Sunday, May 9, 2010

Newport Beach or BUST...

I was almost 25 years old when I first saw a BEACH.
My brothers Kevin, Scott and David had all come down for 
THANKSGIVING
from Brigham Young University.
So we took off the day after Thanksgiving and put our feet into that
beautiful OCEAN.
Since that time...I wondered how a girl who grew up in the middle
of the country...
could have missed out on so much SUN and FUN.

So despite weather conditions keeping EVERYONE
who was a local OFF the beach...
Us Missourians, Utahan's, and Arizonan's were game for some
of that California FUN.
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Donna and my mom...indicator of the conditions!
WINDY...40-50 mph!
Can you say sand blaster!?!
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It didn't stop ANYBODY from having a good time!
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Especially not RON who is like a kid in a candy store at the BEACH.
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Cade and Jacob loved helping RON create a sandcastle!
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Katie and Shayla even dared the conditions!
Knowing the conditions for the BEACH weren't ideal
we started the day at
AQUARIUM of the PACIFIC.
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Large Aquariums were set up to show all the unique fish and ocean life habitats.
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I love this photo of everyone (but me)...
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but think this one is even better...
notice only seconds after I took the first one...
everyone in their true form!
(i.e. David's on cell phone, Ron showing a "true" smile not the forced "do I have to take another picture!" smile, and my mom who loves to apologize for her grandchildren!)
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The best part of the Aquarium was "petting" the stingray's!
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We found out STINGRAY'S are pretty cool...slimy too!
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We also enjoyed WATCHING the sea lions.
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Grandma, Grandad and Uncle David...enjoyed just being with us...
they were real troopers!
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And when it was time to go...
Christopher FELT special knowing he got to hang out with his GRANDPARENTS. 
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While the DAD'S of the bunch...
got to wander the BOARDWALK with the kids!
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The Beautiful Queen Mary in the background
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We didn't LAST long...it was way to windy and cold...
so we ended up at the LAST place we thought we would go in California...
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CHUCK E CHEESE!
At least we were together...
sharing memories and establishing and restablishing
much needed FAMILY relationships!
Thank you family for a weekend I didn't want to leave from!

1 comment :

lytj said...

Jana, Thanks for sharing with all of us a visual feast of our California weekend. I'll just write this one note, but it will cover the temple/wedding section as well as the pre-wedding dinner section. You do a beautiful job of picture taking and writing your thoughts. Another thank you. I do love looking at them, and got Dad over to look at them as well!