Over the 4th of July we did our big family trip to Long Beach. This was the trip that I spent so much agonizing time trying to figure out back in December. My parents rented it for my siblings and I and our families for four nights. It was so fun! The house was so so gorgeous, although obviously everyone tastes differ, but it was perfect for a vacation house. See the room we stayed in? It was lovely.
It also had an awesome sunroom off the back. John and I hung out here a lot, which was super nice because of the mild weather. We played games and watched movies.
Sigh...our room! It had a perfectly sized closet for Holland's port-a-crib. She slept perfectly in there and we even ran a little fan for some white noise. The owners were so nice and besides the cute folded towels and everything else, they left us a ton of fresh and snack food to use. So so nice.
It was a darling home with a beach theme because it was directly on the beach. What a dream. These kiddos were in heaven.
The first day we went down to the beach it was a little cloudy and cool, but still awesome. Most of my photos of this trip are of us playing at the beach because that is what we did. It might have been my most laid-back vacation with my family ever. No, I am pretty sure it actually was.
See. John is pointing to where the house is. We had to walk past three houses, cross the street at the light, and walk down the stairs to be at the sand. Incredible.
We just played in the morning and walked back up to the house for lunch. There was a fun tennis court backyard with a ton outside seating, tables, and riding toys. But then it was back to the beach again!
Back to the beach again!
Getting wet and sandy.
Shadows of me and my baby!
They loved building sandcastles with their cousins!
With all those girl cousins of course at some point there were going to be some sand mermaids. We started with a couple and then another girl would notice and want to lay down and be a sand mermaid, and so it went on.
Sand mermaid party.
So many little girls.
Holland wandered off a few times. She doesn't have a radius of how far she is willing to go from us.
I have the cutest husband ever.
Baby footprints!
Cool effect made by the waves coming up on the sand.
Uh, oh. The mermaids are becoming unburied...
Beautiful beach girls!
Beautiful beach girls!
She loves daddy.
The next day we walked down to the pier. It was fun, but pretty gross with all of the fish remains left by the local fishermen.
Gross pier!
We're so touristy.
Don't touch the rails!!!!
Check out the view from the front window.
My parents were super nervous about all of the light-colored furniture. They wouldn't let the kids in a few of the rooms, including this one. I guess you never know what could have happened, but it did make me kind of sad.
Resting that afternoon! Holland napped later, while John took the kids to the beach again. He accidentally took his phone in the waves with him. So, after this trip he got a new phone. My dad and I played tennis while Holland napped.
We got some fresh seafood with the whole family. It was delicious. Although we certainly do make a spectacle wherever we go as a group.
That evening we took some family pictures on the beach. We also stayed up playing a fun game of hand and foot. It was fun because my team won. :)
We wanted to do something fun just our family that night, so we went to a highly rated ice cream shop and treated ourselves. It was delicious!
The next day was the fourth of July, and we spent almost the entire day at the beach. We went early and got a prime spot. Lots of sandcastles were built that day. We have to remember to bring a nice big dirt shovel when going to the beach. It makes it way more fun to actually be able to move some dirt with a sturdy shovel.
We took a family photo while we were there. I edited it and swapped some heads and this is what I came up with. I hope we get our little family photos from Patti someday.
They decorated this sandcastle with seaweed, a lagoon, drip sandcastles, and shells.
Playing kisses with daddy. <3
This sandcastle was a group effort, but eventually it got washed away.
Miriam and Lizzy sitting on the remains.
We had these fun floaties with handles that were perfect to ride the waves. The only complication was that the kids would travel down beach while floating.
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John and I decided to dig some tunnels. Marc helped too.
We eventually got a trifecta system with three holes and tunnels. We got them large enough that most of the little kids could slide through. We're awesome. :)
Trying to save the sandcastle!
We made some awesome tunnels that were the perfect size for Holland to stand in. She took some convincing though to crawl through, even though she fit easier than anyone. Nathan was our little guinea pig who was the first to crawl through them all.
I spy cute little feet and cool layers in the sand.
Miriam crawling through.
The older kids built another sandcastle higher up on the beach. Those darn tides!
There is our little trifecta.
We got the family photo taken, and that night we watched fireworks from the Queen Mary from the front yard. Since it is also Anna's birthday we also had root beer floats and a fun dinner.
Check out the fun twinkle lights the house had.
On the last morning, we were the last ones to leave, so I took a few more pictures of the house. Fun ship chandelier. Perfect for a vacation home. Same with the gorgeous living room with crystal pear.
I loved this pretty staircase.
Crystal pear!
She likes it.
Ship chandelier!
We went on a walk along the beach road.
We loved seeing the big flowers! It was still fun to see an occasional prickly pear and agave. It made us feel more at home. :) There was even a fig tree in the yard, but not the same variety as our tree in Phoenix. It had purple figs. Ours it a Kadota fig with white figs.
This was a real flower growing. Crazy!
That is the house on the right. What a perfect California shot.
After we checked out of the house, we visited the USS Iowa with my parents before John took them to the airport. We followed a little tour around and listened to the tour guide. I think it was a school group and just wanted to say "Oh don't mind us. We aren't listening." ;) That provided a lot of interesting information though. I can't believe how much fire power "deathnaughts" packed. Crazy. Those cannons could fire 25 miles. Insane.
I love the picture of Holland and me. What a happy pretty girl. She actually wasn't that happy. She was pretty frustrated I wouldn't let her run around. I couldn't move as fast as I wanted to because we were with my parents. I swear sometimes the more anxious I feel about moving along the slower my mom looks at things. I love her dearly, but that is the truth. I am still so glad we visited this with them though. My mom wasn't feeling the best during the trip and just slept a lot. I think she was pretty disappointed with missing out. We all tried to invite her to come along though. It's too bad.
I love this picture of Holland and me. What a happy pretty girl.
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After the ship, John took my parents to the airport and we drove back to Phoenix. We got home fairly late, but it was such a fun trip. I do have to say that the traffic getting out of LA was particularly awful. Glad I don't live there despite the temperate weather and the beach. It was sure fun to visit though!
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