Colbi played in the water too, but we know whose daughter she is and she soaked up the sun!

Damon was so nervous at first, but with a little help from Syd's brother, he soon learned how much fun he could have.

Jaxon didn't want to come to the beach at first, but when we got there he didn't get out of the water the entire time we were there. He body surfed for almost 2 hours. He caught a pretty good wave here!!

Our first stop in California was to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Syd's in Oceanside. They brought us to the beach in Carlsbad, which is beautiful and the temp was in the high 70's, PERFECT!! Then we had to stop in at the Pizza Port, my favorite!! It was so good to see them, I miss them so much!!!

These kids were so excited to be all together again!!
They were counting down the minutes until their arrival at Aunt Tar's.

Damon was getting tired from all the swimming. We got to Taryn's at 11am on Sat. April 12th and didn't get out of the pool until 430pm.

This was our first night coming to the beach. It was only about a 5 minute walk from
Taryn's apartment. We were already having so much fun!!

This is just one of the many sand crabs the kids found on the beach. They were so excited. They had to call their dad everytime they found one, as if it were the first. Colbi even thought she was going to bring hers home.

Taryn and I and our girls! And Damon of course. It was so good to be with my sister again!
I miss her SO much!! But California obviously agrees with her! I'll just have to visit more!

This is our crew, after spending almost 6 hours on the beach. They were great!
They walked up and down the beach, played in the water, and looked for sea creatures!!

This is the view from the hill just above where
my great-grandparents are buried in the
Santa Barbara City Cemetary. I brought the kids
here to see this amazing view. What a sight!!
I remember coming here when I was just 7 for
my great-grandmothers funeral.

We came back to Mesquite for the last 2 days of our journey. I just wanted to sit
in the sun and let the kids swim. My friend Alisha met me there with her 2 kids.
We had a great time. The kids swam for 6 hours that day. They loved it. Me too!!
It was snowing at home.