Josh and Diana Lee

I love summer time. I think I've mentioned that a time or two before. This summer has been especially great because we finally were able to make a trip to California. We have really, really missed seeing our family out there and feel so grateful that we could go. These first few pictures are of us at the Atlanta airport. Don't be fooled though. These smiling, happy faces did not last long throughout the travel from coast to coast. The two older kids did pretty well but my little Daniel was quite a tough cookie. Let's just say that traveling is NOT his thing. I thought they were going to give us a medal when we got off our plane. I'm sure everyone around us was just as happy for us to get off as we were.
I LOVE Andrew's little face in this picture. He got a new backpack for the trip and was SO excited to wear it. I love his little hat and flip flops too. He just looks so touristy for a three year old.

Once we finally got to the gate, Daniel stopped freaking out and LOVED watching all of the planes. He pointed and squealed, "plane!!!!" about every five seconds for at least 40 minutes. He was beyond thrilled about the scenery.

Our first stop in California was to Ladera Ranch where Josh's sister lives. Stephani was a WONDERFUL hostess to us. We felt so comfortable and well taken care of. She really went out of her way to make our trip relaxing and fun. Andrew was obsessed with the race tracks that his cousin, Ben, had. I think we'll have to tell Santa about that one.

Isn't Stephani absolutely GORGEOUS!? Oh my gosh. She was so sweet to let Anna help bake Anthony's birthday cake. Anna loved it, and it was great bonding time for the two of them.

We did a lot of swimming in sunny California. I was helping Andrew with his swimming one day in the pool and I bumped into a kid as I was backing up. The dad of the kid told his child to watch out for the swim teacher because they were having a lesson! Ha! I thought that was so funny. I definitely was NOT his swim teacher. However, I would always say really loudly, "stroke," so he could hear me under water. I guess I seemed a little crazy, but hey, it worked!

Little Ollie is the cutest little thing. You just want to eat him up all the time.

As you can see, Ben is doing back flips in the water while Andrew is making crazy faces.

Anthony celebrated a birthday while we were there. I love celebrating birthdays. It's always fun to be together for times like those.

Sorry for the blurry, yellow picture. My camera was having issues that night.

Getting ready to go to the beach. Darling!

We had all of the siblings over to Stephani's house one night for dinner. It was so fun to have everyone together. I think all of the Lee siblings are HILARIOUS, especially when they are together. The kids played together while we all visited with one another. Andrew is definitely a tough guy and we had to watch him carefully so he wouldn't totally attack the other kids. Sigh....

GREAT memories!

After leaving Stephanie's house, we went down to Balboa and had a fun day there. It was so nice to just walk around, relax, and enjoy the California sunshine.

You have to get a shake at Ruby's if you're in CA. It's a must. Nevermind that it was 10 in the morning.

Balboa Pier!

I'm only including this photo because I love Anna's facial expression. Clearly, the water was pretty cold.

This is all I could get of Daniel because he was constantly running. No "cheeses" for Mommy.

There's a good one though.

Family picture!

As we were waiting for the ferris wheel to open, we went next door and let the kids pick a couple of games to play. Daniel had no idea that he didn't have any money in his machine. He just liked driving the car.

Here we are at the ferris wheel.

Later that same day, we went up to Corona to spend the night with Josh's brother. We have always loved Davy and Kelly but we especially had a wonderful time with them this trip. They are the most humble, honest, fun, and HI-LAR-IOUS people in the world. We would not have traded our time with them for anything. Andrew and Chuck were super heroes almost the entire time we were there. I loved their little masks. I was so happy that Anna and Lucy got to spend time together because Anna doesn't have any other girl cousins her age. It was great to see them all playing together.

We had movie night with them one day and Daniel took charge of the popcorn. By taking charge, I mean that he wouldn't let anyone look in his direction that wanted popcorn too. He LOVED eating it. He must be our child. ;-)

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Yummy breakfast the next day.

We had a big pool party in the afternoon. Anna swam for like 5 or 6 hours. I am not even kidding. It was crazy. She and Lucy were in heaven.

Isn't Lucy the cutest little thing?

Sammy and Greg.

Uncle Davy, Kelly, and Chuck. Haha...check out Ann Marie's face!! Priceless.

Love birds!

See how everyone is smiling? Yea, it really was THAT fun.

Savannah looks kind of sleepy here. Still darling though.

We got a big group shot of everyone. I LOVE it!

You have to do a crazy face one. It's a must!

That night, we all made smores over their fire pit. The kids were in heaven....and the adults too. I think this was my favorite part. We watched the kids ride bikes and skateboards, play catch with footballs, and ate a lot of chocolate and marshmallows. The weather was perfect and we were all so happy to be together.

There are few people that I love more than Sammy. She is the sweetest, most good-natured, loving person I know. She has always been so kind and welcoming to me. I don't know how she always seems so good but truly, this girl has a heart of gold.

Davy's face is just priceless. Ha!!

After Davy's, we went to Garden Grove where Josh's parents live. We had a big party for Josh for graduating with his PhD. It was so nice to have everyone together. The kids loved playing together. It was a great day.

The kids were picking tomatoes off of the tomato plants in the back yard.

Andrew was Grandpa's buddy. He loved to help him. Dave is really, really good with little kids and letting them help. Here they are grilling burgers together.

And here is our watermelon hoarder. No one likes watermelon more than little Daniel.

Two pregnant ladies. Now, if only we lived closer to one another. Sammy and Greg will have a GORGEOUS baby. They are both beautiful people, inside and out.

Another group picture. I really love group shots.

Here are all of the parents screaming, making funny faces, and doing jumping jacks to get the kids to smile for the picture....or at least, look at the camera.

Beautiful Ann Marie. She was the cutter of the cake and took her duty seriously! Ha!

Grandma Wertz. She has always been so kind to us. We really appreciate all of her support.

You know everyone will be around the island if there is dessert to be had. Oh yea baby!

Daniel only eats the whip cream. I don't know why we even bothered to give him cake.

Linda, the one who makes everything happen. We were so glad she decided to throw this party for Josh. She and Dave were so kind to us.

We also went beach camping with the Lees and the Livingstons. It was so nice. Josh's parents have a big trailer, and now I don't know if I ever want to camp another way. It was so nice to pull up to our camp site and not have to unpack every little thing. It was already all set up in the trailer. Awesome!

I know you can't tell but this is Grandpa playing frisbee with the kids. They loved it.

All of us just sitting around chatting.

We also got to go visit with Josh's Grandma Helen. We bought her some flowers and had a great visit with her. She looked the best I've seen her. It was so nice to let the kids get to know her a bit.

These are a bit out of order but here we are at Laguna Beach. It was a perfect day. The weather was incredible!! We were shocked that the Pacific didn't seem as cold as it usually is. I even got in up to my ankles this time. That's way better than just to my toes like normal.

We were SO excited that we got to go to Cafe Rio while we were there. It is probably my favorite meal. We loved it, and the kids ate for free. Um, could there possibly be anything better? I think not.

I could not get over little Ollie's hat. He looked so darling in it!!

This is the ultimate summer picture. Yes, please!

It looks like Daniel is about to whack Ollie with the shovel. Luckily, that didn't happen.

This is the beach at Leo Carillo. The scenery was just amazing. It's right north of Malibu and the drive up there was quite impressive.

Sandcastles are a must!

Daniel constantly wanted to eat on the beach and this is how his hands looked the whole time. Put two and two together, he definitely ingested a lot of sand on our trip. Awesome.

Grandpa is also known as Big Wave Dave. He is a HUGE surfer and has probably gone thousands of times. Anna got her own private lesson with Grandpa one morning. She was in heaven. She was a little afraid but did a great job.