Catalina Island

Last weekend we drove out to Newport Beach to get on the Catalina Flyer to go to Catalina Island.  We had to be there by 8 am and it just so happened that there was a donut shop right next to our check in so donuts and coffee while we waited to board the boat it was.

These girls were excited!

We left the cloudy skies behind and arrived to the beautiful sunny island.

We walked to our hotel, dropped off our bags and then walked over to Descanso Beach to get lunch and then enjoy the day on the beach.

Brooklyn always loves a fun fruity drink.

Lunch & Cocktails

After we ate we grabbed a spot on the beach and enjoyed the sun.  The girls were in the water the entire time, they snorkeled and took turns floating.

After a few hours we headed to our hotel and got cleaned up for dinner.   I spotted this amazing home, which was one of the Wrigley mansions on the island.  It is now a bed and breakfast.  It was so pretty!

We ate at the Bluewater and could not of had a better view.  The food was delicious too.

On the walk back we found some live music and enjoyed that for awhile.

We didn't have anything planned while on the island we just kind of played the day by ear.   I asked the girls what they wanted to do when we woke up and they both agreed they wanted to go back to the Descanso Beach Club and have a beach day.

On Saturdays they have a DJ so their was live music all day and it was packed.   We were lucky to find a spot and ordered up some drinks to enjoy.   The girls snorkeled again and played in the water all day.  At one point Kayla and I were walking up from the water and the DJ mentioned something about being with your best friends and Kayla looked at me and said I'm with mine.  Seriously I love that girl!   She is such a great kid and I feel like the past year she has been so much more grateful for everything we do for her.

Towards the end of the day we got a text message from Chris' mom, they were at a funeral for Chris's step dads father,  everyone there took a shot of his favorite whiskey as a final goodbye and they sent us a picture of it so I told Chris we should order two from the bar so we could honor him as well.  We sent back this picture and let them know we were celebrating him from Catalina and his great granddaughters were out there in the water living their best life.  It was a sweet moment

Leaving the beach we saw a mommy and baby deer.  How adorable are they?  Later we found out that they are invading the island and are not the islanders favorite which makes me sad because I love deer.

We cleaned up and got ready for another dinner but first I grabbed a picture with my two favorite young ladies.

Then a family picture!

Kayla was my sushi partner this night while Brooklyn and Chris ordered poke bowls.

The next day we rented a golf cart to drive around.  This was so much fun!   We enjoyed seeing so many pretty views and seeing all the houses was neat too.

Twinning

Don't worry we didn't drive around with them like this.

I got a little bit closer to the Wrigley Mansion, still my favorite!

Just too pretty!

We saw so much and it only took a little over an hour to see it all.

After our golf cart drive we walked around and checked out some of the shops.  Brooklyn bought a flute which she played a lot and still does now that we are home.   A few family members may or may not be annoyed with the fact that I let her buy it but I will never say no to music.

We were on our way back to the hotel and stopped in at the island  museum.  Sundays were free so we decided to spend some time there before heading back to the room to rest a little before dinner.

I had heard so much about this spot and I love lobster so I wanted to try it.  I ordered a lobster roll and was not impressed, none of us were so we were a little bummed but oh well.  We made up for it with dessert instead.

The ice cream from Scoops was delicious!

Happy Girls!

Our last day Kayla and Chris went zip lining!

We booked this the night before and she was so excited!  She loves this stuff and lucky for her her daddy does too!

They drove up the mountain and got to travel down five separate lines to get to the bottom.  They had a great time.

While those crazies were doing that Brooklyn and I did some shopping and wandering around.   We grabbed some delicious rocky road fudge and a chai latte and chatted for a bit.

Later while we walked around the boardwalk we saw a giant tuna that had just been caught.

Eventually we met up with Kayla and Chris, we grabbed a late lunch and exchanged stories about our day and of course Brooklyn played the flute for us.

We boarded the boat at 4 o'clock and headed back to the mainland.

Brooklyn was so sad to leave, she kept watching the island getting smaller and smaller and saying she was so sad.  It was a really fun weekend getaway and a perfect last family vacation for our Summer.