We went to California a few weeks ago to celebrate David's dad's 70th birthday and his grandma's 90th birthday. Grandma Carter didn't know we (and all the other out of town siblings) would be there, so that was a fun surprise! The weather wasn't great (it rained the whole time we were there), but we still found some fun things to do. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach one day and had a great time there.
I was slightly obsessed with taking pictures of the jellyfish for some reason. They just looked so cool! Here's one of my many jellyfish pictures...
And, oh, here's another cute little jellyfish!!
They had these cool touch pools where you could touch sting rays. Everyone but me was too chicken to do it, but of course there's not a picture to prove it! They also had an awesome shark tank. I think we watched the sharks for at least 20 minutes. I won't post all of those pictures, but the sharks were cool!
And of course we had to find some carousels to ride! The first one was at South Coast Plaza, the second at Fashion Island. We tried to talk Abby out of the one at Fashion Island (we were feeling cheap and didn't want to pay $2 for a ride) and she cried as we walked away. So as we turned around to head back to the carousel, the tears magically disappeared and she turned to me and said, "Mom, I feel so happy now!" We're such suckers.
No trip to California is complete without a stop at Ruby's! Claire knows a good thing when she sees it!
The birthday party for Grandma Carter wasn't a surprise for her, but many of the guests were! The look on her face when we walked in the room was priceless. I wish I could have captured it, but it was so fun to see. It was a wonderful night as all of the grandchildren paid tribute to her with their favorite memories.
We were all creatively packed into different homes during our stay, but we had a great time as always!! We sure love the Hotel Carter!!
