Day 4, Cali: So Hollywood!

We woke up bright & early on day 4(as usual) ready for another fun-filled day! We reserved a hotel in Anaheim that night(so we could wake up & head to Disneyland Wed) so we figured we would sight see that direction & land at the hotel.

Here's a shot of the boys ready to go sporting their patriotic tanks Diane bought them. So sweet of her!  

I had mentioned to Jon that I wanted to see LA area if we had time. He's been to LA so it was no biggie to him but ofcourse, he made the {{exhaustingly long with crazy amounts of traffic}} trip to show me! I will always be thankful! He hates traffic & California is not short on stupid drivers. :-P

Our first stop once in LA was an impromptu hike up to see The HOLLYWOOD sign! We had planned on driving around to get the best photo we could when we stumbled upon a state park with a hiking trail! I packed one sundress and ofcourse, I picked that day to wear it with sandals! Haha. I managed fine and it was totally worth the stop!

Hello HOLLYWOOD!! {Thumbs Up}

{{Look close...the sign is WAY in the background!}}

{{Jude hiking with daddy ♥ }}

It's so wild that we were in the middle of a crazy busy {smoggy} city & then after driving 2 miles-ish up a hill & hiking up maybe a quarter mile on a trail we find this view of the "Hollywood Hills"

{{Snagging a kiss from my love bug, Joel! ♥♥♥}}

J&J had a blast getting absolutely filthy! They are true boys! Give them rocks, dirt & a hill and they are in Heaven! ♥

After finishing up our hiking "adventure," we drove into Beverly Hills to see RODEO Drive & look for stars! :) I must have been looking so hard I forgot to snap some shots with my iPhone. I'll upload pics I took with my Rebel later. As hard as I looked, I was unsuccessful in a star sighting. Next time... ;-)

We made a pit stop at Starbucks {Beverly Hills} to change clothes, diapers and to treat ourselves after several hours in the car! The boys chose cake pops & Jon and I got our usual Mocha Fraps!

Joel had inhaled his cake pop by the time I got my camera out, haha. I couldn't believe it so I had him show me. Yep, sure enough! The boy can eat some cake!!

Back on the road...

We checked into our hotel in Anaheim around 6:00, dropped off our bags & headed to Downtown Disney! The boys were exhausted so we just had dinner & walked around for a quick bit.

Both the boys were passed out before we got to the hotel! 🎉 We were praying for a good night's sleep for all...which we got! J&J slept 12 hours!!! Thank you, Jesus!

Day 2 & 3, California: USS Midway, Seaport Village & Coronado Island

Hard to believe we're finishing up day 3 of vacation already! We definitely haven't wasted any time!

Yesterday we woke up and had breakfast on the Robetcky's patio while we watched hot air balloons fly over! Ofcourse, the thought to take a pic of the hot air balloons came to me after they were out of site....but I did get a pic of breakfast, lol. I'll try to remember to snap a pic of the balloons before we leave. I'm sure we'll see more!

Diane had Cheerios w/blueberries for J&J and Jon & I ate bagels w/cream cheese. Mmmm! 

After breakfast, the boys were thrilled to color with Diane while I got ready for the day! Can I please take this lady back to Texas with me?! ;-)

Once we were all dressed for the day, we headed to San Diego to meet up with Bob & Darlene. 

First on the itinerary was a quick picnic lunch in Seaport Village. Nice weather, fabulous view, people watching, good company & yummy food....perfection! 

Next Stop: USS Midway!

That boat is Ha-UGE!! Jon opted to listen to the audio tour. I just followed his lead and helped herd Jude and Joel. 

Jude has a fairly substantial crush on "Darweenie" so he stayed somewhat attached to her. Sorry, Bob!

Jude & Joel's favorite part of the ship were all of the different types of aircraft they could get inside of! 

Jude: "Get inside mommy! I'm about to blast off to Neverland!"

They had so much fun pretending! It was super cute to watch! ♥ ♥

My favorite part was the flight deck. The inside of the ship was neat but HOT! I was happy to feel the breeze once up top & the boys had plenty to see & play on, too! 

Time to board the Ferry & head over to Coronado Island! 

The boys waved to EVERYONE they could on the way to the island. They LOVED finally being on a moving boat!

We had originally planned on swinging by the car to pick up swimsuits for the boys before we left San Diego but...didn't happen. We just decided we'd make do & pick up a couple sand buckets at one of the Coronado Island gift shop. The boys didn't mind...

We grabbed some BBQ for dinner while on the island then headed back to jump on the Ferry. We walked back to Seaport Village to grab a quick souvenir t-shirt for J&J! 

TODAY we woke up early so we could be at The San Diego Zoo when it opened. Great idea!! The boys are always in their best moods in the morning! 

We knocked out the Pandas first b/c we had been told that was THE exhibit to make sure we see & that it gets crowded FAST!   

Once we had checked the Pandas off our list, we took everything else in as it fell on our walk around. The zoo was AMAZING!! I didn't remember it being so huge!! The Fort Worth Zoo is pretty incredible so I wasn't expecting to be blown away...but I really was! The landscaping was gorgeous & all the different animals were neat to see. 

The boys loved the sky tram that went over the zoo. I love watching the boy's faces as they see each new cool thing! ♥♥♥ After 5 hours, the boys had reached the end of their energy level so we hopped on a double decker tour bus to see some animals we missed before leaving. 

We barely made it out of the parking lot before J&J crashes out HARD!

Sweet babies! ♥♥♥

They got their nap in while we drove to La Jolla & ate to-go lunch from Smashburger. When they woke up, we headed to the beach! We visited the La Jolla Cove & "Children's Pool" 

The boys tuned into Toy Story while we made the drive back to Temecula! 

We made one last stop to pick up a couple umbrella strollers for Disneyland before calling it a night back at the Robetcky's. 3 very full days in Cali!! 

Sweet Dreams,

Brooke

Hello Cali!

How excited can 2 little boys be?! I think I found out yesterday! I don't want to forget a moment right now...I want to write down every funny & cute thing Jude & Joel do or say! They are both SO full of life!

It was probably a mistake telling Jude that we would be leaving for California and would be meeting Mickey Mouse the night BEFORE we left! (Happy pic above Taken after we explained to the boys) He was in our room at 4:15am yesterday morning ready to wake up! Haha. We did leave the house at 6:30 headed for Lovefield airport! The boys were so excited to fly! I couldn't peel their faces from the window at the terminal...

"Is that our plane, mommy?!"

We had a stop in El Paso which I had kind of been dreading but ended up working out perfect! The break up worked for keeping the boys excited & moving. 

We lucked out w/the second leg of the flight from El Paso to San Diego & both boys slept 98% of the two hours!

Once we landed & got our rental car (note: we had an awesome guy that hooked us up with an SUV for no extra $) we headed straight to lunch. It was only 12:45 in San Diego but it was almost 3:00 in Fort Worth. 

We had several recommendations to try Point Loma Seafoods...perfect!! The boys loved the boats & view!! 

We ordered an Atlantic cod sandwich, a Philadelphia Sushi Roll, a cup of Clam Chowder & an order of fries. How's that for variety?! All delicious!!

We had gobbled everything up except the chowder when I thought to snap a pic. Oops! Did I mention we were starving? LOL. 

With happy bellies, we headed to Temecula to Darlene's parent's house. We got there around 5:00 & were greeted with smiles by Diane, Dar's mom. Let me say, I'm not sure I've met a sweeter lady! She showed us around the house, made us feel completely & immediately welcome! She had a new plastic pool w/toys waiting for J&J "so they will have some fun stuff to enjoy" & she had patriotic shirts for all 4 of us laid out on our beds. 

The boys put on their swimsuits & headed out to the back patio, which I might add has a GORGEOUS view, to swim a bit. Jon watched the boys while I visited with Diane over some Pinot Grigio.  She made a yummy Costco pizza for us and some chicken nuggets for the boys. We got the boys dried off and in PJ's & grubbed together! 

Here's a shot of the sunset off the back porch. Beautiful!!

The boys were hyper tired so we snuggled them on the couch to watch some Veggie Tales for a bit & then put them to bed around 9:00, which is 11:00pm Fort Worth time! Yep, definitely in vacation mode! Jon & I visited with Diane for another hour or so then headed to bed ourselves!