This past weekend we were excited to head out as a family to California to see Mike and Allison and the kids. Cami wanted to go visit her cousins, Austin and Kylie, as part of her birthday present. Since we still get free travel on Midwest, we happily agreed to take her. We left early Friday morning and drove to Milwaukee for our flight. Upon arriving, we learned from the gate agent that the flight had seats available to Kansas City, but the connecting flight to LA was now full. We decided that we would travel at least to Kansas City and hope for the best. Ian was beyond excited to see all of the 'Whees', AKA airplanes. He has been asking about going on a plane since Grandma Aladodo came to visit a few weeks ago. We came up with 'Plan B' on our flight to Kansas City. We would have at least mom, Cami, and Ian head to LA, if the seats were open. If not, we would all head to Washington D.C. for the weekend.We arrived in Kansas City and learned there were only seats available for mom, Cami, and Ian. Ben was looking forward to going to Washington D.C., but was also a little sad that he would not be able to go out to California and play with Austin.
The kids were right at home on the plane. The kids always get a special treat of a lollipop for the flight to help them with their ears. To date, we have not had any ear problems while flying!
Ian was happy to pull his suitcase once we arrived in California.
As a special birthday surprise for Cami, we were able to see Jana Alayra in concert. We had received a DVD of Jana Alayra a few years ago from Allison and Mike and the kids LOVE watching it. Cami was shocked to be able to see Jana in person! The kids each got a a signed picture of Jana.
Jana called Cami up on stage during the show and wished Cami a happy birthday. Cami was also able to stay on the stage along with Ian to sing one of her songs with her. Needless to say, both kids were beyond excited. The video we have is awesome!
Allison bought Cami a Jana Alayra Tshirt at the concert.
The kids were thrilled to meet Jana after the concert and have their pictures and shirts signed by her.
Saturday we headed to the park. The kids had a perfect morning for playing outside on the swings and the play structure.
After lunch we headed to Corona beach. We stopped for shakes and smoothies at Ruby's Shake Shack.
Ian was a bit overwhelmed by the ocean.
He saw it last year, but now at age 2, he is a little more aware of it. He was happy to play in the sand and watch the water until the tide started coming closer. Austin's bucket got picked up by the water and Ian freaked out. He promptly collected the buckets from all the kids and refused to let them play with them in fear that they would end up in the water again.
After the beach we headed to Balboa Island for dinner. We got to see lots of boats! The kids enjoyed looking at the variety of boats in the water. We rode on a ferry across the island, which was a hit with the kids. We enjoyed some amazing pizza for dinner than walked around the island before returning on the ferry and then back to Mike and Allison's house.
It was hard to say good bye, but we were looking forward to seeing Justin and Ben and hear about their adventures in Washington D.C. They had to buy a disposible camera for pictures since we did not anticipate taking 2 separate vacations, so we are unable to upload any pictures from their trip. Despite being on 2 vacations, everyone had a really great time and lots of wonderful adventures!