Pasadena Road Tip Part 4 (The End.)

To end our amazing trip we took Route 66 for a portion of our trip home.  This was so fun and we want to do it again.  

Here's our tour guide.  Seriously, Mark does his research and told us about everything we drove past. It was great and I'm so thankful we homeschool because our kids are going to know their history because of Mark!  

 This was a darling little stop on Route 66

Fill us up! 

Then we made it to the breathtaking Grand Canyon!! God's creation is undeniable.  

 Then we drove through Monument Valley.  The sun just set and we missed quite a bit so we can't wait to go back someday.  

 Good morning Silas!!  He's a great traveler.  All the kids are! We stayed in Moab, UT.  The Grand Canyon is amazing but Moab is beautiful.  Again, we can't wait to go back someday. 

 From Moab we drove into Salt Lake City, UT and stayed the night there with friends. Then we drove home the next day.  What a trip!!  

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!!