You see, California has a special place in my heart. It is one of only two places I have ever left and then come back to, the other being my hometown. California is where I started my first job right out of college. It is where I truly learned what it is like to live on my own - beholden to no one. It was where I lived the dream of having an apartment almost on the beach at the perfect time in my life (early twenties). I was there for 5 years before circumstances moved me to the other coast and I missed it dearly. Then, 7 years later, the stars all aligned and I was once again living in the OC. This time California was an entirely different experience - but in no way diminished. It became the place that I started my married life, navigated the first years of motherhood, made life long friends and created some of my favorite memories. It is where both of my girls called home for their entire (short) lives before heading to Santiago. It is truly and hands down my favorite place I have lived so far (and I have lived some amazing places). Maybe it is because it was the perfect backdrop for that particular time in my life. Maybe it was the people I met there that made it so special. I can't say. All I know is that it had been a year and a half since I had left and I was very excited to be going back to visit.
It was a whirlwind - as this whole trip has been. It's hard to fit 18 months of catching up into a mere two weeks. But we tried. We visited friends. We went to our favorite parks. We stopped off at our usual shopping areas. We played, we swam and we washed the sand out of our hair more than once. We ate, we drank and we hired the sitter so we could do it all in an adult fashion.
It was spectacular.
And it was over before we knew it. But we didn't leave sad. We left sated.
We will be back. That is a promise.
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| Best Friends on their first night together in a year and a half! |
We went to Disneyland twice!!! MadHatter remembered a lot about all the times she had spent here when she was younger and wanted to do all of her favorite things. Stinkerbell didn't remember anything so it was almost like her first visit. Let's just say there were a group of happy girls that included S and I!
We went to the salon and had our hair cut by our dear friend Lauren! This was Stinkerbell's first official haircut. I have only ever trimmed the back and the bangs before now. Lauren actually cut!
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| And after the salon we hit the mall. And the candy store! |
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| GNO! |
And we went out to celebrate (you are almost obligated to do this when you turn 40) and the next day we hit the water park! Another place MadHatter had missed terribly...but before we could hit the water, we hit the bikes.
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| Are we ready to go yet??? |
There was a park day or two...
Dinner's out with the girls...
And then we were back at Disneyland...
The girls both have nameplates at Disney!
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| Waiting to see Merida from Brave - our longest line! |
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| She got a bullseye! |
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| Bored little girls waiting in line. |
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| Two tired little girls. They needed to re-energize for the next parts. |
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| Dancing in the street. |
There were a couple of beach days. We stuck our toes in the sand and jumped through the waves. Sand crabs were relocated to our buckets, holes big enough for our bodies were dug and sand castles were built and then destroyed (some by the waves, some by the littlest of us).
And then it was time to say goodbye. Our last night and morning...
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| Friends forever! |
