Last day of Vacay

I don't know why - but I wanted to go to muscle beach.  Which is located on Venice beach.  I wanted to see some muscles!  I was quite disappointed.  Trust me - if there would've been muscles, I'd be posting pictures.  No one was working out!  BUT - I'm still glad that we went.  Venice beach was interesting.  Walking around Caleb was looking at all the boardwalk merchandise and said, "Mom, I think that this is a very inappropriate place."  He was right on the money.  I found a Zoltar machine - SCORE!  I loved watching BIG with Tom Hanks when I was younger.

It was a pretty warm day!  Mona got the kids an ice cream cone while we were cruising the Venice Beach boulevard.  There wasn't many other children walking around.  I made sure they had one of our hands pretty much the entire time.  I loved the man selling fresh fruit in his little cart.   He was probably making some good money!  We actually found a pretty decent restaurant and sat and ate and people watched.  There was a homeless man right outside of the restaurant playing a grand piano.  He was really good!  Caleb also witnessed someone digging through the trash and eating what they could find.  It sure makes one think about the things we can easily take for granted.

I love the palm trees!  And we even saw beach bums....and I'm not talking about the homeless people this time.

We got our feel for crazy town and needed to spend some time in the ocean before we left.  We wanted to head back to Huntington beach because it was perfection - but traffic was HORRIBLE!  We ended up pulling off the freeway and checking out Seal Beach.

 The kids couldn't get in the water much here.  The waves were WAY over their head and the undertow was pretty strong.  They still had a fabulous time searching for seashells.  Rylee was holding onto the shells and putting them into a sandwich bag, which was getting quite full.  At one point a big wave came and smacked it right out of her hand.  All of the kids LOST their minds for a bit.  By some stroke of luck Casey managed to find the bag of shells!  I couldn't freaking believe it.  The kids were so happy!

 It was a beautiful evening and watching the sunset was bitter sweet.

 The next morning we packed up the van and cleaned up our town home.  I had each of the kids take a picture by their favorite piece of artwork with their souvenirs.  Caleb, of course, picked Donald Duck and Taylor loved the one with the castle.  I was surprised when Rylee picked Donald and she said to me, "Do you want to know why I picked Donald Duck?"  I Said, "Yes, please tell me."  She said, "Because I don't want Caleb to ever forget him."  Ahhhhhhhh......right?!?!?

 I loved this vacation.  I love that we were blessed with safety.  I love the memories that I made watching through my kids the magic of Disneyland and the wonders of the ocean.  I love that they got to experience such fun things with us and with Grandma Mona.  Just a few more years until we return and bring Luke and Lexi with!  Hopefully Grammy can come for that trip too.

Speaking of Luke & Lex....they got to spend a whole week with Grammy and Papa Don.  I think that have found their 'spot' at their house.  I am grateful that they were in such good hands and that my parents were willing to watch them for us.