The Mullins Family: Southern California

On December 27th we made the long drive down to Southern California to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday. It had been a long time since I have been to Newport Beach and Balboa Island, so it was a really fun trip! Jenny drove down with Ella and Nicholas, so it was also a lot of fun getting the chance to hang out with them, not to mention all of the rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins who I haven't seen in a long time. I was excited to show Lucca all of the fun things that I enjoyed doing there when I was growing up. We rode the ferry across the bay, went to the fun zone and the beach, ate at Ruby's on the pier (where I had the best hamburger EVER) and ate Balboa Bars! Yum!

We also went to Disneyland, although it was a bit of a letdown because it happened to rain on the day we were there. The weather was beautiful all of the days we were there with the exception of the day we decided to go to Disneyland! We made the best of it and bundled up, but with the rain and the crowds, the kids were done by 4:00. Gabe and I were able to stay a little longer to get some more rides in (thank you mom for taking the kids) so we at least felt like we got our money's worth.

We had a big 80th birthday party at a wonderful restaurant for my grandpa's 80th birthday while we were there. Lucca and Siena experienced their first non-family member babysitter while the adults took to the town. It was lots of fun and it was so good to get the family all together again after so many years!