On to California

We had the hard task this summer of resting only a few days before we were on our way to more adventure. This time California and the call of family and Mickey Mouse took us to the sun and sand of a week at Newport Beach. We went straight to Disneyland to make use of those season passes.
As always, Disneyland proves to be wonderful and so fun to see the pleasure and anticipation all evident on our kids faces. Even Ty delivers moments of uninhibited delight at the sight of Mickey or a favorite ride.
Our week at the beach with Whit's family was a blast. We had nightly activities on the beach, family devotionals, lots of time in the water and sand, great conversation and book reading time, one more trip to Disney and we even got a chance to get a few autographs from Max Hall who to our luck happened to be vacationing on the beach with his family as well. He was so gracious when 4 excited little boys interrupted his game on the beach to shake his hand and get his autographI had to include this little photo. It reminded me so much of a Mary Cassatt painting.


On our day back to Arizona we headed south through San Diego and took in the Wild Animal park. It was beautiful to see the animals in such wide open spaces. It also had plenty of spots for our own little wild animals to run and play.

The second day on the beach Elias was out in the waves and got stung by a sting ray on the top of his foot. He was such a trooper as the sting grew infected and his foot grew in size. He spent more time than he ever wanted to with his foot propped on pillows and watching the fun happening outside his window. It took a couple more weeks when we got home for the swelling to finally go down. I was so impressed with how my little 8 year old boy took it all in stride. Next year we will be ready with booties.