Where the Sun Always Shines

We packed our bags and drove to California for a fun filled trip. We were looking forward to this vacation for months. We looked at this vacation as a moment to breath. Life can become so hectic and this trip was a perfect opportunity to slow down and enjoy the moment’s life hands us.

Our trip started with a day in the sun on 4th of July at the Shaw home. We spent two days in the glistening pool. Spencer loved his first swimming experience; he went to the pool like a fish in the water. He loves bath time so I expected that he would love the pool. He was splashing everyone, he literally wouldn’t stop splashing. Our cute little fishy!

After our fun in the pool water we packed up again for our trip to Malibu for our first beach camping adventure as a family. The Shaw family have been going beach camping for years, but this year was my first time going. We loved our first experience camping together as a family. This year all of Brady’s siblings went camping except for Haley and her family, who we missed. It was an interesting experience camping with an almost one year old. First of all, he was such a good boy during our trip and he loved camping. However, he is in a (normal) separation anxiety phase and won’t let people hold him. He loves to play with people while we are holding him (he loved playing with his cousins), but doesn’t like the idea of letting others hold him. So while we were camping Brady and I took turns holding him. We couldn’t exactly just let him crawl around in the dirt and give him the opportunity to eat all the rocks and leaves. So holding him was pretty much our only option. Spencer is a very wiggly boy and loves to explore so Brady and I were his jungle gym while camping. Other than that minor detail we had so much fun. We played at the beach, talked around the campfire, and made yummy non-traditional s’mores (using different candy bars like Reese’s). We love camping and hope to make it a family tradition of our own.

We left Malibu Friday and spent time with my parents that night. We first celebrated Verna’s birthday at Red Lobster and then went over to my parent’s home. My parents love spending time with Spencer, as he is their first grandchild. On Saturday my mom and I hung out while Brady spent some time with his friend Patrick. Then Saturday night my mom watched Spencer while we went out with friends. Spencer actually warmed up to my mom pretty quickly, which I was grateful for. We had so much fun with our friends. It had been so long since all of us had been together. We spent some time at Downtown Disney and ate at Rainforest Café. We then hung out at Wendy and Neal’s and played Rock Band and Catch phrase. We laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. We were so glad that we were able to squeeze in some time with our friends before we went home.

Our trip was packed with adventures that we will remember for years. And although it was difficult to leave California it was nice to be home.