california, knows how to party

a glimpse at our first few vacation days in california.

benji's first airplane ride. he was pretty happy with our undivided attention. we were lucky enough to score an extra seat and he was thrilled with a few little surprises. his favorite game was playing open and shut with the window cover (i'm sure our airline neighbors loved it too). all in all, it went much more smoothly than i had imagined. thanks for all your tips.

a drive by shot of laguna beach. driving down the pacific coast highway is a favorite activity.

thanks to your suggestions, we took benji and his cousins to the pretend city museum in irvine. (if you go an hour before closing, you get in at half price!) it was a perfect place to burn some energy after our arrival.

after settling in, we hurried over to balboa island to meet one of my longtime clients and friends, susan. i designed her identity package & logo when she first opened her online jewelry shop, thepassionatecollector.com five years ago. she recently opened her own store on balboa island! i was so excited to see it in person. it is a super cute shop; filled to the brim with fun accessories and stylish jewelry. i was happy to surprise her with a spontaneous pop in.

the weekend crowds at huntington beach. this was our beach when we lived in southern california; where we spent our saturdays and met the famed skateboarding bulldog. we were anxious to head back for a glimpse of the good ol' days. a fabulous place to spot surfers.

dan has been dreaming of hitting shin sen gumi since our last visit. we introduced his sister and my niece to this authentic japanese ramen shop. they were brave to give it a go. you get tons of noodles and lots of slurping with each giant bowl. the gyoza (potstickers) are excellent too. be prepared to use your chopsticks. not a fork in sight.

swimming with my beautiful neices at the hotel. i love hanging with these girls, they are like the little sisters i never had. they are also known as benji's biggest fans and my on-call babysitters.

coming up... digging up some fun at the beach and meeting a tiger face to face.