SugarBabe Sunday – 7/19
We’re adding a fun, new weekly post during this summer! We’re having the SugarBabes hang out with Stacia and I on the blog. They’re going to post whatever they want. That could get pretty surprising, right? 
Juli got to go on a fun family trip this month & she’s here to tell us all about it! My little family had lots of small, close trips this summer so i’m living vicariously through Juli. Here she is…
Hi everyone! It’s Juli Fish with my SugarBabe Sunday post. I thought I would share with you today a little overview of our family summer vacation that happened earlier this month’ as well as a few pictures from our trip.
One of the things I love most about being a working adult is that I finally have money to travel! I never really realized how much travel meant to me until my husband and I started deliberately saving for vacations a few years in to our marriage. Each summer we take a 10-20 day vacation. Sometimes we go with the kids and some times we leave the kids with my in-laws. This year the kids wanted to see California. So we spent 10 days between Los Angeles, Yosemite, San Francisco, Big Sur, Oxnard and back to Los Angeles. If that sounds tiring, it honestly was. Vacationing with kids is no picnic!
Highlights from our trip:
Los Angeles – We loved the views from the Griffith Observatory early on a Sunday morning before it was overly crowded! It was so neat to be able to see the Hollywood sign and downtown LA!
We also enjoyed the tour at Warner Brother’s Studio! The highlight was getting to see (but not photograph) the set from Big Bang Theory. The kids enjoyed the Harry Potter sorting hat. I was sorted in to Slythern…as if!
We are science museum lovers at heart (well at least my husband and my kids are). I was super excited to see T-Rex bones at the Natural History Museum (when we visited the Natural History Museum in DC over Thanksgiving the dinosaur exhibit was being re-done).
I was also super excited to get to see a space shuttle in real life (that this is huge!!!).
After a few days in LA we headed north to Yosemite. Our first stop was to the Mariposa Grove where we were able to see the giant sequoia tress. They were enormous and so beautiful.
We were also able to get up to a great look out point where we were able to see Half Dome and some of the waterfalls. Some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.
My favorite part was when we stopped for a picnic lunch. We stopped at a trail head that was supposed to have picnic tables. My husband and I got out of the car and left the girls inside sleeping (one in the 2nd row and one in the 3rd row). We came back in the car to move down the road and as we were pulling out our youngest yells out “Wait”. Her older sister got out of the car and went to the bathroom while we were looking for a picnic table. I can’t believe we almost left her behind. With everyone finally in the car we found the perfect picnic table overlooking a nice stream. After lunch we spent some time climbing the rocks – such a simple, but fun way to spend some time together!
We left Yosemite and headed to San Francisco. After lunch at Pier 39 we wandered about. We had sundaes at Ghiradelli Square and then rode the cable cars – it was a long wait, but we finally got to ride and I have to say it was a bit scary! The second day we tried the cable cars again- this time it was not as crowded and we all got to ride on the outside on our way to lunch in Chinatown.
The highlight of San Francisco was our trip to Alcatraz. The boat ride out was nice and the audio tour was amazing. It was kind of cool, but creepy at the same time.
My daughter Katie had only asked to do one thing on our trip. She wanted to see the murals in the Mission District of San Francisco. So on the afternoon of July 4th my husband drove us in to the Mission District and we walked around. The people who paint these murals are so talented!
We spent the next day driving down the coast from San Francisco to Oxnard. Our first stop was at the Monterey Aquarium. I wish we could have spent the whole day here! We started outside looking out in to the bay – there were seals and sea otters in the water. It was an amazing aquarium. We all enjoyed the different feeding sessions in the tanks. Seeing huge tuna and mahi mahi feed was just amazing.
When we were back on the road we headed down the Pacific Coast Highway – the views were so beautiful. The water was sooo blue. I wanted to stop at every pull out, but if we would have we never would have gotten to Oxnard before midnight. If I ever go back I have to spend a few days exploring the Big Sur area.
Our next to last day was spent with Jason’s cousin Kristen and her daughter Olivia. It was so nice to spend time with them at the pool and on the beach.
Our final day we drove back in to LA and finally got a chance to see the LeBrea Tar Pits. We tried to get there on our first few days in LA but never could make it happen. We toured the museum. Walked around and looked at the outside pits and then had a picnic dinner in the grass to finish out a fabulous vacation.
Before we knew it, it was time to come back home. This is just the highlights of our trip – we actually packed each day full with adventures, museums and beautiful vistas. There were moments I wanted to kill both kids and my husband and there were times where I was savoring every laugh and every second we were spending together. That is what vacation is all about. Seeing new places and experiencing it with those you love.
I hope you enjoyed my little overview and I look forward to making lots and lots and lots of layouts with the 1000+ photos I took on the trip.
