Spur of the Moment Trip!

With the minor hiccups with James's new job, we've been hesitant to go anywhere, because we never knew when Seaboard might call and need James to sign something. We didn't want to be out of town and have that put the whole situation on hold for as long as it took him to get back into town to sign something. But Thursday morning, we got the phone call that everything was set and they'd see him Tuesday morning to start and he'd sign everything else then.

We'd talked about going to the Long Beach Aquarium and the like, but 3 hours in the car with the girls didn't appeal to either of us once we started thinking about it. So, instead, we took advantage of our CALM family membership which gets us 50% off tickets to the LA Zoo. It was fun. A little warm and a lot of up-hill walking (why are all zoos built on a hill? at least, the three I've been to are...). But we got to see gorillas, sea lions, kangaroos, lions, monkey's... Cadence's favorite was probably the tiger because it was roaring and playing with a big ball, which she found hilarious. Her favorite place, though, was the little playground at the top of the hill. Yes, we drove 2 hours to the zoo and her favorite thing was the slide... Well, that and the little sprinkler/mister apparatus they had there for people to cool off. She did a little dance while in the water and got nice and damp.After our visit to the zoo (which ended sooner than expected since the petting zoo had closed before we got there due to the "heat"- It was only 90, silly people), we drove about an hour towards the coast to a little hotel in Camarillo. Dinner at Denny's and then playing around in the hotel room for awhile. Cadence was thrilled that she got a whole queen-sized bed to herself. I was really pleased with how well both girls slept. Cadence went to bed in the new place with barely an issue. Megan took a little more coaxing and woke up more often than usual, but she still slept fairly soundly. Even with a few freeway noises.

Friday morning, we rubbed the girls down with some SPF 50 and loaded up the car, checked out, and drove 20 minutes westward until we hit the Ventura Pier. Unfortunately, we got there fairly early and it was cloudy and breezy. So the girls played at the playground and in the sane for awhile, before we loaded them back in the car and drove further up the coast. We ended up at Carpenteria, which is just south of Santa Barbara.

At this point had had warmed up a fair bit, at least enough for James to let Cadence go get her feet wet in the waves. Unfortunately, once she got her feet wet, she loved the ocean. She would run right into the waves if James let her. After a few moments, it became clear it was still too cold to get wet. Not that Cadence cared. So we had to carry her screaming to the showers to clean off the sand and then quickly change her into dry clothes and turn on the heater in the car, since fingers and lips were turning blue. Even then she was pissed we'd taken her away.
On our way home, we back tracked a bit to Valencia where we had a tasty lunch at Soup Plantation. Megan filled up on cold peas, corn, mac and cheese, and cheese bread. Cadence gobbled up mac and cheese, greek pasta, pizza bread, clam chowder, olives, and bites of everything else James and I ate. And James and I just pigged out, as one tends to do when you have unlimited soup, salad, and pasta. We topped off the meal with ice cream (well, frozen yogurt). Cadence made a mess with an ice cream cone and Megan demanded frequent bites of mine.

We were glad to get home, though. The girls would have probably thrown a fit if we tried to put them in the car again yesterday. So we all just lounged about all afternoon/evening. It was a great trip. Next summer, James and I intend to drag the girls all the way to Long Beach for an aquarium, beach, and other fun exhibits for an extended weekend. Heck, for all we know, we only have 2-3 more summers to do these California vacations. Three summers from now we may be planning vacations from Texas. So best to take advantage of our close proximity to the California attractions while it's convenient! (Though, Disneyland will have to wait...)