{ajm}

Mimi D has come for a visit. The "purpose" for her visit is Alumni Weekend at Lipscomb. We get to host her for a few days before the events begin. This morning, she and Mallory spent a couple hours playing while I had the pleasure of errand running alone. When I got home, I got to "spy" on playtime. LOTS of books were read!

lots of giggling

Alphabet Song dance party. Who knew the ABC's were so entertaining?!?!

LOTS of puzzles worked.

And baby girl still wanted more, more puzzles, more play-in case we didn't get the spoken out loud version-she went for the sign language version. Precious!

Good Bye Warm weather and sunshine. You have truly been a panacea to my soul this week. I shall continue to remember you fondly. We get to fly home tomorrow. As our time here ends, I am reminded that some of the best things about travel are appreciating home and looking forward to being home.

This afternoon I had the opportunity to walk along the PCH and breathe in the fresh air and marvel at the beauty of this place. I am amazed the constant change of the ocean and the breeze that blows in off the water-it always takes me by surprise. I was also astonished at how close the drilling platforms are. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's very visual reminder to leave a smaller impact on the planet.

It's hard to see, but there are about 6 oil tankers lined up out there. It looks like giant cars at a filling station. I had no idea (or had forgotten) how enormous oil tankers really are. It's a little creepy. (And yes, I know I need to clean my lens)

So farwell sunny California (a bit tongue in cheek as it's been raining for the past three days.) We will see you next time.

A big part of the reason I love coming to CA is our friends. My friends, Ben's friends, Mallory's friends. Since beginning our "trips" to CA, we have enjoyed hanging with these girls + 1 at Disney for a least one day while here. If we can squeeze more in, even better. Today was our girl's day. 

I am a big disney dork (no surprise) and we got there before our friends arrived. We managed to ride most of fantasyland while anticipating their arrival.

We got to ride the newly renovated It's a Small World–very cool, sorry no pictures. And then hung out in Mickey's toontown for quite a while.

Today seemed to be character day. It began to rain after lunch and we kept finding more characters inside as we attempted to stay dry.

After riding Nemo (we only waited an astonishing 15 minutes) we called it a day. Thank you sweet friends for being so willing to hang with us at Disneyland. Maybe the next trip we will try a regular park with swings and slides and grass!! 

I'm convinced that the cure for my winter blues, blahs, and grumpiness is warmth and sunshine.

When we come to Huntington Beach for an extended period of time, Ben chooses to put us all up in a rental house. So for these few days, this is our beach house (all 5 of us). It's the first time we've stayed in this particular house and I am almost use to finding it now (alleyways tend to confuse me.) We are three blocks from the pacific but further away from downtown than the other house we've rented.

This is the view from the mostly enclosed (by greenery) front porch. I kid you not, this afternoon a hummingbird buzzed me while I sat outside.

I love this cleverly named "Palm" street. I love how the trees all lean toward the ocean. As though they can't wait to play in the water, or feel the sand under their roots, or maybe they are eternally braced for the breeze coming in from the water.

Monday evening we hung out with friends at the community indoor pool. It was very cool to watch the girls play and Mallory get reacquainted with the water. She was jumping in off the side by the time we had to leave.

 
Tuesday we hit Disneyland just me and my girl. She decided it was a great time to make friends with Winnie the Pooh and asked so sweetly if he could come home with us (like I'm going to say no to such cuteness.)

 
Today we played a bit and hung out. After nap time, while I soaked in as much sun and warmth as possible, we headed to the beach.

This is how close she wanted me to stay while the waves "splashed" us.

After "warming up" she loved playing in the sand. Wet, dry, warm or cold it's all fun for playing. Oh-and at one point she forget it was sand and started calling it dirt….sweet girl.

I love it when Ben has trips to CA and we get to go!! Mallory started this week sick. Fever three days in a row sick and I hoped we would get to make the trip. Thankfully she was feeling MUCH better Thursday and Friday I put her on the plane for the 5 hour (4 hours & 50 minutes gate to gate) trip. I think it was the longest flight of my life to date. She is totally two and I need to learn not to skimp on sleep before a similar adventure. YIKES!!

So the long flight was SO worth it when Ben and I got to take her on Peter Pan's Flight. She has talked about Captain Hook's ship NON-STOP lately. And we had a great time.


She was enchanted. A bit concerned by the dark and asked to get off at one point during the ride, but when it was over she asked, "again??"

Next up after Peter Pan: TEACUPS!! I will confess, I like the Disneyland version better than the Magic Kingdom. It's smaller and all out doors and has the coolest lanterns and themeing. Mallory wanted to ride in a purple cup and go "faster, faster, faster!"

I think she enjoyed waiting in line almost as much as the rides.

She's graduated to doing her own belt!

I'm so happy Ben caught us playing on the "car"

This picture of us with Minnie Mouse is thrilling!! Mallory spotted Minnie and wanted to go say hi and get a picture. This is HUGE as she has been running the opposite direction and crying when she spots characters.

On our way out of the park, we spotted two more characters she was excited to see:

And the character I didn't imagine we see in a million years:


Thank you Ben for a magical day with your girls. We LOVE YOU