Family Trip to CA

So here is the rundown on our family trip to CA. On August 1st we left at 4am and drove to my parents house. We managed to all arrive in one piece 15 hours later. The good news was that the sun was still out and our kids had time to run around before bed.

On day 2, I (Diana) took the girls up to Huntington Beach so that they could take a dance class at "The Clifton Dance Project Studio" from Keith Clifton and one of his assistants. It was great. The girls both had a really good time. (If you don't know who Keith is, he's one of the founders of the Edge in LA, awesome dancer, and his wife was a principal ballerina. It's a great studio to check out if you are in the area.) After class we met up with Chad, my parents and my brother Rich to go see "Wicked" in LA. Really, Really Fabulous Show. It's worth the money if you are able to go see it.

Day Three started with my sister Cindy and I attempting to take dance classes at the Edge. Having never done the LA thing, I wasn't prepared for class with 50+ people, no room to move, and no mirror space to see yourself or the teacher in. I can happily say that I made in through the warm up, and muddled across the floor, but after the first 3 Eight counts of choreography were taught, and I hadn't been able to see a thing, I decided to quietly slip out and watch from a side room. (where ironically enough I could see better.) After the second class we planned on taking was cancelled, Cindy and I decided to pick up whatever pride we had left and go find "sprinkles" (A cupcake store/LA HOT SPOT). After 2 hours of driving around, we finally called my brother Bob to guide us there via Cell phone. Looking for rows of palm trees isn't the best guide to go by in LA. We finally made it home around 6:30pm and decided that maybe we should take a few local classes before attempting LA again.

Day Four Chad went golfing and I stayed at home with the kids. We managed to get a little shopping done to prepare for the Lake, but then we spent more time playing games and visiting with family then we did packing for the lake. We also met Jared and Rachel, Jamie and Rich's significant others. Who knows. They both seem like cute kids. Interesting that their names match. Who'd a thunk.

Day Five we went to church and later had dinner over at the Gardner's home. My mom took some photos of our family in their backyard. I'm not going to post them all because I plan to use one of the family photos for our Christmas Card. They turned out good. It's always fun to visit with the Gardners so I'm glad that we were able to do that before we left.

Day Six it's off to the lake and goodbye to Grandma's house. After packing all morning, we managed to leave around 10am. By 4:30 we had arrived at the lake and were heading down to the beach to check things out. We stay in these great condos above the lake, but you have to climb 200 (my count) 207 (Chad's count) stairs to get to the beach from our condo. Let's just say it's a good workout. We all got checked in and my Aunt Wendy and Uncle Dave met us at the condos with some of their kids, and friends. Wendy was able to win my girls over with some old pairs of aquasocks that she wanted to get rid of, and hot chocolate in cool looking cups with lids each day that we were there. We love the Clarks.

Day Seven we went out on the boat. I went on the wakeboard, and tubes with Jake. Becca tubed for the first time by herself, and Sara tubed with Aunt Wendy and decided one time on the tube was enough. She was much happier on the boat or playing in the lake with all her aunts and uncles, and their friends. That night we BarBQued and played games.

Day Eight we were out on the lake again, but this time slightly more sore then we were on day one. Still I wakeboarded, and kneeboarded. I was still able to do 360's on the kneeboard, but not quite like my sister Cindy who pulled off 20 consecutive 360's in a row. (She needed 4 motrin to sleep at night.) Chad tried his hand at the kneeboard and wakeboard, and the kids all tubed. When we weren't on the boat, Jake was skipping/throwing rocks with Blaine, Becca and Sara played in the water with all the Big Kids, and Joe wandered around and played on the boogie board. It was a great day and ended with ice cream up at Grandma's cabin and yummy dinner before bed.

Day Nine we packed up, loaded up, had breakfast, and headed back to New Mexico. We left at 8am PST, but didn't arrive home until 3:30am MST. Needless to say it was a long trip home, but we lived and I'm happy to say that everyone would do it again in a heartbeat. We all love visiting CA. I guess that's what happens when you have a car full of beach bums.

Well, it's back to life again. School starts next week, so I am trying to get the house back in order. Hope you all are having a great summer. See ya.