Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost: Santa Monica!

We had such a fun day yesterday!!! I picked up the car at 8am, dragged the boys out of bed and off we went to explore California. Santa Monica is UNBELIEVABLE!!! There's some video on my youtube channel if you want to check that out, there's also a video here of Derrek's First Roller Coaster!!! Yes that's right, Derrek has never been on a roller coaster!! And I'm a ride FANATIC (in case you didn't already know) so I made him come with me. Actually bought his ticket and dragged him like a child onto it. I get really excited about rides!! Anyway, he's now ready to enjoy the big ones in Disney World because he passed with flying colors. The roads here are pretty intense. We went to Santa Monica, Venice Beach and then down to San Clemente without much mishap. I have a friend down here that I met when I was in Costa Rica who I haven't seen in forever and she offered us her place to stay in which is amazing of her, because there are 6 of us! I'll just post some pictures for you. The 7 lane freeways here are unreal!! I'm a pretty aggressive driver already so I fit right in!!

Driving!!! So focused!!

I love how all the highways are SO well marked, there's signage everywhere

Our first glimpse of Santa Monica

The pier

Not sure what this building is but I like it

The beach

The edge of the pier and mostly beach!

The crew taking in the beauty!

I love roller coasters

I thought this spot was really cool, it was amongst all the fisherman and buckets of bait at the end of the pier in Venice Beach and I love that it says 'we are the future'. I just really love this photo!

Venice Beach!

Santa Monica

Ferris Wheel at the Santa Monica Pier

There were random dolphins swimming around in the ocean!

A really cool house!!

I love Venice Beach and the little canals everywhere!! So many movies have been filmed around here!

Oh the boys. So much fun!

This house was the coolest thing ever!!!! It's right on Venice Beach and it's actually got a cool treehouse thing with a giant chandelier!! I love it!