Pasadena Road Trip Part 3

Here we are at the Gamble House in Pasadena, CA.  This house was used in the movie Back to the Future.  It was Doc Brown's house.  Mark loves architecture and was very excited to see this house.

Then we stopped and saw this beautiful house.  This house was used in the movie Father of the Bride.

We headed to Malibu to celebrate New Years Eve day on the beach.  It was warm and no one was on the beach.  I guess Dec. 31st isn't a popular day to go to the beach.  

 After a day at the beach we were HUNGRY!!!  Mark was on a mission to find a fun seafood place.  So we came across the cute little place in Malibu and it was perfect.  Casual, beachy and all seafood! We ordered two platters that had a mix of all sorts of fun things.  The kids loved all the food.

Sweet Ila May.

 Here's Lulu's favorite!!!  Calamari.

 Later that night we got to have a sneak peak at a few floats from the Rose Parade.  This was really fun because we drove around for almost an hour trying to get close enough to see the floats all lined up.  Right as we were going to give up because of how busy and all the road blocks we came down this one road and in front of us was a float driving by.  So we scrambled to find a parking spot, got the kids bundled up and in strollers and ran up the road and go to walk around the floats.  It was worth the wait.  The smell was wonderful.

 This is how we spent New Year's Eve 2013!!

Pasadena Road Trip Part 2

On our trip we were able to go to church with our family.  They attend Grace Community Church where John McArthur preaches.  Mark's brother also works there.  

Sitting out in the courtyard at Grace Community Church. The Masters Seminary is in the background. 

 Grace Community has a beautiful court yard and they have speakers all around so you can listen to the sermon.  Silas was a bit noisy so I enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Mark came and joined me! 

 After church we went out to lunch with some of our families church friends.  

 We got to walk to the neighborhood park.  It was so nice to play at the park in December!!!!

 We visited the LA Zoo!

Then we got to share a favorite movies with our cousins.  The Runner from Ravenshead

Pasadena Road Trip Part 1

 A few days before Christmas we Skyped with Mark's brothers family down in Pasadena, CA.  We haven't seen them in person since Levi was 10 months old.  They moved, we moved and with school and work and life we just never were able to get together.  Thankfully we have been able to stay in touch through technology.  But still our hearts ached to see them in person after getting off Skype.  So we decided right then that we would go visit them.  So Mark got right back on the phone with his brother and told him we wanted to visit over New Years.  They were thrilled!  So the day after Christmas we loaded in the van and made the trip down there.  It took us 2 days going down, we enjoyed 5 days in Pasadena and spent 3 days coming home.  We were able to stop and enjoy the sights along the way.  

 Lulu with her new doll I made her for Christmas. 

We stopped at all the fun and silly stops along the way. 

 Lovelock, NV was a fun stop. We put a padlock on the chain to lock our love there.  

 We made sure to get a hotel with an indoor pool so the kids could burn some energy.  It was so fun to go swimming in December. 

 Lulu was doing so well she got to take her lifejacket off and practice swimming on her own!

 The city of Hawthorne, NV was a fun stop to see the art that they made from bomb casings.  

Plus the McDonalds you can see in the background was a nice place to use the restrooms! 

 Then we had to stop at the famous Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop, CA.  The place had a line almost out the door when we got there.  We bought some cookies to share with the cousins.  

Finally we got to Pasadena and got to hug our sweet family.  

 Uncle Mike holding Silas for the first time.  Mike is 2 years older then Mark. 

 Kamin and Levi snacking on some chicken nuggets together.  

 Even though we hadn't seen the Tersieff's in about 3.5 years it felt so normal to be there. 

 When I first met the Tersieff family Kamin was just a bit younger then Silas here.  

 Playing on their driveway

 Ila May bugging her oldest cousin Josiah and he doesn't mind it one bit. 

 Josiah (13 yrs) and Silas (7mo.) 

 More to come......