cali!!!

Last week, Bart and I had a great vacation in Southern California. He went out earlier in the week for an ENT conference, and I left the boys with Bart's parents and joined him later to have the first real vacation we have been on just the two of us since our honeymoon. I'm going to warn you that this is a long post because we had such a great time and I don't want to forget all the fun things we did.
When I first got to San Diego, Bart met me at the hotel and we walked to where he was attending the conference so he could attend his last class. While he was in class, I walked around and took photos. How awesome that this is the view from the back of the conference center!

Inside the conference center was this awesome photo waiting to be taken. The only problem was that this view was from on the escalators, and I had to ride up and down them 3 times to get this shot from the right angle. I wonder what people watching me thought I was doing.

After the conference ended, we endured a ride on a city bus with the rudest bus driver (seriously, he was unbelievably rude), and we headed to Balboa Park and went to the Science Center. There were so many fun hands-on exhibits, and it was fun to be somewhere like that without little kids. We saw an IMAX movie called, "Under the Sea."

Walking around Balboa Park there were so many places that I wanted to take pictures, it was a gorgeous area, with such fun buildings and landscaping. Plus, there was a beautiful sunset.
Hooray! A picture of us together. This doesn't happen near enough.

The next day we drove up to LA and went to Universal Studios. Again, it was fun to be somewhere like that without the kids.

On the Studio Tour, my favorite part was the set for the airplane crash from War of the Worlds. It looked so cool!!

While walking around the shops, we stopped to play some video games. Here I am playing some Guitar Hero. I'm so into that game right now!

I had been there before, so it was fun to show Bart some of the things I remembered. It was so much fun, we wish we could have stayed longer, but about 2:00 we had to head out to go to the taping of The Tonight Show. I don't have any pictures of that because they were very strict about the fact that photos were not allowed. But it was so awesome!!! It was so neat to see how they produce the TV show. I was fascinated by everything in the studio. The guests were Christian Slater, Jimmie Johnson, and The Backstreet Boys. I seriously want to go to another taping sometime.

The next day we went to Newport Beach, one of my favorite places in the world. I have so many good memories of being there on vacation, and I loved being able to take Bart. We saw sea lions and dolphins in the water, walked along the beach, and gawked at all the amazing houses right on the beach. We ate some delicious gelato and soaked up the sun.

A couple of dolphins that we watched for quite a while.
Later we stopped by some friends' house and visited for a while. We hadn't seen them in years and it was fun to catch up.
I guess we hadn't had enough of the beach because as we headed back to San Diego, we decided to stop at La Jolla Beach. Bart instantly fell in love with this area. It was gorgeous, and felt so different from any other beach I'd ever been too, because it's tucked in the cliffs and hills.

Look! Another picture of us together!

I had to complete an assignment for my photo class while we were there, so I was experimenting with the sunlight and silhouetting. I even asked a couple I didn't know to kiss for a photo, but those didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but it makes for a funny story.

We flew back home early the next morning, and both of us wish we would have had a few more days out there together. It was such a great trip and I'm so glad I got to spend a few days alone with my sweetheart!