More April craziness... Our California trip

After our trip to Las Vegas Mark had to attend a two week training in Oxnard, California (about an hour north of LA) for his work. He invited me along because all we had to pay for was my flight. His flight and all accommodations were paid for by his work. Mark flew there from Las Vegas and I drove home with my parents. A day and a half later I flew out to meet Mark for four days. I wanted to leave Carter home because A) of the expense of flying him, and B) because of the amount of work it takes to take him on vacation. I wanted some time for just Mark and I (a babymoon you could say..)before our second baby comes. So, even though it was REALLY hard to leave him, it worked out well. He stayed with our good, good friends the Rodartes and my parents. He didn't even act like he missed me that much when I got home! So I know he was well taken care of. Thanks so much Tim, Stephanie, Mom, and Dad! You are the best!

The view from the top floor of our hotel

Ventura Harbor has a bunch of little shops and restaurants, but when we got there all of the shops were closed. Bummer! It was still fun to walk around the harbor and look at all of the cool boats.

This was my favorite little tugboat.

I'm looking pretty good for being 7 months pregnant don't you think? Mark is also looking pretty tough. Especially with that sand shovel in his hand.

Of course we had to go to In-N-Out Burger. Per my request, not Mark's. I love In-N-Out and always want to go when we are near one. He doesn't understand what the big deal is.

Mark surprised me with going on a sunset sailboat cruise! His coworker and his wife joined us. It was a fun (but cold) date! Our cruise sailed out of Santa Barbara which was a beautiful area.

We got to see dolphins! I have never seen dolphins in the wild before (only at Seaworld) so I loved it. I was hoping to see a whale, but dolphins will definitely do. 

 

At one point the dolphins came and swam in the wake of our boat. The blurry grey spot in the upper middle part of the picture is a dolphin. They were right below us, and we could here them communicating with each other!

The sunset part of cruise... How romantic :)

Mark, enjoying the good life.

After the cruise we went to a nice seafood dinner right on the harbor. It was so good!

Some armless hobo laying on the beach.

My view these days... nice beach picture huh?

We rented these one day... they were really fun. I would love to try them again sometime when I am not prego - kind of harder to do with the belly in the way. 

We got to see tons of awesome kites like these on our bike ride.

This was the pool area at our hotel. I loved our hotel by the way (Embassy Suites) It is very family oriented and Mark and I both want to take our family there someday.

We stopped and got some fresh strawberries at a roadside stand one night... so good!

This is a picture of our first sushi "experience." Mark found a place that was all you can eat sushi, and supposedly really good and fresh. I wasn't thrilled because you are not suppose to have raw sushi when you are pregnant, but I wanted Mark to be able to try it. So we went in and the waitress barely spoke any English. She tried to explain how to order, but we still didn't know what to do once she was done. So we took the little menu and marked down a couple of things we wanted.. we thought that a "roll" was about the size of a regular piece of sushi. So we marked 2 of the things we both wanted to try. We also marked down several appetizers. When they started bringing the food out, they brought 2 of everything... and just kept it coming! A "roll" is about 6-8 regular sushi pieces. We felt bad because we got stuffed and still had a bunch of food on the table. The sushi was really good and I would eat it again, but it is not one of my favorites. Plus, I had to absolutely make sure everything I ate was cooked. 

This post would not be complete without posting a picture of Mark and his California dream car! This was his rental car during his trip. How cliche! We drove along the coast in a red convertible!

When we did stop to look at the view we saw dolphins again! It was really neat. 

Also, this can be my 32 week belly picture. 

On our way to the airport we stopped at Santa Monica Pier. We have been there before and really like it.  This is also the home of Muscle Beach. 

There is a little amusement park on the Pier. Carter would have loved it.

Mark bought me a funnel cake (that we shared) because he knows that I love them!

Mark tried his hand at one of the games. It's not as easy as they make it look!

The Los Angeles Temple. I was surprised at how big it was, and that it was right in the middle of a big city.

After seeing the temple we drove around Beverly Hills looking at houses. They are all so neat and full of character. I would love to live in Beverly Hills. This picture is supposedly of Jennifer Anniston's house. Quite fancy isn't it? All of the big homes have these hedges around them and gates. There were also cameras hidden all over in the hedges. When you're popular I guess...

We then went to Hollywood. These characters are all over the street and they will only let you take a picture of them or with them if you pay them. That is why stingy Spongebob is turning away from me. He also said, "Uh uh" in a voice that sounded like he had his nose plugged. 

The street that most of the characters line up on is where the Kodak Theater is located and where they supposedly have the Academy Awards.

 We also visited the wax museum. I had always wanted to visit a wax museum. It was pretty cool. Some of the figures were kind of spooky looking.

This was one of the best ones... 

This was at the "scary" part of the exhibit. I braved it and went through even though I was "expecting a baby."

I guess this what you start to look like after eating dinners like all you can eat sushi all of the time! Plus, all during our marriage I have told Mark to lay off those Twinkies!

This was at the Guinness Book of World Records Exhibit which was across from the wax museum. This is supposedly a replica of the biggest man's waste size.

I thought this was interesting... My 8 lb. 13 oz. Carter was actually quite small... 

I wanted to take a picture of Hollywood Blvd. and I got this cool one with the tour bus. So typical...

Lastly, I just wanted to thank you Mark for inviting me on your trip. I stress out about big events easily and with our second baby coming I know I haven't been the easiest to live with. I know you work really hard to provide for our family and I know I don't tell you thank you enough. Sometimes it is easier to write it I guess... So thanks Mark! You are doing a great job, and I am proud of everything you have accomplished at work. Also, I hope this doesn't make you feel bad because you JUST came in irritated and asked how I can stay on the computer for so long... just writing about how awesome you are.. that's how! Love you... :)


P.S. I went to the doctor today... my doc says I am about 33 1/2 weeks, and the baby measured 34 weeks 1 day. He also estimated the baby's weight - 5 lbs. I am guessing this "little" guy is going to be another strong and healthy 8 lb something baby. Which I have no problem with! I love the chubbiness...