 earlier in the week :). 
A long day at the beach, eating at In-N-Out, hanging out at the hot tub and pool then putting the kids to bed and watching a scary movie
(which I've been having nightmares about now that Jason's gone again, and I even had a pillow over my face and my ears plugged for the majority of it).....ahhhh, what a perfect day. And it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary. It was the big 1-0 that we went on the cruise for back in March, but the 19th was our actual anniversary and it was fun spending it at the same place where we took our honeymoon.
The next day we went to this great farm where we picked and ate way too many of the most delicious strawberries ever. Store bought strawberries will never be the same after that. 
The kids were in heaven and pretty much want to be farmers when they grow up now and Jason and Joe decided they wanted to start a "J&J Farms" after realizing how much you can make when people actually pay you to harvest your own food.
The tractor ride and feeding the farm animals were an added bonus to an already fun day 
and then we topped it off with Wahoo's, swimming at the hotel and running around playing hide-and-seek in the hotel room (we got a loft/suite hotel room that we shared in Ontario the third night).....ahhhhh, two perfect days. The thing I like most about vacations is that I'm finally able to be just "mom". I don't have to worry about what to make for dinner, or if the house is clean, or what errands need to be run, or what activities need to be planned for my calling or if I've gotten caught up on emails and blogs or anything else that distracts me from just hanging out and playing with my kids. Oh how I love summer vacations. It really was the perfect little getaway, thanks so much Joe and Alisa for sharing your vacation with us!
Kylie pulled me aside and said that I should let Jayden go first so that she could "fix everything he does wrong". She sure did some pretty good damage control.
I love doing projects and I've been itching for one lately. I really want to tackle the toy room and do something fun with it, but this was enough to tide me over until then. I got the idea 
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