Wednesday turned out to be chilly (compared to CA weather, not IA weather) and rainy. We ladies headed out to the Cabazon Outlet Mall to do a little shopping, because later in the day we had family pictures!
Our plan was to have the pictures taken outside, so we had to change things up a bit. But thankfully, Matt and Cheryl live near the University of Redlands and we were able to find some outdoor spots that were covered. I think the pictures are going to be great-- can't wait to see them! Here is Matt with Josie and Jeremiah, getting ready for pictures!
That evening we had awesome pizza (don't even get me started on the pizza crust!) at The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe. It was SO good! And I had never had cashews on a pizza before, but I liked it. Too bad I forgot my camera AGAIN! :(
Then it was time to say good-bye to Uncle Ben-- he had to head back to Chicago to get back to work.
Jeremiah said his good-bye, but he was a little unsure about it. He really liked making his truck noises at Uncle Ben!
Thursday was... um... very interesting, to say the least! Matt had to pick up some friends at the airport in Long Beach, and we decided to go along and see the beach (oh, how I LOVE the beach)! We first stopped in Seal Beach and walked down the pier. It was chilly (again, by California standards) and breezy, but there were still crazy people getting in the water!
Me and Abe-- we love the beach (the water is behind us, the sun was just too bright)!
Me and Adam. Oh, and for this day we decided to go kid-less. We FORCED Grandma and Grandpa to stay home with the babies for the afternoon(they hated every minute of it, too).
Look at that view! The water, sand, palm trees, snow covered mountains-- amazing!
After that, we headed to the airport to pick up Matt's friends, and then we decided to see some sights in Long beach (I will skip over the part about how me and Abby really wanted Jamba Juice, and there was one in Long Beach, and we even found it, and then Matt made us leave because there were only 2 people working and like 7 people waiting for smoothies). We wanted to see The Queen Mary and also visit Shoreline Village (Long Beach's version of San Diego's Seaport Village).
Well, Matt was driving and Adam was helping to navigate, and me and Abe were in the backseat. Let's just say that we took a few detours before we got to our destination.
"Hmmm. All I see is cargo and semi-trucks. Are we sure this is right?"
Finally we arrived at Shoreline Village, and (even though it was chilly) we got ice cream and smoothies (because remember? Abby and I had wanted Jamba Juice!).
Abby, me, Matt, and Queen Mary.
Then traffic on the way home was another adventure...
Adam had sigalert and googlemaps up on his phone, trying to find the bast way home with the least amount of traffic. We actually made it home in about 2 hours, which was pretty good. We made it home in time to have Panera for dinner with the rest of the fam (if you are wondering where Cheryl was during this whole ordeal, she had to work. I'm guessing that if Cheryl had been along, we wouldn't have had some of the driving "issues" we did).
Then it was time to say good-bye to Auntie Abby-- she was leaving EARLY Friday morning to head back to Chicago.
Jeremiah does not like good-byes!
"Is that Auntie Abby or mommy?"
Friday (New Year's Eve) we went to Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl parade floats as they were being decorated for judging. This was so cool! When I was in high school we went to the Rose Bowl parade a few times, and it was always amazing to watch those floats go by. So it was especially cool to see the floats up close and watch them put the last minute decorations on!
If you look to the left, those are the guys from the Big 10 network preparing for their coverage of the Rose Bowl. Seeing this was a highlight for Adam!
Jeremiah was so excited to see the floats! Or maybe he was just excited to taste his first funnel cake.
Us in front of the Trader Joe's float!
So amazing to see up close!
As we were walking back to our cars, we were stopped by security. And then we watched as a police escort and 4 big buses pulled up in front of the Rose Bowl and both the TCU and Wisconsin teams unloaded and went inside-- so cool!
That evening we decided to grill steaks for our New Year's Eve meal-- they were delicious! But they usually are, when Adam is the grillmaster...
These 2 got into a little trouble...
Jeremiah had bedtime stories with Grandma one more time...
and then it was time to say good-bye since Grandma and Grandpa were heading back to Wisconsin on New Years Day, and we were heading back to Iowa.
All of us adults played some Wii and TRIED to stay awake until midnight. However, I think that we were all in bed by 10:30 (hey, we rang in the New Year on Iowa time, okay?).
Then Saturday we hung out and watched the Rose Bowl Parade, and then it was time to get to the airport. :( We did stop for one last meal at In 'n' Out, though!
Me and Adam with the "twins." While we were eating, 2 separate ladies came by and asked if Jeremiah and Josie were twins!
And then we went to the airport. The End. Such a great trip!!!
Oh, you are so lucky that you got one more meal at In-N-Out! I had to settle for a breakfast croissant sandwich at one of the airport food spots for my last CA meal. (Actually it was pretty good, but not as good as a burger!) Glad you did get a picture at In-N-Out this time. The picture of the view with the snow-covered mountains is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteDid we got to Cabazon Outlets when we were in Cali? Can we please do Cali again some spring break (if they EVER line up)? I love the Jamba Juice story and the driving. Sounds like a great adventure with your family!!
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