California, Days 1 and 2

I finally have the two things needed for blogging. A computer with internet access and a little time in the day. Jeff is off on his honeymoon but he left his nifty macbook with us to take home and I'm taking full advantage, hee hee. Today we are in a lovely little beach town just south of Santa Barbara called Carpinteria. The pace of the trip has slowed and I find myself with nothing on the agenda except choosing whether to hang out on the beach, rent a bike or take a drive up to Santa Barbara for the day. So, I'll start recording the trip day by day and getting some photos up. It's really been great and I can't wait to read and relive every moment.

We flew into LAX on Wednesday night after a 2 hour delay of our flight. Fortunately we weren't changing planes, so there was no stress. The only appointment we had that night was with a rental car company and our hotel for the night. We got all our luggage, got the car and found our hotel near the airport all without a hitch. That was a good way to start the trip.

Thursday we were all up super-early, still being on Eastern time, but it was fine. We enjoyed our free hotel breakfast, then headed out to meet up with my brother and his family. 4 of my siblings came to CA to be at Jeff''s wedding. I'm so pleased about that. We decided to meet my youngest brother in Topanga Canyon and take a hike through the hills above Malibu. It was dry and dramatic and so different from home that it was a great adventure. We ended up taking a 6 mile round trip hike to an overlook and back. The day was a bit foggy, so we didn't have a clear view once we got to the top, but the weather was incredible-breezy and in the 70's and it was still beautiful.  After that, we had a picnic lunch in a shady grove there in the park, then headed for Malibu Lagoon Beach.  It is a surfing beach so it was fun to watch the surfers wait and wait and wait, then catch a ride into shore. I've never really seen that in person before, and it definitely made me wonder if I could ever learn to do it. It looked really fun. Here is the photo timeline:

Evan liked both the name of this trail and the fact that he might see a mountain lion. Sadly, we didn't see any. 

The landscape was dry and barren, but for a bunch of city folk used to living in a forest, it was pretty cool.

Hamming it up for the camera.

The views we saw on our hike.

My youngest brother and my newest nephew.

Sara and Evan with their Aunt and two cute cousins.

Cousin Love.

And of course a heart-shaped rock. I actually found two on this hike but misplaced both of them so I'm glad I took pictures.

Our misty view of the Malibu coast.

Up at the top of the overlook. The sun was brutal as you can see by Eric's desperate squint.

Down at the beach-my brother and his whole family in one shot.

Sara, my grown-up girl, enjoying the beach.

Sara and Even trying to throw each other into the surf.

My Sis-in-law and one cute baby.

A surfer gets his ride on the right and another one wipes out on the left.

Sara and Ev jumping in the waves. 

Eric and Sam enjoying the beach in their own way. They aren't really beach people plus they've both been working really hard.