Day 6 - part 1 - Seal Beach

Day 5 was spent driving back from Northern to Southern California.  We arrived Friday evening and decided to stay in a hotel near the beach.  We found one just off of Seal Beach and not far from Adventure City which was the final park we would visit this trip.  We checked in and the kids and I got ready to swim while John went out and got us some dinner.  When he returned, we ate and then went down to the pool for a short swim before bed.

There wasn't room for us to stay in this hotel for our final night, so we checked out of the hotel and walked down to the beach.  It was Annalise's first time to the ocean and Bryce has only been once when he was just a few months old. 

We first walked along the pier for a bit and watched the people fishing.  We stopped briefly for this picture, but Bryce was too interested in everything going on around him to actually look at the camera.  

Jacob and William went right into the water.

Bryce loved the ocean from the very first moment!  I LOVE these two pictures!

Spencer

William...not liking the taste of salt water,

but getting plenty of it!

Bryce and Jacob taking a little break on the beach.

Do these two look alike or what?!

Annalise didn't want anything to do with the water at first, but she sure enjoyed the sand.

My sweet princess throwing sand at me.

And thinking that was one of the funniest things ever!

Jacob and William teaching Annalise how to bury herself in the sand while Bryce watched everything going on around him while relaxing in the shade.  Getting that chair and Anna's stroller on and off the beach was no easy task!

This girl has many funny facial expressions...just like her big brother, Spencer always has.

Once she saw the boys enjoying the water, she decided to brave it with her dad.

She decided it wasn't so bad after all.  I wish you could hear her giggle through this picture.  It is one of my favorite sounds.  I love watching children discover things for the first time, especially when they are my children.

Jacob trying out a boogie board that a nice lady that we met on the beach loaned him.  

Building sand castles with Dad.

Knocking them down was the best part of all!

Annalise and I spent some time in the water and then she decided to join Bryce in the sand.

Spencer was a little nervous about going out in the big waves on his own (which I was very happy about!), so John took him out on his back to catch a few waves.  

Spencer was the only one who decided he actually liked the taste of the salt water.

They were all freezing after washing off in the showers.  The ocean water was fine, but that shower water was cold!

Seal beach was definitely a high light of the trip.  We would like to go back to California sometime just to spend a few days at the beach.  After leaving the beach we stopped at a little local restaurant for lunch, then headed over to Adventure City.

Day 4 Boomers--Modesto

Since boomers was another place we could go and it was right in Modesto, we decided to spend a bit of time there.  My parents and sister offered to watch Bryce and Annalise since this place really would not have been any fun for them.  We took Kim's girls and our 3 oldest boys and headed out.  When we got there at 10:15, we realized it didn't even open until 11.  Major bummer since we knew the day was going to be a hot one and we were hoping to stay for just a few hours before it got too hot.  Since we couldn't get in, we went over to the McDonald's that was across the street and let the kids play while John and I read until Boomers opened.  Unfortunately, children do get too old to enjoy McDonald's!  After about 2 minutes, they were all bored and wanted to leave.  Luckily they were good sports and just ate their ice-cream cones and played the video games there until it was time to go.

 With the pass that we had, we were able to get 7 people in for free.  Since Bryce and Annalise were not with us, we were able to get Lauren and Madi in for free.  It included all but food, batting cages, and video games for the day.  The go-carts were definitely a favorite!

The bumper boats were a nice way to cool off. 

Poor Madi started out with a bummer boat that would only go in circles.  They were able to get her boat pulled in and then she went with Uncle John.  The ride was much better after that. 

The lunch deals came with some tokens to play the games.  Here are Lauren and Madi turning their tickets into points so that they could get their prizes. 

We tried a bit of miniature golf which was fun, but just too hot.  I think we made it through about 4 holes and then skipped to the end and went back inside for a bit. 

 Lauren climbing the rock wall which was another favorite thing to do.  

Jacob 

I thought that I had gotten pictures of the other kids on the wall also, but I don't seem to have them.  They all did really well.  William made it to the top and was able to ring the bell.  He was very excited! 

William and John were the brave ones who tried the Flame Thrower which is a thrill ride.  It lifted them up and twisted them upside down and all around.  It looked terrible, but they enjoyed it, although once was enough! 

All ready to go!

Ha, I just noticed that you can see the McDonald sign behind them. =) 

 Then of course we had to end the day with one more ride around the track.  These kids were all really good drivers!

 Jacob and William

Spencer 

Lauren 

John had a good drive also! 

After Boomers we went back to my parent's house and had dinner and visited until it was time to go to bed.  The next day we packed up and headed back to Southern California.  The visit was wonderful, but as always, way too short!  I was hoping to visit with some friends while we were there also, but there just wasn't time this trip.  It is always so nice to visit, and so hard to leave!