Venturing to Ventura

Look at these beautiful people!!! These are my favorite people in the WHOLE WORLD!!!

These lovely people are my family. They are the reason we traveled 17 hours in an air-condition-challenged purple bus to Ventura, CA. We could have just stayed in our little house, trapped away from the beach, sunshine, ocean and yummy food, with only each other for company, and it STILL would have been worth it. 

But, we didn't. We got out an had lots of fun!!! And here is the photographic proof:

The view from our bedroom balcony the first morning there...sigh...

We played in the surf, and played on the sand. (This is Mike probably after either his barefoot run on the beach, or his run up historic highway 101!!)

Some of us played IN the sand. Elliott got buried at lease once a day, I think. He loved it.

I don't even want to think about the places the sand got IN with these two crazy boys!!

We took turns cooking meals. I cooked spaghetti (for the italian Garino family, not my brightest moment), and Aunt Gwen's now famous green bean stir-fry. New York memories are living on in that yummy dish!! Thanks again Gwen!

On one of our many long walks on the beach, we happened upon a park at a marina that had a zip-line. Very fun.

 We didn't have to go on long walks to have fun though.  Christian and Elliott made their own fun; even dinner is more fun in a secret, bathroom cupboard built for two. And, Mike and Archie had fun playing in the sand in our own backyard.

We tried to make the sabbath special by not going in the water; just a way to show Heavenly Father that we think Sunday is special and different from the other days. Oddly enough, this turned out to be my favorite day of the whole trip. For hours, we all just played in the sand together. Normally, we would break into groups: surfers (Mike was actually really good at it), boogie-boarders (this would be Lucy and her cousin Sara), sand-players (Elliott, Christian, and Will), Archie-chasers (and...that was me); but today, we were all together, it was a priceless, Mommy moment.

 Archie, Archie, Archie...We were so worried about Archie. What would we do without child locks on the doors, and without his crib to hold him?!?! But, other than a few rogue moments on the patio, he was actually SOOO GOOD!! (Side-note: Actually, Elliott is the only one we lost once!! We were searching and panicking for a good 20 minutes, until, after a little prayer, we found him under the bunk-bed, curled against the back wall, fast asleep?!?!??) The only hitch was that there was no break from the thoughts, "where's Archie? What's Archie doing? Do you know where Archie is?" It wasn't until we pulled off the freeway on our way home, that I realized how nice it will be to just let him roam free at home. We were blessed to not figure that out until we were almost home, otherwise, we would have known how exhausting it really was!!

Aunt Juliet, Uncle Warren and I even found time to go workout at the YMCA. Juliet and I were both triaining in swimming, so it was perfect! I decided I couldn't call myself a swimmer if I missed this opportunity to swim in the ocean, so I grabbed Christa's wetsuit, put on my flippers, swimcap and goggles, and headed out with Mike as my lifeguard. I made it past the surf (I mean the deadly, life-sucking waves of salt-water), past the jetty,  and took about 10 strokes before I realized that I hate the ocean. I realized I haven't known real fear since my childhood; the kind of fear that makes me fear for my life; it was like the boogie man was going to crawl out of the foggy-brown water  in the shape of a deadly shark, and eat me while I am struggling not to inhale salt water. I was terrified, but it counts. I did it. I swam in the ocean.

It was so fun to have nature all around us. Every day we got to look out our window to see  dolphins swimming. And, here's a crab Mike found...one of many.

 I didn't get a picture, but we were able to facilitate 3 bird rescues while we were there!! We found injured pelicans and stood by them until pelican rescue got there. It was very exciting.

 And, of course, there was shopping!! Lucy and I had fun trying on $2000 shoes!!

 Mike got his yearly dose of In N Out burgers too. How much does he love his nephew Kason? Enough to share his animal-style fries with him; that's saying something.

More sand fun in our own backyard.

Our last night there, Morgan and Christa had glow sticks to play with on the beach, but that wasn't all!! It just happened to be the state fair in Ventura, so we got to watch the fireworks on the pier from our balcony, and our neighbors lit paper lanterns for us to oooo and ahhhh over too. Great finish to a perfect vacation.

The AMAZING, GENEROUS, PATIENT, LOVING, GOOFY, and did I say AMAZING,  people who made it possible, Papa and Gramma to my kids, and Mom and Dad to me.

This is the morning we left. It was the best family vacation we've had in a long time.

We couldn't let it end there though. We caravanned with the whole gang to my Grandma Frazier's house in Upland. We had a pizza picnic at the park, then walked to her house to show the kids her fun backyard and pick some fresh apples and lemons. How did I get no pictures of them at the park with Grandma!!!!

Rather than doing the drive in one day like we did on the way there, we decided to overnight in St. George this time, leaving us a morning to swim and catch up with some college friends: The Jackmans!!

Whew!! I hate that I'm not caught up on the blog!! When I write these posts 3 months later, I forget the little things. I end up just describing the photos instead of remembering the moments; BUMMER!! I'm working on it!!