Cali - Day 1

Beep-beep-beep-beep
2:45 am alarm. 
Quick showers, last minute items in the suitcases. 
Our sweet farm sitters spent the night so that they could also drive us to the airport.  We have awesome friends!
4:15 am - on the way to SeaTac Airport.   We arrived in about an hour's time, unloaded 8 suitcases from the van, hugged our friends good-bye, and took a deep breath.
 
Next - security.  To make our trip simple and easy - the one stipulation from Eric was we all ONLY have 1 carry-on suitcase, absolutely no checked luggage.

Some wheeled two suitcases, some held little hands. 
Shoes off and in the bin with cameras, backpacks, purses, belt buckles, etc, etc. It's rather stressful, because frankly, we held up the line.  There is no way around it with little ones who need help with shoes, and lifting their suitcase up onto the conveyor belt, removing the bag of liquids.  I am thankful for the older children who lend a helping hand whenever they can. 
Ok - All clear.

 

What next?  

 

COFFEE!!!

 

We found our way to the gate.   Not far from it was a Starbuck's.  I went to get coffees for Eric and myself.  I no sooner got in line when I heard my name.  Some friends were leaving on a 5 day trip to Mexico.  What fun to see a familiar face in an unexpected place. 

Funny story - the Starbuck's lady took my name for my order and I guess she didn't hear me right - as she wrote "Kara" on my cup.  Then, come to find out, when Caleb ordered his drink she wrote "Kahim" on his.  Yes, the adventures of Kara and Kahim are to follow.  ;-)

It was recommended to us to get Dum Dum suckers for the kids too little to chew gum.  Even if it didn't help with clearing their ears, they liked them anyway.

The flight was so smooth and just a quick 2 hours.  All of us really enjoyed the excitement of flying.  It was really fun to share that with them.  They had gate checked our bags for free {gotta love saving $200!} so we headed to baggage claim.  Baggage claim at Burbank Airport is a breeze, but I had bought some bright orange polka dot ribbon that I put on all 8 of our suitcase handles so identifying them was even easier.   I have to say, we got a look or two!  Again with children and suitcases in tow we made our way to the rented van..."The White Whale" .

First on the list of things to see and do:
1.  See Gramma and Uncle Bill

The jasmine was blooming everywhere and it smelled so sweet.  The bright, warm sun made for a beautiful day.  A perfect 78 degrees.  Just a few days earlier it had been 100! 
She and Bill took us to lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Frida.  It's located in a new, little upscale outdoor shopping area called The Americana.  It was so nice to be able to eat al fresco and enjoy the warmth and sunshine that all of us craved.  The food was delish and the company, well...perfect.

Doodling while we wait.  I have an artistic bunch, don't you think?

I loved this idea of rosemary with petunias together in the planter.  I think I might do something like that.

It's just a short distance from Gram's to the Americana so we walked.  That was nice after sitting on the plane and then in the car. On the walk home we went through the Glendale Galleria {wait...listen for the valley girl accent...gall-er-IA.} The littles have so much fun riding up and down the escalator!
They also found this ... thing...that when you step on it, it lights up and displays shadows and games.

 

After a very fun day with them, we were off again to check into the condo and settle in.  Even though we were pretty pooped out, we still needed to grocery shop too. 

That's it for our busy day 1.