Home again, Home again

Finally we are home again from our fantastic vacation to California!!! We had a great time! To sum it up we visited lots of family and drove a lot, good thing we had unlimited miles in our rental car. Shyler was so good and Tim gives her a gold star for the trip. We took her from place to place and most of her naps were taken in the car, not normally a good idea for her. Her are some pictures and more details of the trip...


Stop one... Amanda's brother Matt and his family in Lompoc, CA, Vandenburg Air Force Base, Pismo Beach, and Solvang

She loved the swings!! She insisted on trying out all 4!

Walking on the pier in Pismo Beach, we even got to see dolphins, and try some world famous santa maria style barbecue

We stopped at The La Purisima de Consepcion Mission just outside of Lompoc

The beach on base was COLD!!!

Amanda's brother Matt and his son Conner, showing us around the base

Shyler and her cousin Jordan swinging at a park, they had so much fun playing together!

The 3 little cousins

Stop 2... Amanda's sister Debbie and family, Reagan Presidential Library- Simi Valley, CA, Amanda's home town of Moorpark, Burbank, CA and the Griffith Observatory, and Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena

A section of the Berlin wall at the Reagan Library

The Air Force President Reagan flew on

Shyler's thoughts on the Moorpark tour... and also the start of her fever

We stopped by all of Amanda's old houses and schools and this was her Grandma Allie's house. Looks the same as she remembered, some of the others had been remodeled

Shyler at dinner. She sat there with her hands at her side and we had to feed her, she didn't feel good

When we got back to the hotel she went straight for our bed and curled up

The BEST sandwiches!!! A little hole in the wall Amanda's mom used to go to. Tim got a meatball sub and Amanda got a hot pastrami, the part that makes it so good is the chopped up pickles, tomatoes, and onions you can get scooped on top. Not a relish, just little chunks of each!

We stopped at the Griffith Observatory and got a good view of the city and learned a little about space and such. The most recent movie filmed here was, Yes Man with Jim Carrey.

Amanda and the Hollywood sign in the background

Shyler giving a speech... not really but she loved the little podium placard in front of the statue out front of samous astonomers throughout time

We went to this cool garden and library with Amanda's Sister Debbie and son Shane

One of Amanda's favorites, the rose garden with this statue thing devoted to love, or something like that

Tim ws excited to see some of the cool books they had on display like an original Guttenburg Bible (One of the people who invented the printing press) But another reason was to see the Corpse Flower. It was supposed to bloom and smell like dead flesh and attract flies. Well we missed the bloom by one day, too bad! Maybe in another 7 years, because that is how often it blooms.

Stop 3... Amanda's sort of adopted brother and his family in Carlsbad, CA

Shyler at the beach. Not a fan of the water, even when it's warmer out

We picked our own fresh strawberries

Stop 4... Amanda's friend Kat, The San Diego Temple, The San Diego Zoo

So breath taking, this temple is so pretty. We didn't get to go inside, but we had fun walking around the grounds with Shyler. It is a huge attraction to people because it is right on a major freeway driving into San Diego. We are pretty much standing at the end of the grounds with the freeway to our backs taking this picture.

So many pretty flowers on the temple grounds and all over CA

Our last night... Shyler got lucky and we were able to borrow a pack and play at every stop except the last one. So Shyler, Amanda and Oliver the cat shared the air mattress while Tim slept on the couch. This is how she woke up with her legs hanging over the edge!

Shyler seemed to like the elephants the best at the zoo. They also just opened a cool new area for the elephants that is ginormous!!

We thought it would be fun to turn our little one into a giraffe!

The famous Panda Bears, asleep of course!

We loved our cool rental car. We totally got hooked up and upgraded!! We were going for the cheaper level, but we couldn't pass up the brand new suv with only 142 miles on it!!! Plus it ended up being a great place to let shyler roam when we had to stop and to change her diaper! It's not so new anymore, we put 800 miles on it!!!!

We had so much fun and are so thankful to everyone who we saw and who took us in and took us out!!! We were able to have a fun, exciting, and affordable vacation!!!