Jennifer Riley Photography Middletown, Maryland: Santa Barbara Family Vacation

Me and my boys

I am not sure if this really goes with my photography blog because I am including some iPhone pics and some pics that I didn't take but I am dying to share these pictures. I spent every summer since I was 5, in California and I haven't been for 5 years. My parents planned this amazing vacation for us and it lived up to all of our expectations. My number one goal was to enjoy every moment and just relax, which is no easy feat, when traveling with my very active 3 and 4 year old boys. They shocked me with their pretty amazing behavior. The travel days were pretty intense. We left our house at 7 and arrived at our hotel 12 hours later. To all the mamas who told me to get the kids Leap Pads, I thank you (as do all of the people on the airplane).

Oh and to he hotel; the complimentary bottle of wine was pretty much perfect. I had it open before Brent even had the bags up to the room. We had the best view from our room and an extra bonus, we had a train that went by all the time that the kids loved:)

My only plan for the first day, was to walk to the farmers market to get fruit for our room, to have for breakfast. We got there before it opened and I was in photographic heaven. And my kids wanted every fruit they saw. I probably spent $60 on fruit and it was all gone in 2 days. This farmer's market was absolutely amazing.

Artichoke Flowers!

I after we got back we decided to go to the beach and there was a free festival going on with tons of huge bounce houses, which was of course a big hit with Cooper and Cass. Then we played in the sand and water for a bit.

We rounded out the day by going to this amazing restaurant. Brent found a skill of choosing places to eat and he did well. We ended up eating here again a few days later. Thew were also amazing at handling the boys food allergies. Sitting outside was awesome.

Calista's oyster shooter with quail egg... You may think she's hardcore, but she wouldn't eat the cow's eyeball...

The next day we went to Solvang, by way of windy mountainous roads. We won't go in to details but an hour in to the drive the windy roads got to Cooper and about 2 hours in the elevation go to Brent and I....

The boys LOVED the pool!

Cass showing his muscles (I swear we try to feed this kid)

We also went to the zoo, which was only a mile from our hotel. Cass was worn out and pretended to sleep on a rock.

My favorite day was going to Carpenteria. This is my favorite beach and where Grammie lived. We started the day off a Hugo's, which was Grammie's favorite breakfast place, for crispy bacon and french toast. Then we headed to the beach. Calista, Brent, the boys and I went for a walk to the tide pools to see the sea anemones. It was a 2 1/2 mile walk which Cass ran and Cooper rode on my back.

Mom and Bandit

Next stop was the museum where Grammie volunteered. I was excited to show the boys the exhibit about my their great-great-grandfather's role in aviation history, but sadly the museum had taken it down. The lady who was our docent was probably around 90 and remembered us and used to do Scottish dancing with Grammie, so that was pretty cool. She was just amazed that we were there from Maryland. She directed us to the marker that had information about my great-grandfather and I found a book at the museum on the history of Carpenteria that had a chapter devoted to the "Flying Bauhaus Brothers" which was pretty cool.

The sign says "Here lies the dog that last pooped on my lawn" --outside of the Carpenteria Museum

It wouldn't be a complete day at Carpenteria Beach without a stop at The Spot for taquitos. How they are exactly the same as I remember them is beyond me. This place just celebrated it's 100th anniversary. I remember going there with my great-grandmother for corndogs. The food is amazing and I got the boys fries, making them the 5th generation of my family to enjoy this fantastic little place.

The next day we went to the Santa Barbara Mission. Grammie used to take me there. The boys thought it was a castle and, well, we went with it. Stacey met us there and took off from there to meet up with my parents and then to go back home.

Thursday was family photo-shoot day. Thanks to a little help from Calista and Brent. I am pretty happy with the pictures (and I have been known to be a little picky).

Here are a few random pics. It was an awesome trip and we enjoyed all of the family time, I enjoyed not cooking and cleaning and Brent actually enjoyed not working!