California Trip Days 6-8

Finally my job of posting about our California trip that happened a mere 3 weeks ago is finally coming to a close.  So on Wednesday of our trip we made it down to San Ysidro...i.e. Tijuana on the U.S. side.  But it is so worth it because the Las Americas Premium Outlets reside there.  We met up with my cousin and one of her kids to do some shopping.  We figured we would be there for a couple of hours.  Um...try maybe 6.  Marathon shopping was so fun and Elijah was a trooper since it's not really what guys are into.  He did manage to get a hat (because he NEEDED another one), a couple of shirts, and shorts.  Audrey made out like a bandit.  I think I bought all of Children's Place.  Oh well...great prices!! I got some cute stuff too and we had a blast!  Here's a look at us after the shopping trip!

Child swap.  I look like a cross between a human and and alien, but everyone else looks good so that's all that matters.

Self portrait of Elijah and Audrey's hair.

On Thursday we traveled down to Valley Center to visit with Elijah's grandparents and uncle (who is younger than Elijah).  We made a pit stop in Carlsbad to do just a tiny bit more shopping and then headed down.  Elijah's grandpa gave us directions.  Bad idea.  He was told to take exit 76.  Well we drove to where exit 76 would be and for some random reason it went from 75 to 77.  We pull over and call and apparently went to far (like Lake Elsinore far)  He asked if we had seen the border patrol station and we did so he he said it's one of the 3 exits after that.  Um, okay.  We ended up finding it...and guess what exit it really was?? 46 to HWY 76.  Big difference between an exit and a HWY.  So then we were told to turn onto Hoosier Canyon, which really was Cousiers (sp) and then turn onto "Desert Rat" which is their mountain one lane dirt road to the top of the hill.  Really it was Deseret.  Uncle Mike said to call him next time!  So about an hour longer than we should have been driving we made it up there!  They have a beautiful avocado farm and nice views.  Not much to do on the top of the hill so we went to Temecula, or as we liked to call it, Teh-meh-ku-luh.  We wandered around old town where I think there was just shy of 50 antique stores in 1 square mile.  Record maybe?  Elijah and Mike got to taste test some hot sauces and we ended our stay at a little place to taste wine.  I enjoyed my H20 and the nice breeze!

The sign reads "Do not touch the water."  We're from out of town, so what do we know?

Uncle Mike is tall...this picture just makes him look even taller and goofier.

Audrey not following the posted signage either.

Elijah letting his "acorns" breath.

Civic Plaza in Old Town Temecula

Tons of street chalk art.  My favorite!

Audrey taking a walk

Fiona's to the left (Mike's girlfriend)

We finished the day with dinner at Pala Casino and a drive home.  Took even longer because the freeway was down to 1 lane a mere 1 mile from our exit.  Sigh. We got home close to 11pm and were slated to leave at 5am the next morning.  I didn't shower because I just wanted to sleep.  We ended up leaving closer to 7:30am after loading up the car, getting ice, breakfast, and gas.  We decided we were going to try and make it the whole way home.  I felt hairy, greasy, and nasty and Audrey had the squirts, but we did manage to drive the 13 hours back to Casa de Cavinder.

We were looking for an In-N-Out to eat at in Phoenix, but never found one right off the road so we stopped at McDonalds where Audrey had her first fast food fix.  Nuggets and apple slices.

Playing with her Pokemon pig/rabbit that she got since she is a boy and didn't deserve the girl toy doll.

Tuckered

Greasy McHoolahan and her prized Moshi pillow.

Our trip was amazing to say the least and flew by.  I was so happy Audrey got to visit her Nana, Uncles, Grandma, cousins, and great Grandparents.  I am so excited to see Nana again in a couple of weeks for the bros wedding!!