California Dreaming ...

Emery taking the wheel for the first leg of our summer trip

We headed way out West to California this summer for some fun in the sun, zany wild adventures, and most importantly to say our goodbyes to Great Grandpa George and Great Grandma Lucille. Follow along in all the pictures and videos taken during our adventure!!!

This first video captures what we mostly do for hours and hours and hours during long car trips!!!

And then five minutes later, this is what we usually do next ...

Long road trips are a great place to nap ... 

especially with a solid tissue box for a pillow

First beach day at one of our favorites ... Zuma beach!!!

Avery loves searching endlessly for sea shells, 

but Emery says "No way! I would much rather ...

... dig deep in the sand!"

Our hotel was really nice, but Emery had to call the front desk 

a number of times to complain about a few things, such as ...

... "Why does furniture block each doors?" 

and "It's way too hot in here, I need more a/c!"

After we got cleaned-up (mostly using outdoor fountains to bath in) 

and went to a real fancy birthday party for Uncle Rick ...

... there was the most ginormous cake I had ever seen ... 

not to mention all the candles on it!!!

We were then off on another road trip (on a bus) 

to release our Great Grandparent's ashes into the sea ...

... Avery and Emery have different opinions

 about how one should travel when riding on a bus!!!

Waiting to set sail into the ocean

All of Great Grandparents George and Lucille's kids:

Uncle Don, Aunt Diane, Grandma Wendy, and Uncle Rick

Far out in the sea, preparing to release ashes with tons of family and friends

The white boxes (containing their ashes) right before being dropped into the sea

George and Lucille escorted away by flowers and Sunfish!!!

Mommy "consoling" Avery's sea-sickness issues

Afterwards at a remembrance dinner, 

we had tons of fun playing with our cousin Brienne ... 

below is a video of the fun ...

... and then we all started to get a little crazy 

playing with Brienne and our other cousin Kai ... 

below is another video ...

And then of course here's a video of cousin Travis having some fun with all of us ...

Time for another beach day, but on San Diego's Mission Beach instead ...

Emery really digging how the sunlight hits the waves just so!!!

Here's a video of us playing in the huge waves ...

A simple easy picture on a nice calm boat cruise in the San Diego bay ...

... but as usual, that calmness quickly flies out-the-window and these kiddos get crazy!!!

More beach time, with a video below showing exactly how sand tastes ...

Next up, a fabulous picnic lunch at Balboa Park ...

... with lots of music along the way ...

... and lots of great flowers to smell ... 

so many we had to take a video smelling them all (below) ...

Then off we went on a long train ride ...

... and then a super-long scary-high gondola sky-ride 

straight into the San Diego Zoo!!!

We got really Really REALLY close to all the animals, 

such as playing around with these baby apes ...

... climbing onto a giant bird's back ...

... we weren't even sure what this big guy was, 

but he was super fun and playful ...

... getting a "horsey-ride" on this big gorilla 

that Daddy led around on a leash ...

... and even climbing in the trees with Koalas!!!

Ha Ha HA, just kidding ... those were all statues!!! 

This was as close as we got to any real Koalas!!!

There were lots of great real animals to see, such as antelopes ...

... big giraffes, baby giraffes, and zebras ...

... hordes of attacking flamingos (really, this one lunged right at us) ...

... muddy smelly huge hippos ...

... lounging-in-the-shade camels ...

... even roaming wild free-living geckos ...

... there were tons of elephants and enormous stalking bears ...

... even huge cheetahs that gave fun back rides ... 

ha ha ha, that's just another statue ...

... we even saw a Mommy panda and her baby panda ... 

with a video below of how much Emery really loved the zoo!!!

Here's Gracy, our hotel's local resident seal 

(she's a rescued seal that's blind)

Emery and Avery dancing and singing on the balcony 

after all the zoo fun ... a choreographed video is just below ...

Showing off our panda 'Zoo shirts ... front and behind ... 

what a great summer trip, Mommy and Daddy!!!