Trip pics ~ day 3

We were up and out of the hotel early to go visit Peter's grandparents, Ralph & Betty.  It was great to see them. I think we've been to Irvine five times since Conleigh was born. They live in a great community and Ralph has been greeting walkers around the lake weekday mornings for years. He and his friends meet at "the bench," and say hello to many a'walker.
I've heard about the bench for a long time, but I've never been to 'the bench.'  This trip we went to 'the bench.'  The weather wasn't great, so sadly his friends didn't come that day, but he still greeted people he recognized and those he didn't.

We all went out to lunch, and then we spent a little time at their house. There is a playground right outside their door. Times sure have changed because we just let the kids go out there by themselves this time. No parental oversight.

Grandma had made 'the birthday cake.'  The famous Hardin birthday cake!

Conleigh blew out the candles...

Peter played with the new camera. Pretty cool shot of the hummingbird....

and Alex and Campbell wrestled.

Trip Pics ~ Day 2

Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'. 

We drove up the coast on Thursday through Oceanside where they have had a farmer's market open the past two times we have been by.  This time we left with a new poncho thing for me. I love it. And a huge jug of olive oil.  The 89 year old man selling it said he made it himself.  Not until we got back to Austin did Peter notice the package says, "made in italy."  We laughed.

Michael Jackson's star

We headed for Hollywood. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the sign. blah.  Needless to say, it is underwhelming and the kids were sticking close.  Peter said it is better than he remembers it as a child, but there are still too many bag people for comfort.

Look our singer Campbell has her own star too!!

For you, Dad!

 There was a wax museum, and Guinness World record museum and Ripley's Believe it or Not.  I convinced Peter we should do one of them, so we went into Ripley's. It was a good call. Weird stuff, but it entertained all of us.

Creepy unicorn man.

Conleigh chillin' with MJ.

 From Hollywood, we drove through Beverly Hills. No star sightings but a ton of traffic.  We landed at the Santa Monica pier.  You always see pictures of it but I loved being there and it wasn't overly crowded which was great too.

see the girls in the back car of the pier coaster? they were the only ones on the ride.

Alex chose to give a game a try for his activity. No luck.

See my new poncho?

We ate dinner in Venice beach and fell into beds at the hotel. Seriously, our lights were off by 8:30pm (which is 10:30 in TX).

Trip pics ~ Day 1

Good intentions of writing the blog this year have fallen to the way side.

We went to San Diego over spring break to see dear friends and family.

We all had a wonderful, relaxing, yet filled with fun time.

We flew on Conleigh's birthday. Southwest was cool and made an announcement on the plane about her celebrating #10. Then on the way off the plane, they let her get in the cockpit and take a pic. It is on my phone, so  I can't post it here.

birthday girl

Thankfully, we had a direct flight and arrived in SD before noon Cali time. We set off for Balboa Park. Beautiful place. Gardens, museums, parks, flowers. It was wonderful.

checking out the Koi pond at Balboa.

Beauty.  We are loving our new camera!

Silly boy.  I wish you could see how blue his eyes are in this picture.

 After that adventure, we headed to our friends Karri and Kevin's house. We were all excited to see them and their kids, our God children, Ashley & Brandon. It has been 2 years since we have seen the kids.  Basically, we dumped our bags out of the car and hit the road for birthday dinner on the beach per the birthday girls request.

What a great looking group of kids!

Guess which photographer requested this silly pose? Peter, of course.

True personalities!  Nothing beats the beach!

All five kids slept in Brandon's room. Boys on the floor, Campbell on top bunk and Ashley & Conleigh shared the full on the bottom.  You can imagine sleep time didn't begin when we said goodnight. It was a party in that room every night. :)

Goodnight!

California through Conleigh's camera lens

Happy St. Pat's Day

from the O'Hardins!