Family Vacation To California!!

This past week our little family ventured out on our trip to California!! The main event was the Smithen Family Reunion held in beautiful Marina California. A fun beach city by the bay and near Monterey California a fun tourist hot spot.

Needless to say the drive there was the second worst part of the trip. But we did our best to get by. I made surprise bags for the kids full of treats and toys. The big hit of the trip were these magnet/map/snack trays I made for the kids. They were great fun and each included fun magnets to play with that provided some good entertainment throughout.

Stop one was Reno at the Circus Circus hotel. Not anything special just a stop. Then we continued onto Marina. The drive through California was beautiful. Marina is in the Northern area about 100 miles south of San Fransisco. We past a dozen or so fruit stands that now looking back, I wish we would have stopped at at least one. Oh well.

First night we got reacquainted with everyone and played Minute to Win It!! It was great fun! The kids had a great time and so did the adults.



On Day two we visited the beautiful Monterey Aquarium. It was so cool and well worth the price. The sea animals were beautiful and we all had a great time!!!


On Sunday we headed to Carmel Beach. Boy was it beautiful!!! The water wasn't all that warm. In fact the picture below is of us just as the wave unexpectedly hit us, haha!! Brooklyn hated the feel of the sand on her toes. I loved it!!! It was soft and warm and Andrew had a great time with his cousin Alex.


After our beach play, on the road again to Disneyland!!! What a fun time we had with the kids and we went on rides we hadn't really been on before that the kids absolutely loved. We stayed in a hotel close enough for us to go back and take naps during the heat of the day then went back and stayed late at night. We also got the chance to see both Fantasmic and World of Color. Both were so amazing and I can't wait to see them again in March!

Then the long journey home began. Lucky for us my dad has a condo in St. George that we stopped at and did our laundry (thanks dad!) It was really nice to come home with clean clothes. We had a fabulous time and I would do it all again in a heartbeat! Oh and the worst part of the trip, me having to sleep with Brooklyn to get her to sleep. She's a kicker :(