And so it Begins!

I'd like to tell you that I woke up with a bang this morning, jumped out of bed and was ready to go! However, that just wasn't the case. Instead, myeyes slowly rolled open only slightly past 7 a.m. I had a number of hours to go before my guests arrived, so I laid around enjoying the quiet and watching Law & Order on Netflix. But once I got the text message saying they had landed early, I jumped in the car and headed to LAX.

Katie and Kayla both looked asleep on their feet when I entered the baggage claim

area. They were staring at the bags circling the belt, wondering when Katie's orange bag would appear. After a small snafu with the carousel, we grabbed the last of the luggage and were on our way to formally beginning the fun!

We zipped down to Manhattan Beach to grab some brunch at The Local Yolk. We sat in the back by my one of my favorite wall decorations....A GIANT PAIR OF BOARD SHORTS. I've always had this idea of taking a picture while two people were stan

ding in either leg of the shorts, and I really felt like this was my chance. So, I asked Katie and Kayla to do me the honors, and they did! This was all before my mom dropped her camera in Katie's whipped cream and later Katie laughed up chocolate milk into Kayla's napkin. Needless to

say, we were quite the sight to be seen and within less than two hours, my guests had already made their mark on California.

We were hopeful that jet lag (and just a lack of sleep on my part) wouldn't get the best of us, so we headed to my apartment, dropped off the bags and headed back out to

get started on our "plan." We made it down to Santa Monica to get our manis & pedis. We went to the first place I ever took Kayla when she came to Cali, which was to Toe Heaven. Mom and I sat on one side of the shop, while Kayla and Katie were on the other side. It was hilarious for me to watch the girls' faces because they seemed SOOOO serious. When we were done, we made a valiant effort of heading down to the 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica's large outdoor shopping center complete with loads of street performers! But after a few laps of a blocked off left turns and then a few more laps of the garage, we pulled into a spot and I saw the look of exhaustion in their faces. So I suggested we head home for an hour of relaxation before leaving for dinner. The car agreed, but relaxation we did not get.

On the way home, we stopped by another mall and found ourselves wandering through Best Buy and then Target. A few purchases later, we realized it was almost 5 p.m., and we needed to run back to my apartment so mom could get changed and we could grab my friend AJ before heading to Malibu.

So the one hour relaxation turned into three minutes of sitting on the couch before jumping back in the car and driving north along the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. The sun was shining down on the ocean as we drove past beautiful houses in the hills. And when we arrived to Duke's, we were quickly seated at a window-side table with great views of the sunset and waves. Some highlights of dinner were the seagull who kept visiting our window and peaking in, the ladybug that crawled out of Katie's caesar salad, and a visit from the evening entertainment who came to serenade us and teach the girls how to hula dance. We got video footage of the dancing, which hopefully Katie will post!

By the end of the evening, everyone had full tummies and we were happily slugged toward the car to wait for the valet. Katie and Kayla decided it would be fun to mimic everything AJ was doing, which definitely got under his skin. AJ is used to being the torturer, not the tortured! But it was funny for the rest of us, so that's what mattered. Before coming home, we stopped for some frozen yogurt at Yogolicious. I knew the girls would love a place where they had control over creating their own frozen yogurt treat from 15 different flavors and numerous toppings! Not to mention the disco light and dance music that the evening staff there likes to play.

So home we went and here we sit. After some habitual time on Facebook, I finally coerced the girls to give this blog thing a try, so hopefully soon you'll hear this story from their own perspectives! But for now, I need to pump up the air mattress and get this kid to sleep. I may be a fun aunt, but I know I'm too old to forget my sleep! Especially when the fourth of July awaits us!