California

Click for LOTS more pics :)

California has been our longest stay in a state so far and we had a great time! Glad to be out of the traffic nightmare but still had a blast! The first half of our stay was in the Los Angeles area. We had a great RV park in Santa Clarita that was literally a stones throw from Six Flags Magic Mountain. We took advantage of this and made great use of our Six Flags season passes while we were in the area. The kids we elated to visit this Six Flags...it has different rides than the ones in Texas and they literally closed down the park 2 different nights! We also spent time at Universal Studios learning the art of TV and movie making. Our kids have been to a lot of theme parks in their lives but never Universal Studios. They loved it...for a place that actually only has 7 rides, they opened and closed the park twice and were still up for more! Brian was chosen to be a part of the Animal Actors Stage Show and had a blast being on stage, being the brunt of a few jokes and the best part...hanging out with actual celebrity dogs!!!

After 6 days in Los Angeles, we headed to San Diego. This is where Craig had to leave us for 2 weeks for a work trip and we got to meet up with my sister, brother in law and three nieces for the duration of Craig's absence. We had so much fun in San Diego...the RV park we stayed in was literally on the beach (we could see the sand from or RV!) and a complete kid paradise. Before Craig had to leave, we went to the coolest pumpkin exhibit I have ever seen in my 36 years of life...Rise of the Pumpkins. Over 5000 carved pumpkins arranged to create "things". Seriously, I cannot do this justice with words, you need to see the pictures to get how neat this was! Kerry, Jeremy and the girls arrived the next day and we had the best time with them. The fun began with Kerry throwing Luke a surprise "Monumental Presidents" party for his belated Birthday in her hotel room. My little guy was so excited and loved every second of it! Taking her girls to the beach at sunset was the highlight of the day as all 6 kids felt the need to hit the ocean fully dressed and full of giggles. The next day we took all 6 kids to the San Diego Zoo for a fun filled day learning about animals. My guys had never been here so this was a fun adventure for everyone. Our last day in San Diego was spent at the beach with the whole crew before we headed to Vegas with my sister and her family to spend time with them while we wait on Craig. I can't think of a better place to wait for Daddy than with my sister, brother in law and 3 precious nieces! I am extra blessed as my brother in law is a firefighter and I conned him into driving the RV to Vegas for me so I didn't have to! I figured if you drive firetrucks, surely you can drive an RV!!! Yay for Jeremy being an awesome brother in law and doing this for me!!!