California Trip! Day 1- La Jolla Children's Beach

California, here we come!! Oh man. This trip was LONG awaited and anticipated. Jacob, the ever planner-aheader and super on the ball man that he is, planned this trip for us almost a year ago. We knew we wanted to take the girls to Disneyland in 2014, so he planned this whole trip for us. 

He arranged the hotels with kitchens so that I could cook, planned the itinerary, reserved the rental car, bought the plane tickets, invited Grandma and Grandpa Yospe to come along with us, and then we had months and months to wait. I was a debbie downer all year, saying that it was so far away, we didn't need to talk about it all the time. Silly me.

 It was actually really nice having something to look forward to all year. And getting the girls excited for Disneyland and the beach- they were so ready by the time December rolled around! I wasn't really, though, I was like "oh shoot, it's here, and I haven't even found all the fun local places to eat and visit!" But it turned out perfectly. 

Originally, the plan was to drive there all together in our van. That did not appeal to me one bit. 

But luckily, Jake's dad found a great deal on plane tickets a few months prior to our trip, so we jumped on it. Whew! So on Friday, December 5th, we hopped on the plane and flew to Los Angeles. This was Lexi's first flight that she was old enough to remember and appreciate, and she was sooo excited! She and Cami squealed in delight and Lexi kept saying "Woooo hoooo! We're going SO FAST! We're so high!" It was adorable.

We arrived, got our rental mini van, and hit the road for San Diego. We were greeted with this happy orange van along the way, driving along the coast.

 And then greeted by these gorgeous flowers!

 And palm trees! Yayyyyyy! Palm trees make my heart happy. I get so excited every time I see them. They bring me back to my childhood.

 We stopped at La Jolla Children's Pool Beach, AKA Casa Beach. That's where all the seals hang out.

 I didn't even get any seal pictures, but we were so excited to hit the beach, we went right down to some tide pools to play around and explore. The girls were excited to kick off their shoes and start searching for seashells and treasures.

 This was their VERY first time at a beach! And the ocean! Such an exciting time.

 They found lots of abalone shells.

 And seaweed.

 And in the tide pools, a family found an octopus tentacle! They actually pulled it off an octopus stuck to one of the rocks in the water. Gross! It was super suctioney, and the girls thought it was awesome.

 And Grandma Yospe let it suction to her fingers!

 Then passed it on to Lexi. Haha

 And THEN the same people finally pried the entire octupus out from under the rock, and brought it out to show us. Crazy!

 Oh how I love seeing the ocean.

 And then they found a baby octopus, which at first I thought was a sea star. It was so teensy and skinny! Lexi held it in awe.

 She passed it on to Grandma

 And then did a little jig of delight! :)

 Such a fun, unique experience to welcome us to California and start our adventure!