Jamie's 40th birthday celebration week in SoCal

Well, it happened. I entered a new decade. I still don't know how I feel about it. Except that I feel old. Even though Brian says i'm too young to say I feel old. I have known for the last year that I wanted to do three things for my birthday.

#1. Absolutely no party.
#2. Run away out of state to forget i'm turning 40.
#3. Do a half iron man.

We did #1 and kept the celebrations pretty low key.

 I also got in some training for the half iron man i'll be doing next month (see #3). I thought 40 miles was a perfect distance to go.

#2 - run away. We decided to head to SoCal and enjoy the beach. It was perfect! We were able to have a week together as a family and only wanted to kill each other a few times. 

California!

Burning off some energy after a long drive.

California has some great Asian restaurants. The kids chose to go to a Japanese style Curry House.

Lesson learned. Chinese desserts might look beautiful, but they taste like bean curd. 

Laguna Beach!

This is one of my absolute favorite places in SoCal. And thanks to a friend who now lives there, we were told of a "secret" parking garage right next to the beach that is also right next to some cool tide pools.

Some of the strongest waves we have been in. The under current was so strong, the life guards were just helping people that were getting swept under all day long. Caleb spent the entire day getting tossed around in the waves.

Looking at some crabs and other sea life in the tide pools.

 Kali just LOOOVES it when we are accidentally twinning!

 Ended the day with some dinner and a pizookie at BJ's.

Independence Day!

Another lesson learned. There are about a billion people in California. And they all go to the beach on the 4th of July. It took us hours to find a place to park. We finally ended up at Huntington Beach, not too far from where they shot off some fireworks. We ended the night watching the sunset and then the fireworks. (insert heart emoji)

Harry Potter World!

I know that it's actually called Universal Studios, but we only care about Harry Potter. To say that our family is obsessed with Harry Potter is a huge understatement. The books and movies have been a huge part of the kid's childhoods. Kali especially. I was worried that it would be a disappointment, but it was not! It was magical! There is a crazy awesome ride at Hogwarts, which I will never go on again. (Remember that part about me being old? One crazy ride will make me sick for the rest of the day. And it really was crazy. But awesome.) We had some delicious English food for lunch at the Three Broomsticks in Diagon Alley, the kids picked out their wands at Olivanders, and we enjoyed some butterbeer.

The rest of Universal Studios was fun also. There were a few other crazy rides that I chose not to go on, but the kids loved them.

doh!

The kids said this was definitely their favorite day. I'm glad it was worth it!

Last day. Spent the day at the beach not wanting to think about the long drive home.

The morning we left California, before we hit the road, I was able to go to an indoor cycling class taught by a master trainer that I have been following for a while. She's pretty famous in the industry and I have been using her music and class design plans, so I knew I had to meet her. She was very warm, full of encouragement and great advice, even though I was kind of a creepy stalker. I'm glad I took the opportunity to go!

This spoiled dog. It's ridiculous. He spent the week at the dog boarders, which means he spent the entire time chasing other dogs and exhausting himself. As soon as we picked him up Emi tucked him in bed and he slept that way the rest of the day. He lives a ruff life. And we were all happy to be back in our own beds.