California Trip #1

We had the chance to go on a vacation to California this past month. We were gone for a couple of weeks. We drove the 17+ hours to our destination. It was a great drive, except the first part of the drive...Claire got car sick and threw up about 6+ times. It wasn't pleasant. I was sure glad Bryan has a strong stomach, because my pregnant self wasn't handling it too well.
We drove 10+ hours of the 17 the first day then stopped and got to spend a few days with an old mission companion of Bryan's. We had so much fun with Eric, Lauren and Hunter.
Claire and Hunter got along so well. It was fun to watch them. After a couple of days with them we got in the car and drove the rest of the way to my sister's house. We were happy to get there and see them.
One of the first few days we were there. Ginet, my sister, took us to a town called Solvang.
It is a little Danish town. For those of you who don't know my dad and brother served their missions in Denmark so we tend to like things that are Danish. This picture is mostly funny for my family.
My brother has a picture of his daughter sitting inside this shoe when she was about Claire's age. We had to take the shoe picture, but Claire was being a stinker and wouldn't sit in it.
The weekend after we got to my sister's it was time for the big Ragnar Race. Bryan, along with my sister Ginet, my brother-in-law Zach, my sister Shannon and my brother-in-law Dan, ran on the Runs and Roses 12 man team. This Ragnar run was a 200 mile relay race. They started Friday morning and finished around 3-4pm on Saturday. It took them just over 31 hours to run it all.
Bryan ran a total of 18.4 miles out of the 200 miles. I am so proud of him. I got to see him run his last leg. I am amazed at what he has accomplished. I have never desired to run a Ragnar race, but seeing him inspired me and I think I might have to do one...although I'd be the slowest in the entire group.
Claire got to go to church with her cousins. She was really excited about us going to church with them. This picture is of the girls all walking home from church. I couldn't resist a picture with how cute these girls looked.
The next day we headed down to Sea World. We had a great time spending so much time with family. My dad told my sister and I about a Mormon Battalion Museum that we needed to visit because our ancestors were mentioned. Here are the kids outside the museum.
When we got inside we found out that not only were our ancestors mentioned but they were three out of the eight main characters in the story/production they put on. It was a really neat experience. They took black and white pictures of us and taught us how to panning for gold.
Here we are panning for gold. They kids loved it; not to mention they also got to take home some of the "gold" they found.