Girls Trip to California

The day after our big ultrasound and reveal picture session, I packed my bags and left for a long weekend adventure with my mother, grandmother, and 2 sisters. A cousin of mine was finally getting married, and that was the event that had been on the books as the next time we would all make it back out to the west coast. Of course, it was sad to leave my boys behind....but it was also exciting to have a girls weekend in nice weather.

After several delays with our airplanes, we made it to LAX just before noon on Friday. Since we were closer to downtown at that point, we went ahead and saw Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

Arriving in Los Angeles

Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches, Range Rovers.....they're everywhere

Rodeo Drive

the Reg.....Bev....Wil

Griffin would have loved all the characters

Frank Sinatra

Michael Jackson

of course I had to put my hands on Robert Pattinson's

probably have to enlarge this pic to see the sign

That evening we met up with family after the rehearsal and dinner. Getting up at 3am our time took a toll on all of us and we were more than ready for bed.

our cousin David with his wife and 2 kids

sister of the bride, our cousin Alicia

On Saturday, we headed to Seal Beach and a nice little spot for lunch before the wedding.

it had been a while since I had walked in sand!

Rachel made a beautiful bride that evening and we enjoyed being a part of their big day.
 

I'm so glad that someone remembered toward the end of the reception that we had planned to re-create this photo from the last time we were all in California together. These pictures span 25 years! This is all of the grandchildren on my mother's side.

On our way home from the wedding, we stopped for our very first In-N-Out Burger. I wish I had a photo of the double drive thru line that took 30 minutes to get through at 12:30am!

We met for brunch Sunday morning, like we used to do on past visits. 

the newlyweds and Grandma Porter

Afterward, we headed to the coast again to see Venice Beach and Santa Monica.

Souvenir city.......and also enough second-hand pot smoke to last a lifetime

beautiful coastline

Kyle showed us some tricks at the skate park on the beach

random people laying here and there....he was breathing

the beach at the Santa Monica Pier was packed

if you couldn't tell, the weekend was all about the "selfie" or "groupie"

We found a little time before dinner in Long Beach to quickly visit the Queen Mary. I've always had a fascination with the Titanic, so I was really excited to see such a big, look-alike ship in person. Even cooler than that......allegedly, this was the same ship that my Grandpa rode back aboard after being released from prison camp during World War II. I hope we can go back again someday to go on board. 
 

also in the Port of Long Beach is this Russian submarine

We finished the evening with another family meal (minus the newlyweds) at Outback followed by some frozen yogurt. We flew out early the next morning and everyone arrived back home safely. We had a really great time. 

one last "groupie" in the parking lot of the frozen yogurt place

_______________________________________________________________

I also wanted to share on this extremely long post, a few of the photos I received from Drew while on my trip:

 

this was called "epic sword fight"

they must have lived on a strict diet of powdered donuts

 

 

the bed became a trampoline

this is exhibit B for the donut argument

this was called the "trans-kitchen railroad"

I think they had just as good of a time as I did.