The Great Bradley Adventure-Road Trip and Beach

Road trips, Christian and I both have fond memories of road tripping with our families while growing up and we were excited to share that with our kids. So we packed up the mini van and took off to California. Now we were a tad worried taking a 4 month old but other than some crying spells she was a champion car traveler and she slept like a log in a hotel room with all of her siblings and parents. It was so much fun and the kids enjoyed the drive and listening to Fablehaven #5 (one day we will finish that series). 

Matt found our throw up bucket and thought it was funny to put his face in it. Later on he was looking for the "hat" (lid) so he could wear that too. 

One of the best things about road tripping is stopping at fun tourist attractions. The bad thing...paying $4.99 a gallon in gas because it is the only gas available. 

We stopped and got some Alien Jerky at an "alien viewing" sight.
They were also trying to raise funds to build a hotel...

Matt made a new friend

Stopping at the world's largest thermometer! Awesome. 

 We only had two hours to drive the next morning and decided to visit the Newport Temple. The grounds were closed but we did take a couple of pictures. We also discovered an awesome echo point that we all had to try.

We went to Newport Beach after, Matt had been asking for months to visit the beach and see the ocean. So we spent a few hours at the beach. Matt was a little hesitant at first, he wasn't a big fan of the sand, but it only took a little bit to make him a beach bum. He didn't even cry when a wave knocked him over.

I didn't even have to pay for the birds and old surfer in the back,
 thanks for being obliging California. 

"Mom, what if we lived in California? That would be the best thing in the world."
Some times I think the same thing. 

Abby seemed to enjoy the sand

right up to the point the water touched her skin

Side note, this little girl is turning into a beautiful young woman

This one too. 

We ended our visit to the beach with a fish and lobster lunch (yup, even Matt and I were adventurous) and a visit to Poppa's favorite doughnut shop.

We left the beach just in time as a storm rolled in. We made it to our hotel and after showers we went to dinner at Downtown Disney. 

When we vacation in Disneyland we eat family style. It saves us a bit of money as we can never determine how much each kid will eat and we get sample quite a bit. We did quite enjoy the pizza we had that night.

Biggest Pizza ever makes James happy. 

 Matt was impressed with the balloon artist. He requested a Spider-Man that became his bestest bud all week long. There were some tears shed the moment when Spidey fell apart due to lack of air at the end of the week.

So that is part one of our great Bradley Adventure. Coming soon- Disneyland!!!