I know it seems like I ask for your help a lot, but we are a houseful of girls (and a boy) that always has something going on.. whether it be fundraisers for the American Cancer Society or Facebook contests for Smashbox, it seems like every time you stop by, I'm asking for yet another favor! If this type of thing annoys you, then please know that I certainly don't want to irritate anyone; I just like to have a little fun with my girls when they enter these crazy contests, so I try my best to get a few extra votes in for them – even if the odds are sorely against them! 🙂

In this case, Sabrina has entered an American Eagle "Your Best Shot" contest, in which one must submit a photo that shows their true "AE spirit." I thought the photo Bean chose was appropriate, considering it's full of denim! And I think it's kind of all-American-looking, but that's just my opinion. 🙂

If you have the time to stop here and vote, it would make my girl very happy! I imagine any college student would be more than happy to win the grand prize ($3000) to put toward their tuition… or maybe toward a 4-year-supply of Ramen noodles.

Thank you so much!

Moving on to the next couple of days in California…

Thanks to a bad roller-coaster experience, this was the most harrowing day of our adventure:

There are lots of really good rides, but there is also one that I do NOT recommend (I won't name names, but it starts with The Green Lantern). Here's a quick shot of the family (sans me) getting ready to leave on one of the milder coasters that day; I had already ridden it once and didn't want to push my luck with getting a headache…

I didn't take many photos at all that day bc most of the time I was busy getting whipped around on mile-high tracks while screaming for all I was worth.

The next day we drove north, to Salinas. Mike's Aunt Helga (he mother's baby sister) lives there with her family, and since Mike hadn't seen them since his mom's funeral (and some of them he hadn't seen in many years), we decided to visit for a couple of days.

What a wonderful, warm bunch of family they are. We adore every one of them, and are so glad we were able to spend some time with them.

One of the things we got to do while visiting was to go whale-watching in Monterey…

This is part of Fisherman's Wharf:

There was a seafood place handing out samples of clam chowder, and we all agreed it was the very best we'd ever tried. Sabrina is NOT a seafood-lover, and even she thought it was good…

From left to right: Mike's cousin Randy (Hi, Randy!), Sabrina, Mike, Aunt Helga, Bre, Sophie, and Mike's cousins "Little" Helga and Cathy… there were lots of other family members too, but this was the group that went to Monterey with us.

Randy is such a sweetheart. When we stepped into the sign-up office, the owner let him choose any hat he wanted, which absolutely made his day!

Soon we boarded the ship (we called it a boat, but one of the workers told us that anything 100' or more is deemed a ship), and sweet Randy was petrified. It was the first time he'd ever been on a boat (fine, ship!), but as soon as he spotted some sea life, he forgot his fears and rather enjoyed himself…

As soon as the boat started picking up speed, it got very chilly and windy!

After about an hour or so, we saw our first whale! The director kept reminding us to look for one of the four "B words"… birds (hundreds of them in one area), bubbles, blows, or backs. Everyone got very excited when we spotted the first blow… I didn't have my zoom lens with me, so I didn't get any really good pictures, but here's one of a tail…

Btw, after you see the blow of air/seaspray and then the whale's back, the tail is the last thing you see. Once it's completely submerged, you probably won't see the whale come back to the surface again for another 30 minutes or so – and you never know where it will resurface. Every time a tail would break the water, the director would say over the loudspeaker, "…aaaaand, goodbye!" and then the tail would disappear.

Here's a distant view of a blow and a back, from a family of 3 whales…

"…Aaaaaand, goodbye!"

The wet cold got to be a bit much for everyone but Mike (you will never hear him complain that weather is too hot or too cold or too windy), so one by one we started heading inside…

…But some of us scurried back out on the deck when the director announced that she'd spotted a basking shark…

This particular shark had been injured on its fin, perhaps by another creature or a boat. Sabrina Googled "basking shark" on her phone, and when she showed the director, it was soon announced over the loudspeaker that "A CUTE GIRL HAS A PICTURE OF A BASKING SHARK ON HER PHONE, IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Sabrina wasn't sure if she should be flattered or embarrassed, but lots of people approached her to look at her phone.

Here is a photo of a basking shark that is similar to what Sabrina had pulled up:

(Can you believe the size of that thing? They don't eat people, btw.)

After almost 4 hours, we headed back to shore, and the skies finally cleared…

Bre and Bean grabbed a quick picture with Little Helga before getting off the boat…

We were all very hungry after our 4-hour-tour, so off to Bubba Gump's we went…

While waiting for our name to be called, hoola hoops were our entertainment… Randy's sister, Alicia, joined us for dinner too; she's in the blue top, next to Mike…

And a trip to Bubba Gump's is only complete once you've stepped into Forrest's shoes…

Not to be outdone…

What a memorable day that was! And with the sweetest bunch of people I've ever met!

But before I go, let me share just one last photo with you. It was taken just after we got off the boat in Fisherman's Wharf, and I do believe I'll use it if I ever need to blackmail either of these girls…

Only in California.

Early on the third morning, we set off for Mission Beach, which was about 5 minutes from our hotel. It was very chilly and overcast out, so Bean and I absolutely refused to go into the water.

Nothing would stop Soph and Big Papaaaaa though…

Here's a view of the shops just off the sand… Bre had gone for a run, and we didn't see her for quite some time, so I figured she'd gotten distracted by seashell necklackes or something…

Bean and I walked to the shops and perused all the tie-dyed tee-shirts, longboards, skateboards, and cute California boys (not I, mind you. I've got my hands full enough with you-know-who).

Pelicans would fly by every few minutes, which I loved seeing.. what huge creatures they are!

Later in the day, the sun came out and warmed up my Joonie a bit…

…and Breanna finally got back to our beach towel! I was so relieved. I didn't like her being gone for so long, and I kept watching the beach for her, while Sabrina kept saying, "She's fine, Mom. You should stop worrying so much."

Turns out, she'd run for 9.2 miles, and never stopped to look at seashell necklaces. 🙂

Later that evening, we headed to the Fashion Valley mall to do some back-to-school shopping for the girls and eat at my new second-favorite place:

Oh my heavens, if you've never had a real fish taco on a corn tortilla, you're in for a treat. Oh my my my my my. I had one here in Omaha a few weeks ago, and I thought that was good. But that was nothing compared to this. (Btw, my new first favorite eatery is a little Mexican place called Roberto's on Mission Beach. We had fish tacos there as well, and they were about a half-star better than these, in my humble opinion.)

The next day we drove about an hour north to Disney Land/California Adventure…

I've never seen so many people in my life in one place. One year Bre and I headed to Disney World in Orlando during spring break (for a cheer competition) and it wasn't even as bad as this. The wait lines were sometimes 140 minutes for rides! We decided we had no choice, so we added ourselves to the Space Mountain line to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

It was at the 55-minute mark that we heard the Space Mountain loudspeaker announce, "We're sorry, but we've closed this ride for an indefinite amount of time due to ride issues. You may continue to wait, but we have no guarantee of when the ride will resume operating."

After a mass groan, many people left, but most of us stayed to brave it out. Thankfully, 10 minutes later the ride resumed, and everyone cheered.  In a brief 35 minutes or so, we were on one of our favorite rides. 🙂

Next up was the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is another one of our favorites. You have to shoot targets and steer your "ship," and we all like to see who scores the highest (Mike always does). Btw, in case you're wondering, my hair clearly did not survive Space Mountain…

The main reason the girls wanted to come to Disney Land was to collect Disney pins. Mike got them started on these pins when they (Bre and Bean) first visited Disney World back in 2001, and it proved to be quite an addiction. (Every Christmas, Mike gets them new ones from Ebay to add to their collections.)

If you've never collected pins at Disney, you start with a purchased "trader set." These are basic pins that you buy in sets, and you can go up to any park employee (called Cast Members) and ask them if they would like to trade. They're usually wearing lanyards full of them, and no matter which pin you ask to trade, they'll say yes. 🙂 It's a ton of fun for those who are on the hunt for limited edition pins, or the fun "Hidden Mickey" pins that so many people love.

Here are the girls, purchasing their trader sets (they didn't think about bringing their collections from home) and getting ready to choose a free "mystery pin" from a bucket… (btw, the sheer excitement of it all on Bre's face just cracks me up!)

This is Big Papa's role in pin-collecting:

This was Sophie's mystery pin, which her sisters kept trying to offer trades for:

While standing in line for The Haunted Mansion, Bre tries to work her magic…

I love the expression on Soph's face here; she is such a newbie at trading, and approaches even her sisters with a bit of apprehension…

But she quickly learns that if she's going to get the best pins, she's going to have to beat her sisters to the Cast Members. It turned out to be quite an entertaining experience, watching the three girls flit from lanyard to lanyard…

Sabrina's got a good one!

Big Papa's been swindled charmed again…

We were able to get the girls to snap out of it long enough to hop over to the California Adventure side of Disney…

But it didn't last long…

When the girls spotted their very favorite ride, however, they put their pin-trading on hold…

Hollywood's Tower of Terror is based on the old Twilight Zone series. After a brief, spooky introduction, you're led into a large elevator with seats enough to hold about 20 people. After they close the doors, the elevator slowly rises up the tower, stopping in front of a large window that looks out over all the park. Suddenly, the elevator drops quickly, at which point everyone inside screams at the tops of their lungs, only to have to do it all over again about 3 more times. It's a wild ride, and everyone who has ever ridden it is hooked.

Except for me, who is the only one of the Stewart Clan not raising their arms in abandon:

I seem to remember someone prying my hands from the lap bar when the ride was over, but I could be mistaken.

Seriously though, my family loves that ride so much, we returned later that night to ride again…

Eventually it was time to leave the park, so out we went with the rest of California…

…and the girls cried "Pins, pins, pins!" all the way home.