California 2017 - The Rest of Our Adventures

We didn't spend the entire time at the beach, I promise.  Here are a few of my favorite non-beach photos from our trip...

Airports & plane rides, selfies & bike rides, smoothies & tree hangs, hiking & zoo time, breweries & delish food, sunsets & flying home...

We love California so much.  It holds a special place in our hearts, especially since we lived there for a short time.  We try to go back as often as possible to get our Cali fix, so we aren't tempted to move back... ;)

And our next fix is coming soon!

Dear April, please come faster...

California, we're ready for you!*

California 2017 - The Beaches!

Well, hello!  It's been a while...

I tend to let this little blog of mine get pushed to the side these days because life with a toddler is CRAZY.  But I do love this little blog of mine, mainly because I personally love looking back at it.  Which is what always motivates me to come back... I want to be able to look back on all our amazing adventures and cherish them.  I've been blogging here since 2009!  Can you believe it?  I've been documenting our life (on and off) for almost 10 years on this little blog, so why stop now!

Anyway, it's tough keeping up with a blog when you have a toddler running around, but I want to make a point to at least document some of our big adventures.  Like our trip to California in September 2017.  We stayed in San Clemente for a week and had the best time!  We are heading back to our beloved Cali in April of this year, so what better time to recap our fun times from last year!

So, without further ado, here are some of my most favorite snapshots from our trip - first up, the beaches!

Elijah LOVES the beach!  And it's a good thing because we do too.
Up next, the sunsets!

Mom & Dad Visit Southern California!

Well, we dropped my parents off at the airport on Sunday morning.  Womp womp.  We had the BEST time with them visiting this past week.  Our time together flew by way too fast and I miss them already.  We had such a good time showing them around California and definitely did a ton of FUN stuff!

While my parents were here, we...

 Walked along the beach at Crystal Cove in Laguna

Checked out Downtown Disney & the awesome Lego store

 Took the walk with Hanson =)

Went to the Hanson concert at House of Blues Anaheim!
(Dad & Brett did not partake in this part...haha)

Checked out the Griffith Observatory and awesome views

 Saw the Hollywood sign

Introduced Mom & Dad to the amazing In-N-Out

Walked down Hollywood Blvd
(My Mom's nickname is "Fred" haha)

And my Dad got interviewed for Jimmy Kimmel Live!
(and he was ON that night!)

Took another walk with Hanson on Sunset Blvd =)

Made some delicious homemade pizza

Went biking along the beach

Took them to the Top of the World!

Went to Downtown Disney again for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

Explored Tablerock Beach

And walked along Thousand Steps Beach

Found the Elephant Parade at Dana Point

Witnessed a beautiful San Clemente sunset

And hung out on the pier before dinner at Fisherman's Wharf for their last night

We had such an amazing time together.  Seeing my parents made us miss home even more.  We can't wait until we can get back to Pittsburgh and see everyone!  What a wonderful week we had together.

Counting down the days until we can see them again!