Oxnard

Rich had to work in Oxnard for the weekend training staff at a new store that opened.  Ryan went up to winter camp with the church and the girls and I spent the weekend with Rich.  I drove us up separately since we had work/school.  The girls (especially Sara) loved staying in a hotel.  It was actually her first stay in a hotel since we always stay in our RV when we travel.  Sara LOVED being able to watch TV from her bed-she thought that was so cool!  I couldn't keep her out of the pool, even though I thought it was freezing outside!  Needless to say, she's wondering when her next vacation in a hotel will be!  

My favorite part was the breakfast buffet that was included with our stay. I figured that it would be a small tray or two of pastries and such.  But no-it was a full buffet with all breakfast foods!  We enjoyed eating in front of floor to ceiling windows watching dozens of ducks on the 18th hole of the golf course.  It was definitely restful for me especially without Ryan there to tease the girls all weekend.

Rich did a fabulous job training the staff at the store—he is VERY good at what he does.  

Brrr!

How Anna spent her time in the hotel.

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She could stay for a while!

On Sunday, Rich and Sara left to get back in time to pick up Ryan.  Anna and I took our time coming home.  We stopped at the Outlets and Anna scored some great deals.  We meandered through Malibu Canyon and ended up making a pit stop at a beach in Malibu.  It was fun to see The Hill on the other side...usually we're at the  beach there looking out across the ocean to Malibu!  We drove down Highway 1 to Santa Monica where Anna made me try and park for dinner.  So not a good idea.  After trying unsuccessfully to park, I gave up and we headed home after stopping at a more familiar place for a bite to eat.  Other than trying to park in Santa Monica and getting slug-bugged all the way home, the weekend was a blast!!

Trying to touch a starfish

It was low tide and there was so much sea life to explore.  Anna is a scientist by design.  She is super smart and loves science, so she knew all about the sea life and loved exploring the area.  I loved photographing her love of the ocean/science/sea life just as much!

The little crab she fed to the sea urchins

She's laughing because she put the little crabs in the open sea urchins, then poked the urchins until they closed on the crabs.

Sporting her new sweat shirt she just bought from the outlets.

The open sea urchin before Anna poked it until it closed.  

That was a fun weekend.