cali, cali

California was amazing. It wasn't nearly long enough, but vacations rarely are. I think it was extra hard on Evan because he had been on vacation for a week already, and then I show up ready to hit the beach and see all the things and he's already had his fill of In 'N Out (SACRILEGE!) and is probably ready to be out of the smog and into the fresh mountain air. Me, on the other hand, I'm ready to go, go, go and do every last thing there is to do in LA, which is a lot of things if you were wondering.

We did the beach thing and walked around Seal Beach, which is the cutest little coastal town I maybe have ever seen. Minus the name is totally deceiving and there are not actual seals on the beach and Evan and I argued over this for quite a while and he won and I looked like an idiot. This town should get a rename because nonnative Californians are all so excited to go to SEAL beach only to find out that there are absolutely NO SEALS anywhere to be found besides the concrete one on the sidewalk. We ate Thai food and Evan had to change a dirty diaper on the bathroom floor while Maddox screamed his head off and I sat at the table like, "Omg, this is real life." We did the California Science Center where we saw the culmination of my childhood (Endeavor) in a metal hanger out back and I almost cried because that was cool. We walked around and around in awe at how freaking massive that space shuttle is and watched the movie of getting Endeavor to the museum like 100 times because that was equally as amazing. We did the Zoo thing where we walked an insane amount and it was insanely hot that day (especially so because I went from negatives to barely above zero to 80 in a few weeks and my body was just like, "WTF."). But I love zoos and Maddox also loves Zoos. He was especially fond of the gorillas and the little baby monkeys who climbed against the netting. He loved the giraffes and the zebras and all the children running around. We went to a Dodger's game and sat in the outfield and didn't spend $13 on a beer even though I really wanted a beer. We ate at In 'N Out and Chipotle and had gelato and bubble tea and Rita's Italian Ice. We had some rooftop brews at the cutest little rooftop brewery that overlooked the ocean. We watched a sunset on Huntington Beach and drove around on the PCH like total tourists. I took a million pictures of palm trees and the ocean and speaking of the ocean, Maddox was a big fan and threw a temper tantrum when it was time to go.

We had entirely too much fun and I have been home for four days and I'm already ready to go back.

Traveling by myself with Maddox was super hard. He didn't love spending four hours on my lap and I didn't love running through SLC because our layover was literally 30 minutes in length and our connecting flight was in final boarding stages by the time I arrived. I didn't love holding a screaming and kicking baby while simultaneously being judged by other flyers. I didn't love being home for a week by myself before we got to fly out to meet Evan.

BUT. I did love Cali. That was my forth trip to that state and I have told Evan multiple times every single day how much I need to move there. Yeah, the mountains are super great but I want to live on a beach for a while. I feel like this won't go over very well with our parents so mostly I'm going to call it a vacation but it's going to be a vacation that is going to last like 365 days.

PS. Sorry, not sorry for the picture overload.