California Dreamin' {Day 1}

On May 16th the Ritchie family ventured off on our very first real family vacation. The weeks leading up to that day were filled with anxiety for this mama - mostly related to traveling with 2 boys, a double stroller, 2 carseats and a weeks worth of luggage - not to mention the 4:30 AM wake-up call and having to connect in Denver before our ultimate arrival in LA. My brain wanted to fixate on pending disaster, but my heart knew that I just needed to take a deep breath and hope for the best. And in all honesty, the best is exactly what we got!

Harry and his airplane.

 Max was definitely in "you kept me up too late and woke me up to early, I just caught my 2nd wind" mode. Hence the blurry pictures. 

 Both legs of our flight were easy-peasy thanks to 2 Kindles, Amazon videos and snacks. What the heck did people do before today's technology!?

 With about 20 minutes left in our 2nd flight, Max hit his wall. He handed me his Kindle, cuddled up with his "nigh-nigh," and was out. 

 Harry managed to make it the whole way without so much as a cat nap. We knew his grand collapse was coming, it was just a matter of when. Thankfully he made it through a trip on the airport shuttle and the wait for our rental car. Once in his carseat he didn't stand a chance.

Lunch, a quick trip to the pier on Manhattan Beach and some impromptu swimming in their underwear later, and both boys were out for the night. They slept from 5:15 California time until about 5:30 the next morning, completely missing dinner with Matt's cousin Erika and her husband. It was much needed rest before a fun-filled week in the sun.