California Day 1

We woke up early, early on August 15, 2013 and headed to the airport for a flight to Laguna Beach, California!  Lane watched our luggage while Daddy parked the car.  We had quite the load!

We flew Southwest this time, so we had a short layover in Phoenix.  Lane was a little harder this year than last year on the plane.  I think last year I was so worried about traveling with him since it was his first time, that I OVER prepared for the flights, which was a good thing.  He also wasn't in the annoying curious stage he is in right now of thinking he needs to talk 24/7 and ask one billion questions.  It didn't help that I felt so sick on every flight, and Kyle had to take over the entertaining and question answering.  :)

 

Of course, Lane didn't sleep a wink on the flight, even though we woke up at 5am.  But as soon as we got in the rental car, he was going, going........

GONE!  Even before we left the airport parking lot.

We arrived at our beautiful hotel, the St. Regis at Monarch Beach.  Look at our cute bellboy!

We had a really nice suite that Kyle and Lane broke in the minute we got there.

We unpacked a little bit, and immediately headed out to explore the grounds and grab some lunch at one of the resort restaurants.  It was really overcast the first day and chilly!!

One of the pools was behind this gazebo.

The resort was really beautiful.  It is a Starwood Hotel, the same line that Kyle stayed in so often when he traveled with his old company, so we STILL have Starwood reward points to burn.  Hard to beat a free hotel stay!  Especially when it's this nice!

After lunch, we headed to the beach.  Our hotel had private beach access, but you had to take a little shuttle to get there.  Lane needed a ride on the way to the shuttle.  

Kyle has never carried him this way and I thought it looked hilarious!

We made it to the beach and it was freezing.  There were a few brave souls in the water, including Lane, but Kyle and I kept our cover ups on and stayed on dry land.  I even had to wrap a towel around my shoulders I was so cold.  The temp was probably only in the high 60's to very low 70's, but we Texans are used to 100 degree temps!

Lane loved the beach, just like last year.  He would run to the water and squeal with delight as he ran back from the waves.  The first time he did it, he got a terrified look on his face and screamed "lobster!" so loud.  I thought he had been stung by a jellyfish, but it was just a little seaweed that touched his leg.  Silly boy!

He had a great time digging in the sand and building sand vehicles with his car and truck sand molds.

He had a little watering can that he would fill up and then go around watering the sand around us.  He said he was watering his garden.  Quite the imagination.

Such a happy guy!

He enlisted Kyle to come out to the waves with him.

He loved running from the waves with Daddy!  When it was time to leave Kyle said "Ok, one more time," and Lane said "No, 5 more times!"  So, they did it 5 more times, of course!

   

Here's a little video I shot of his fun time at the beach!

 

We rinsed off and headed back to our room for a family nap.

And then woke up for a round of golf with Daddy!

We rode in the cart with him and Lane got out at the greens and putted with his putter.  It was a beautiful course with great ocean views.

That night, we got all dressed up for a late dinner.  With the 2 hour time difference, Lane was all thrown off and slept the entire dinner in Kyle's lap.  I didn't get a single picture of us that night.  We ate at a really good restaurant called Nick's in downtown Laguna.  Yum!

Lane was still sleeping when we got back to the hotel, but we convinced him to wake up to use the bathroom and change into his jammies.  When he laid down in bed between us he sighed a "pleased" sounding sigh and said "The whole family in bed."  So sweet!