California Dreamin

I have decided that one day I need a little beach house in Santa Monica with a retro mint green bicycle that has a basket to carry all my fruit and flowers. Malibu is just the most gorgeous place, everywhere you are on Pepperdine's campus has in incredible view of the ocean. It was actually quite warm this week which was unusual, fine by me because I love the heat but it did make climbing all the stairs on campus a little more fun ;) Seriously, I thought my calves were going to fall off.

 There was just one part of Malibu that was not beautiful. Our rental car. They gave us a minivan. A part of us died that day that we will never get back, and just because God likes to pull jokes the minivan had Alabama tags. We didn't stick out at all. 

Each morning we had our breakfast on this patio overlooking the ocean. 

Josh actually had to work so we spent every morning down at Zuma Beach. There are a lot of fun beaches, but Zuma is the best with kids because it has so much sand, but you can still see the surfers and some wildlife. The boys were loving it, it was perfect weather for playing in the sand. Thankfully Sugar and GrandDa drove to CA so they brought some sand toys with them.

 Is this a cool kid or what? 

Lucas might be the cool kid, but Finn is definitely the Malibu surfer boy. The first day, we all got sunburns, what did Finn do? Tanned up and his sweet curls got blonde highlights. 

 Lucas thought it was pretty funny to go run and chase all the seagulls. It kept him busy for quite awhile but it worked, when he came back and opened his bag of animal crackers, one seagull didn't even dare come over to get one. 

 This family was born to hang out on the beach, it is our happy place :)

Another fun place to go with kids in Malibu is John's Garden, a little play area nestled amongst some stores and eateries. Weeks before coming out, my friend Lindsey and I planned to meet up with our boys. It is uncanny how similar our families and boys are. Our oldest are about a month apart, tall, skinny, blonde, energetic. Our youngest boys are 1 week apart, laid back, brown curly hair, and not so skinny;) We had a lot of fun playing in the sand and catching up.

 The little brothers. Little referring to their ranking in age, not size.

These two enjoyed taking some good walks on the beach. Finn definitely started breathing much better once we got to CA, part of that was letting his meds finally kick in but I think the ocean air and breeze were helpful too. That is until a forest fire started just south of us, we all got sore throats and he started wheezing again but that was the extent of it. 

Most of my Pepperdine experience was at the beach with the boys or in the dorm while they napped but I did get to go out one night to a ZOE late night session with the ZOE wives. Being a part of the ZOE family is such a blessing- Lindsay, Kayci and I are blessed to have talented husbands who speak- well Kayci is probably the most talented preacher- and it is a gift to live the life of a pastor's wife along with these women. We were enjoying the Malibu life so much that we even went out for dessert on the town at 10:30. You know, to the dollar menu at McDonalds, but it was still dessert in Malibu!

My boys overlooking the ocean from the chapel area on campus. 

Look who I got to see! Chris and I grew up together in West Virginia. Our moms were the best of friends and Chris did everything from church, being homeschooled, going back to "real" high school, and practicing on the MAC Swimming and Diving team every single day for years. In other words we didn't have a life- it was homework and the pool for us but your teammates become your family and those bonds last for a long time! He lives in LA now and is pretty big time, but it meant the world that he came down to visit with us and eat dinner with us for a couple hours. 

Well, that is our Pepperdine trip for this year. Next year Josh is a keynote so I will be coming again, but this time without kids I think. They were great and we made good memories but I would actually like to sit and catch up with friends that come out, be able to go to some of the great classes, and eat at some of the more fun restaurants that I would go to with my boys. So, until next year, I will start working on my stair-master so I can conquer the campus without having to stop for oxygen on the way up ;)