Hotel California Part I

Instead of telling you about my weekend, since I actually did absolutely nothing (which was marvelous, btw), I was thinking about telling you what I did last weekend.

When my cousin got married in California.

And my family and I went and did all kinds of California things.

Like listen to rap music in the car. 

I didn't realize rap music was the tell-tale sign that you're in California until we finally pulled into town and my husband was like, "We're in California now. We need to bump this shiz."

"It just makes you wanna like, get aggressive wid it, doesn't it?"

Sure thing Nate. Sure thing. 

We made the trip out with my sister, Audrey and her fiance, Adam

We left at 4:30...in. the. morning.

In the morning!

It's OK though, cause we got to Rendondo beach by noon and didn't waste any time getting the vacation started!

Our hotel was literally in the best spot ever.

If I were to have Googled "best spot ever" in Redondo Beach, 

the cross-streets of our hotel would've come up.

I'm sure of it.

 Everything was in walking distance, including Redondo Beach and the pier...so we decided to start there once we arrived.

We made our way to a fresh fish market where we picked out our lunch.

On the menu? Shrimp for me (duh) and thresher shark for Nate. 

Everything was delish.

My mouth is salivating just thinking about it...

After lunch, we took our time and just hung out on the pier, and checked things out.

We even ran into my parents kayaking in the bay

And then we decided kayaking looked fun.

So we made it happen.

And it was fun.

...Besides having Nate in the back complaining about how I kept splashing him with my oars.

It happens dude. We're kayaking.

We paddled out to this island-thing full of sea lions, and I've come to the conclusion that the life of a sea lion could probably be a good one.

Minus getting eaten by sharks and stuff.

But think about it, you just lay there in the sun all day, in the water, take naps, and yell at everyone who tries to roll over into your spot.

I could totally go for that.

Oh, and this is my sister and I chest bumping.

The life jackets made it cushion-y...you know, so the girls were OK.

We were pumped for kayaking.

After we kayaked we made our way over to the Fun Factory...cause they have air hockey. 

And I can never get enough of air hockey.

Nor can I ever beat Nate, but I don't even care.

I looooove me some air hockey.

Saturday we woke up early...not by choice...at least for me.

Nate and Adam are like old men and are up at like, 5 every morning.

I don't get it.

We decided bikes would be a good mode of transportation for the day, so we rented a few and rode down to Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach stopping along the way to do, well, whatever the heck we wanted cause we're on vacation!

After our bike ride, Saturday afternoon/evening my cousin's family was hosting a picnic...somewhat equivalent to a rehearsal dinner, but way more awesome, with way more games, 

and everyone's invited.

There was a lot of cornhole, a lot of volleyball, a lot of food, and a lot of...well, fun.

My sister and I with Brittany, the bride-to-be!

Cousins

...would you believe me if I told you he's the youngest of us?!

The height will fool you every time...

Later in the afternoon the marine layer, or whatever you Californians call it, rolled it and suddenly it got cloudy, and windy, and quite frankly, really cold!

70s is really cold OK?!

So naturally, when you live in the desert you're not used to the marine layer, what do you do??

You freakin' bundle up cause it is cold up in huurr!

As Brittany says, 

"It's really not sunny all the time in California. It's just a myth perpetuated by Hollywood."

Preach guurl.

After the picnic, Audrey, Adam, Nate and I went back to our hotel room to relax and 

have a little dranky drank.

Audrey and I put our mini plastic wine bottles in the ice bucket and went to town.

Keepin' it classy, what can I say.

I thought I was gonna have this whole trip wrapped up nicely into one post with a bow on top, but I'm realizing that's just not gonna happen.

It's too much goodness.

Too much awesomeness to fit into one post.

...that and my computer is mad and won't work very quickly anymore.

Be sure to check in for Part II!