Santa Monica Pier

Fei pet a shark.

Jia pet a shark.

Luk pet a shark.

I pet a shark.

I'm ocd enough that this tiny coloring station made me happy.

Jellies!

Baby Jellies!! The size of pencil tips.

We woke to a gorgeous sunrise then an easy three hour drive.  Then we had a great day at the Santa Monica Pier.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  Lots of good people watching. The kids all got along and had some fun together. The girls took Luk with them to ride the ferris wheel :)  We had lunch at Bubba Gumps.  One of Eric's favorites.  He bought a bunch of his favorite hot sauce to bring home.   We ended our time there at the aquarium under the pier.  A small but fun little experience.  I'm always facinated with how much the kids love a museum.  

There were some cool experiences there.  We got to pet sharks!!  Luk did it too.  Usually he holds back but not today. There were shark pups there too.  Also baby jelly fish.  So tiny you have to get your eye on the glass to see them but then you realize the tiny dots are actually swimming.  They are incredibly cute.  There were fish in tanks that were all quite interested in us.  Wild.  I had fun bonding with one of them.  He was following me, turning his head like I was and swimming to hold his position and holding eye contact.  The girls think I'm nuts but I think we were connecting.  Haha.  Fun times.  

We're checked into our hotel.  The girls and I hung outside by the pool and enjoyed the sun.  Eric napped.  The boys watched tv.  We had lots of grandiose dinner ideas but I was feeling chilled and Eric is tired so we ubered in Panda Express.  It's another early night.  

Headed to the cruise tomorrow!  

I couldn't load the pictures.  They all went on the page sideways. ?  Then wouldn't load.  The wifi keeps stopping here and the data is 5G without wifi so it's pretty crappy.  

It was nice in L.A. for our one night before the cruise.

Lili sent me this picture, she ate a piece of fork and was worried.  I assured her it would likely just pass.  But, will it?  

Kettlemen

Eric opted for pineapple upside down cake for tonights snack so Lili got herself the little cinnamon buns.

Our hotel was supposed to have breakfast but they told us it was light continental with to go items and then it wasn't opened at all.  So we had breakfast at Heaven on Earth. Which didn't disappoint :)

We crossed into California early morning and needed sunglasses right away.

The warmer weather is sooo nice.  We hit 17 today.  It gets warmer as we go. 

Fei and I popped into a Dollartree while Eric got gas.  We picked up $3 lunch packs.  To make up for the pricey breakfast :)

Fei had a wee sniffle yesterday so Lili is being all extra.  

Blue skies as far as you can see.  The drive has been good.  The kids are crazy quiet.  They're mostly listening to music with ear phones and napping. Only one movie again today.

I've had way too much quiet time to contemplate.  Eric doesn't talk much when he's driving.  I've learned through the years not to glog his brain with all of my musings.  However today I did whine a little about the current plan.

We are about 3.5 hours away from the shore.  We are going to Santa Monica Pier and having dinner at Bubba Gumps after exploring.  Everyone is happy with this plan except me.  We are SO close to Disneyland.  The beach, an aqaurium and fried fish are just not appealing in comparison.  So I made lots of optional plans but in the end it's just me who really wants to go.  Instead of pushing through tonight we stopped at 6 for dinner at an In and Out and checked into a Quality Inn in Kettlemens.  Another relaxing early night in the hotel with wifi.

This hotel is brand new so that's a bonus.  

The girls are together again tonight.  We'll see how that goes.  Fingers crossed for peace.  

Roseburg

The drive was ok.  Lots of rain and this afternoon the sun broke through and we got up to 14.  We stopped in Roseburg for the night.  We're super close to our cinnamon buns at Heavon on Earth so that will be our first stop tomorrow.

Chinese dinner across the way from the hotel. It was ok.  

Nice early night.  Kids are all happy to get to wifi.  We're in an old Howard Johnson all decorated in retro orange 70's theme so of course I love it ;) The beds are super comfy!

Lest you all think things are too perfect.  They are not.  We were only in our rooms a couple minutes when Eric brought Lili to our room.  The contention between the girls continues. Our sweet girls showing their love for each other.  Sigh.  This does upset the sleeping arrangements.  Eric is moving in with Fei and Jia now but he is packed with me in my backpack.  I just suggested he take Kai with him so he can fart all night in the other room.  Which Kai thought was a hillarious idea and then he promptly farted.  I might have laughed a little too hard at that.  

Anyways.  Just a wee bit more stress to deal with.  

Chipper

Obligatory ferry picture.  We made it.  We had to run back in the house twice but thankfully hadn't made it out of the driveway yet. No grumpiness.  It's a good start.  Except Jia closed her bedroom door so I'm concerned Lewis could be locked in there. I'll message Jessica to check later, it's too early, I don't want to wake her.  Leaving the pets is the worst part for sure.  

3am

I'm in bed already!  Waking the family up at 3am ;)  Am I excited?  Haha.  Not really.  It is so much work to get all of us out of here.  I hate leaving the dogs.  It will take me a while to decompress.  I am definitely looking forward to feeling warm though!

Car Rally

#lightemup.tv

There is a 2024 car rally in June put on by LightEmUp.TV.  I got all excited and thought Eric, Oscar and I should do it.  Eric is in!  I haven't registered quite yet.  I'm still scoping things out and asking questions.  While going through old posts I found a picture of Oscar on their site from Halloween.  So fun.  

Seems like an awfully long drive.  Victoria to Campbell River and back with 12 stops.  Only one person/driver is registered with a wristband but if Eric is registered I can still help with driving.  Have any of you done such an event before?  Sounds like Cannonball Run!   Update...we're registered!!

It's important to have things to look forward to ;)  This might be a tad on the crazy side.

Eric wants to take the side steps off and put the rock slides/guards back on Oscar for Jeepapaloosa.  Haha.  He needs him to look tougher.  I agreed since I have the stools now.  Heaven forbid we don't look just right.  I'm starting to see that this could be a pricey hobby.

Are you ok?

Are you ok?

Me: I've learned to live with a very flexible definition of ok.  

Haha.  Too much time at home.  

Jia, Kai and Luk are packed.  

We realized today that NONE of Kai's pants are actually fitting.  Fun.  He needs kids 18, and they are hard to find.  Mens small and mediums are too tight and way too long.  In a pinch we packed him some of my size large capri yoga pants.  He still can't manage buttons, snaps or zippers.  

Eric installed the pod on the van and cleaned it.  Then he emptied the hot tub.  That's always so sad.  It would be too much to ask Jessica to babysit it as well as deal with Isabel and Finn.  I'll be giving a generous tip ;)  She hasn't been here since last Dec.  I think she'll be shocked at how old Izzy is.  

I skipped breakfast, then didn't care for lunch so ate very little.  Then a light snack.  Same for dinner, the family had pancakes so I had a protein, whole grain one.  Yuck.  It smelled of fish.  Then tonight I had issues.  Shaking, nauseous, sweating, dizzy.  And too stupid to realize I had likely only eaten 600 calories for the whole day and nothing to drink.  Eric brought me pedialite, peaches and ice cream, 20 minutes later I felt fine.  I have no defense.  I was busy but I could have taken the time to eat.  

I think the convertible goes to it's new home tomorrow.  

The rock chip on the van windshield suddenly spread all the way across so Eric has an emergency appointment for Tuesday to get it replaced.