Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Vacation - Malibu

So as you already know, we headed South for Christmas vacation with the kids this year. We were invited to go with our friends Gene and Susan. They own a time share at Worldmark so we only had to pay for our tickets to the theme parks, food and gas but not lodging. It was a busy, busy week but we had a lot of fun. After settling into the condo the night before we headed out to Malibu where Susan's parents help run a mobile park by the beach (or rather across the street from it).


It was overcast most of the day but I thought it still looked pretty enough for the background of pictures. I had the kids pose for a photo shoot. Unfortunately they were too hyper and didn't want to cooperate, but I eventually won and got my way!


This is one of the few pictures you'll see of me the entire vacation since I was behind the camera most of the time.


See that camper in the background? That trailer belongs to none other than Matthew McConaughey. From time to time he stays at the mobile park Susan's parents help manage. They said when he's in residence they have to keep the poparzzi at bay. Unfortunately he was not there when we were. Susan's mom called a few days later and said he did come by and took a tour of their new trailer. Ahh well... I'm not really into meeting famous people anyways, I'm just a little to introverted for that.


The kids found this ribbon blowing across the park and Elisha put it on his head and told me to take a picture. Yeah he's gonna regret that someday.


How can you go to Malibu without stopping by the beach. It wasn't exactly primo conditions but the kids had a blast anyway.


Bethany, Grandpa Gene and Yohn were playing a game with the waves. They were trying not to let the waves "catch" them. Jewell and Elisha stood further up on the sand for quite a while, going no where near the water. Bethany is always on the lookout for fun, so she was right at the edge of the shore as soon as she could be.


Elisha eventually joined in, I think he realized his sister was having fun and not getting wet... well, for the moment she wasn't getting wet.


It didn't last long. See her pantlegs? The waves "accidentally" caught her. I really didn't want them to get wet, but you know we're not by the beach all that much, why not let them have fun? The mobile park had showers and dryers and it's only clothes and shoes. These are memories they are making here.

Elisha didn't stay dry either. This was his reaction after the first time the waves caught him. He actually ended up falling down just a few minutes later and the waves totally drenched him then. Too bad I did not have the camera turned on when it happened, his shocked look was priceless!

The sun decided to come out and warm up our play time a bit.

Jewell eventually joined in too, but it took much coaxing from Grandpa Gene.

I love this picture of "my boys."

All in all it was a beautiful and relaxing day. Next stop, Disneyland!

5 comments:

Amanda said...

Oh wow. WOW! Wow. I am so jealous, this looks just divine!! But SOOOO happy that you guys had such a wonderful time!!

Blessings-
Amanda

Michelle said...

What gorgous pictures, Ruth! I can't even begin to pic my favorite... I really like the one of the kids in shadow's when the sun came out - it's very artistic. And the kids actually posing - I think you could frame them and hang them on your wall! They are all just beautiful!

I have a funny God story about the beach. In 2005 (I remember the year because we had just found out we were pregnant with John) James and I decided to take a vacation to San Diego just the two of us. Our first day, we stopped in La Jolla and went to Wind'n Sea beach. The beach is mostly rocks, but the view is beautiful. The tide was starting to come in, so I stood on a rock just out of reach from the tide. I told James to take my picture. While he was trying to set up the camera, I had bent down and stuck my butt at the ocean and said "nah nah, you can't get me." Well, just as James had snapped my picture, a wave came up and soaked my entire back side. This is what I get for laughing at God! :)

And in answer to your question - yes. I did my blog design all by myself!! I was playing around with my test blog yesterday and figured out how to add different colors to the different wrappers and borders without adding a background picture!! :) Wanna know how I did it??

Kaleena said...

Looks like you had such a great time! I'm so glad!!!! The pictures are beautiful and fun....I love the one of Elisha with the bow on his head:) Can't wait to see the next stop on your trip:)

Michelle said...

Totally understood. If you have a test blog, you can play around with that one instead of using your main blog. Then transfer the changes to your main blog when you have it the way you like it.

Do you have Instant Message? We could chat there so that we're not exchanging emails/comments all night long! I think I'll have some time around 7 or 8 AZ time, which is 6-7 your time. Let me know. I use either yahoo or msn for IM.

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Great pictures! What a blessing to be able to take a trip like that. My grandparents are part of World Mark, too and we've been able to stay at a condo several times for next to nothing.