Visiting the Bro in California

A few days ago, we got back from a fabulous trip to Southern California to visit Micah at college for his family weekend. It was a wonderful getaway. Our great friends, Nate and Lisa, happened to be going down there at the same time, so we spent a couple days with them in San Diego before we headed up to Northern Los Angeles area (Azusa to be specific). So, we went to Sea World with Nate and Lisa and relived the fun times of our honeymoon. We love all of the shows there and had a blast introducing Kaelyn to all of the animals. She really loved the sharks and the penguins. This was such a precious time for us cause it was good bonding time for the 3 of us. Kaelyn fell asleep in daddy's arms during the Shamu show, and this was the first time this has happened since those first couple of weeks she was home. It was also wonderful to get to share this fun place with our friends who hadn't been before. My favorite creatures there are the seals. They are just too stinkin cute. We also toured Balboa Park, which was gorgeous and went to a great mexican restaurant on a recommendation of our bus driver. It was perfect (heated patio, mariachi band, and yummy food)!!
Then we headed up to Azusa Pacific University to see Micah, and got to experience his amazing college life. It made Kevin and I want to go back to college so we could do things like he gets to. The campus was gorgeous and very inviting. We ate their food, which was great and they seem to all sit outside for every meal (who could ask for better weather year round). Kaelyn had kind of "lost her goodness"(thanks for that phrase Kristin) at this point, but we figured out ways to make this whole vacation thing work, teamwork. Micah and his really nice friends took us to the beach one day. Wow, what a life. We went to Thousand Steps beach which is kind of a hole in the wall beach. You have to climb down 238 steps to get down there, so I think that it turns a lot of people off. Better for us!! This beach is where they come to play and study on the weekends. What I would have given to have that luxury. The water was cold, but the waves were great fun. Kaelyn enjoyed the wet sand, but not the waves. She laughed tons and even took a great nap on the beach. It was a nice time to get to know some of Micah's friends and really see how much God has blessed him in this place. He is doing an awesome job, and Kevin and I are very proud of him. The hike back up the steps was quite a chore. Kevin and I both has extremely sore calves for days afterwards.
The next day, we went with Micah to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica beach. All of these places, we just drove through. We were very unimpressed with Hollywood (dirty and dingy), Beverly Hills reminded us a lot of Nichols Hills with Palm trees instead, and the beach was pretty, but not as great as the other one we went too. Kaelyn screamed the whole way back to the school and Micah was praising God that he doesn't have kids yet (she was tired of her car seat). Well, it was a fabulous experience, and flying even went well. God blessed us greatly and gave us lots of patience and wisdom and learning opportunities. It is a whole new ball game traveling with a baby, but we certainly enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks Micah for a great time and for letting us come and experience life with you, you're awesome. And thanks Nate and Lisa for being such wonderful and dear friends.
Oh yeah, the fires were crazy. We had to drive near the flames a few times and it was raining ashes. The last pic is of Malibu on fire.