California

Last week, the family (and when I say the family, I mean my parents and their progeny) went to California to spend a week on the beach. My parents rented a beach house, and the 13 of us settled in for a week of lounging.

Overall, it was an amazing vacation. I was deathly ill very sick the whole time with a cold, so that was miserable. Also, it was a little colder than optimal for getting into the Pacific. The Pacific, after all, is an ocean, and doesn't warm up that much when the air is only in the low 70s. There were a couple of gorgeous days, though, and I was able to relive my childhood by going boogie boarding. I was the best at it of anyone. Not to brag, of course.

We also got to see Aunt Gay, Uncle Peter, and some of their progeny. Lizzie came down one day, and then was generous enough to go to Disneyland with us. I mean, what teenager voluntarily goes to Disneyland with 7 little kids and rides Mr. Toad's Wild Ride all day? Only an awesome one! Jacob also came to the beach and gave us skinboarding lessons. He was quite impressive, actually. Cy and Jared came down too, which was impressive given that they had a 3-hour drive. Well, a 3-hour drive plus California traffic, which means a 72-hour drive. (Why does anyone want to live in Southern California? The weather is a small comfort for the 62 million people who ALSO want to drive on the same freeway as you.)

We took one day from our Beach Paradise to go to Disneyland. The 62 million people on the freeway with us were no contest to the 10984383095897 gazillion people who were also at Disneyland with us, but fortunately we mostly stayed on the kiddie rides and fast passed the few grownup rides we went on. Sabrina was "convinced" to go on a few faster rides, but even I was not coldhearted enough to force her onto Splash Mountain. She would have been scarred for life. Heck, I was practically scarred for life! Looking down that last drop....

Anyway, it was a lovely trip even though Zane worked four or five hours a day for some very needy clients and Raiden didn't much like to sleep through the night and I was so sick. It takes a lot to ruin a week with a backyard beach!