What could be better than enjoying your family at the beach and not having a care in the world. That is what we were able to to experience a couple of weeks ago. Ryan had fall break, and so we decided to go and visit Ryan's cousins in Huntington Beach. This is one of our favorite places to be, and it is so relaxing for Ryan so it was a good thing to do on his break.
We flew down early in the morning and Jackson was so excited to fly in the airplane, and to chew his gum, we got him some gum to chew so his ears would pop. He thought that was pretty great.
They were both so wonderful on the plane, thanks to Jet Blue and their DirecTV because that saved the day. Once we landed we felt the warm So Cal air and we were in heaven. We called to have our rental car company come pick us up, and it was this man in a unmarked van, who spoke very little English. We were a little nervous we got into the car and he drove us about 10 minutes away to this little hole in the wall place. We finally got our car which had a cigarette burn on the driver's seat, there was funky smell which we never were able to identify. The man told us that they wouldn't be open when we wanted to return the car and so we would have to drive the car there park it on the side street and throw the keys under the door and have a taxi take us to the airport. What the ??!!!!! (Thanks to Steve who spared us from the taxi drive and woke up early and drove us) We were sure that we were going to get pulled over by the cops and come to find out the car is stolen. It got us around and I shouldn't complain, but come on. That's what happens when you try to save some money. The day we got there we of course got lost in Long Beach, finally Ryan's inner OnStar kicked in and we found our way to HB. We visited with family a bit, and then it was back to LB to the Aquarium. We took Jackson to the aquarium a while back and we remember it being super fun. We walked in and Jackson found fish and went crazy, he loved it. In my opinion this is better than Sea World and cheaper. There's just no Shamu. Oh well.
Jackson saw sharks, Nemo and Dory fish, he got to feed some birds, touch sting rays and ran every where.
Miley loved it too, we would stand her up against the glass and she would just laugh and giggle. Good times. We went back to HB and Ryan and the kids went to the beach with Steve and collected sea shells, I took a nap. Oh it truly was a vacation. Guilt free nap. That night some more cousins came over. Jason, Chrsity & Stella, Jeff & Stephanie, & Jen. We had so much fun. Dara made this amazing pasta and salad we ate and talked forever. Jason and Christy's little Stella is only a week older than Miley.
It was so much fun to see them play and try to walk so cute. We went to bed that night anticipating Disneyland. Stay tuned to the next post of the exciting saga of our vacation.
We flew down early in the morning and Jackson was so excited to fly in the airplane, and to chew his gum, we got him some gum to chew so his ears would pop. He thought that was pretty great. 
They were both so wonderful on the plane, thanks to Jet Blue and their DirecTV because that saved the day. Once we landed we felt the warm So Cal air and we were in heaven. We called to have our rental car company come pick us up, and it was this man in a unmarked van, who spoke very little English. We were a little nervous we got into the car and he drove us about 10 minutes away to this little hole in the wall place. We finally got our car which had a cigarette burn on the driver's seat, there was funky smell which we never were able to identify. The man told us that they wouldn't be open when we wanted to return the car and so we would have to drive the car there park it on the side street and throw the keys under the door and have a taxi take us to the airport. What the ??!!!!! (Thanks to Steve who spared us from the taxi drive and woke up early and drove us) We were sure that we were going to get pulled over by the cops and come to find out the car is stolen. It got us around and I shouldn't complain, but come on. That's what happens when you try to save some money. The day we got there we of course got lost in Long Beach, finally Ryan's inner OnStar kicked in and we found our way to HB. We visited with family a bit, and then it was back to LB to the Aquarium. We took Jackson to the aquarium a while back and we remember it being super fun. We walked in and Jackson found fish and went crazy, he loved it. In my opinion this is better than Sea World and cheaper. There's just no Shamu. Oh well. 
Jackson saw sharks, Nemo and Dory fish, he got to feed some birds, touch sting rays and ran every where.
Miley loved it too, we would stand her up against the glass and she would just laugh and giggle. Good times. We went back to HB and Ryan and the kids went to the beach with Steve and collected sea shells, I took a nap. Oh it truly was a vacation. Guilt free nap. That night some more cousins came over. Jason, Chrsity & Stella, Jeff & Stephanie, & Jen. We had so much fun. Dara made this amazing pasta and salad we ate and talked forever. Jason and Christy's little Stella is only a week older than Miley. 
It was so much fun to see them play and try to walk so cute. We went to bed that night anticipating Disneyland. Stay tuned to the next post of the exciting saga of our vacation.
