Every year our stake holds an auction to raise money for the youth to pay for youth conference and camps. This year was the first year we went, and it was a blast! You could silently bid on services, food, clothes, flower arrangements, etc. and at the end there was a live bid for all of the big ticket items people in the stake donated to help raise money. I don't remember too many items but things like a voicemail from Larry King and tickets to Disneyland were included. Among those items was a 6 night stay at a condo in Huntington Beach. I was a little impulsive and hyped up by the thrill of live bidding that we went for it and won it for $510.
Initially our friends were going to join us, but due to lack of vacation and the possibility of having to travel to visit family instead of being able to use vacation time for beach fun, I ended up mentioning the condo vacation to my sister Erin, whose husband just happened to be traveling to San Diego just for one day at the end of August. What would have just been a quick one day trip for Brian turned into a week's stay at a condo just across the PCH from the Huntington Beach Pier.
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| View from the patio |
We got to the condo on Monday, August 26 and stayed until Sunday September 1. We left right before Labor Day, which was a wonderful idea because the salt water pool and hot tub were deserted all week, and then on Sunday was pretty full of people, including a lot of single adults. It was perfect timing.
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Ready to swim!
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| Of course the boys had to dig a big hole to play in |
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We had a few beach days, a trip to Legoland, a day at a park, and a quick trip to San Pedro to check out the USS Iowa and then got drenched in the fountain in front of the battleship. We swam every day and ate our meals on the patio looking at the ocean. We also celebrated Ellie's 8th birthday by spending the day at the beach and eating Cold Stone ice cream cake. Delicious!
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| Playing with Legos- we had to take them away after 2 days since they were causing sharing issues |
This was our third vacation since we've been married where we haven't gone to Utah and while we were sad not to be able to visit our whole family, it was so wonderful to spend extended time with Erin, Brian and their kids. All the kids were great with Claire and kept an eye on her so she wouldn't fall down the stairs. She was a little hard at the beach since she kept wanting to eat sand, and she needed to nap about every 2 hours, so Jay and I took turns hanging out at the condo with her while everyone else was at the beach.
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| Under the Pier |
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| Wearing matching dresses to church |
It was a pretty perfect beach vacation and I think I speak for us all when I say I wish it would've been longer. We will definitely bid on the condo again at the auction next year cause this was a great trip!!
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