Huntington Beach

We spent the first day of the new year driving to Sunny California!  We were getting out of the cold and heading to Disneyland!!

As you can see the kids were packed in there like sardines with all of our luggage and food for the week.  They didn't seem to mind though and were having fun with their glow sticks from last night and the giant toothbrush Russell won at Terral's New Year party.  There was not much to see along the way except for Joshua Trees in the Nevada deserts so they seemed to make their own fun.  As we drove through Las Vegas though they were really amazed at all of the fancy buildings.  One of them asked if this was Hollywood but we told them it was not but it was a famous city.  

As we drove through Nevada and into California, we stopped for gas in Baker, CA.  While we were there, we saw this awesome store selling what they called Alien Jerky.  We had to stop.

This store was so cool. It was shaped like an Alien space tank and outside were alien statues and ships.  Inside the store was also cool.  Everything was alien.  We even got to sit by an alien for a picture.  There were so many funny things for sale.  The jerky was a little too expensive though so we didn't get any.  This was a fun stop to let the kids stretch their legs.

As we continued to drive, we passed this funny road.  I had to take a picture of it.  I have know idea what is says.  It was in the middle of nowhere though so maybe when they named it they just called it that ZYX road...  It was kind of funny.

We finally made it to Anaheim, CA.  The first thing we did was check into our hotel.  The hotel was right across the street from Disneyland so as we drove by, the kids just went crazy saying "There's Disneyland!"  But we would not be going to Disneyland today.  Instead we would be spending the day at Huntington Beach.

Emily and Colby have been to the beach before when we went to Oregon but that like 7 years ago.  Logan and Charlotte have never seen the ocean before or played on the beach.  We knew that we had to go to the ocean while we were so close to it.  This was probably the best thing we could have done.  The kids absolutely loved it.

The water was so cold but we didn't care, we were playing in the ocean!  We had a blast running up and down the banks, finding a ton of sea shells, and trying to out run the waves.  

The boys did not even care how cold the water was, they just ran right in and played.  Charlotte did that too but then realized right quick that the water was not what she expected.  She ran right out of the water and was so aware of the waves and would run out of the way before they got too close.  Unfortunately, she slipped one time while she was running and fell right in the cold water.  Luckily though we had some extra dry clothes to change into.  That made it much better and she spent the rest of the time playing in the sand rather than the water.  

While searching for sea shells, we found a bunch of sand dollars!  I have never seen a whole sand dollar before.  Usually the ones you find are broken.  These were whole and we found probably ten of them.  The kids were so excited.

We also found a big crab!  Too bad it was dead but it was still cool to see. 

Not only was the water fun to play in but the sand was so fun too.  

We made sand castles, dug a island around Charlotte and then buried every one's feet and legs.  But mostly we liked sitting on the beach and just chilling like Emily is doing in the picture below.

These are all of the shells and sand dollars we found on the beach.  The kids wanted to keep all of them but we made them decide on two Ziploc bags full as well as one sand dollar for each of us. 

We loved sticking our bare feet in the sand.  It didn't matter that it was January, when our feet hit the sand, it felt just like summer.  Being in the sunshine was wonderful as well.

There was sand everywhere on our feet, on our arms, and even on our bums!  We loved it.  I truly believe we started the year our right by sticking our feet in the sand and watching the sun set over the ocean:

It was so beautiful  We could have stayed there all day.  The bad thing was that once the sun went down, the wind picked up and it turn cold.  We did love watching the sun set on the first day of the new year.

One funny thing we discovered was that there was a warm patch of sand right by our blanket.  Whenever our feet got too cold, we would come and stick our feet in that warm sand and we would warm right up.  It felt so nice!

We absolutely loved playing on the beach and having fun despite the cold.  This was a great way to start of the new year as well as start off our vacation.  We love the beach!