summer break in cali

i love my job for a lot of reasons. i love the work i do. i also love the time off from work. every year we get a summer break around the 4th of july. it's the perfect time for a vacation. i stayed in town for the first few days of the break to get some things done and spent the rest of the week in california.

the view from the plane window

we took the kids swimming. kenzie was supposed to be asleep, but since she wasn't we brought her in for a few minutes.

photos of kenzie in her new olive the things shorties and the golden polka dot headband

karlee wanted to try some braids she saw on instagram

when my parents were in town, they took the kids to a jump center. they loved it and couldn't wait to go back.

they obviously had fun

we played tennis. i haven't played at all this summer. i need to get out and play more.

karlee's patriotic nails

we celebrated the 4th with a parade, fun at the park, BBQ, poppers, and fireworks.

the break was really fun and went by way too fast. lucky for me i actually have today and tomorrow off to celebrate pioneer day.

cuatro bonitas X the border

***this trip was provided by seaside reservations***

who: laurann(we've been friends for years but I always refer to her as the friend with the waffle business), co-worker tiffany and her roommate sage, and me what: road trip/tanning trip when: a couple of weeks ago where: rocky point, mexico princesa de peñasco resort why: why not?!? how: 4 beauties load up the car and cross the border
it took some creativity and more time than expected to pack all our stuff. we left after work and drove to Las Vegas.  but first #letmetakeaselfie

we stopped long enough to take a few pictures

sage, tiffany, me, laurann

we made really good time. crossing the border was the easiest thing ever. we got to rocky point pretty easily. once we got there, we got totally stuck in construction. we had no idea which direction we needed to go, and there were no signs. we drive around in circles for a couple of hours before giving in and turning on a phone. once we did that, we got right there and agreed it was worth however much the international data costs to get us there. we fell in love the second we looked out the window. 

by the time we finally got there, we were exhausted. we found a place close by for dinner and went to bed. 

the resort was so quiet our first day. we couldn't wait to get outside and start relaxing. 

we spent our days relaxing by the pool. we read books and magazines, ordered lunch poolside, and soaked up the sun. it was heaven. 

dinner at wrecked

i love being close to the beach, but i'm much more of a pool girl. we walked on the beach at night and went down for a few pictures and drinks on the beach but spent most of the time at the pool. 

they made our drinks and kept handing us more and more cups. the full pineapple was more than plenty. needless to say, we (especially sage) had a stomachache. 

another selfie before dinner

it was so windy our last night

we're a little obsessed with flash tattoos

another car selfie

for dinner we drove down a long dirt road close to the resort. we joked about going to Kuwait for dinner even though it was fairly close. we were so busy having fun we didn't pay attention to the small detail of the mayweather/pacman fight. everything was totally packed so we ended back at the resort for our last dinner. 

at the beach for some pictures

sage can do a headstand anywhere. i'm a little jealous. 

continuing the statement necklace trend

the resort

we got up early sunday morning and drove all the way home. it was a long drive but totally worth it. i would for sure go again anytime. crossing the border on the way home was so easy too. going early in the morning really helped. 

tiffany and i wanted to walk around work the monday after the trip with a sign 1. yes we're tan 2. we drove. you have to drive there. 3. it was so much fun and we can't wait to go back because we got those comments/questions all.day.long ***this post is sponsored by seaside rentals. all opinions are my own***

captain andy's sailing

*this post contains sponsored links. all opinions are my own.

i've been back from hawaii for a month and still haven't finished blogging about it (monkey embarrassed emoji).

with 8 people on the trip, people had various ideas of what they wanted to do. some wanted adventure, some wanted to relax, some wanted to explore, and some wanted a mix. somehow all 8 of us decided to go on a catamaran tour of the island. the weather on the trip (and especially that day) wasn't exactly stellar. we had a lot of rain and clouds. the weather the day of our boat tour was stormy so we couldn't make it around the whole island, but we still had a really great day.

the sun was out when we first got on the boat laurann, me, tiffany, kristi, cheryl, julie, jessica

after being on the boat for a little while, it started getting cloudy 

julie, cheryl, kristi, me, tiffany

and then rainy

julie, cheryl, laurann

tiffany and laurann

once we got to a certain point in the ocean, we sailed for a while

 my favorite part of the day was seeing a lot of dolphins right beside the boat

i was sad we missed the nepali coast, but 20 foot waves didn't seem worth it. the parts we did see were really pretty

gabe going to secure the boat for snorkeling

jessica, cheryl, laurann, kristi getting ready to snorkel

the rain made everything cold and the water a little murky so tiffany and i skipped snorkeling

laurann and kristi

 we saw a big sea turtle also right beside the boat

even though the weather wasn't as good as we hoped, we still had a really fun day.