As the summer winds down, my family and I have been spending our last days of this beautiful summer season, exploring some of the California coast.
What started as a simple trip to Disneyland, ended up in a full blown road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles… with 2 kids and a 9 month old wildcard. I know. It sounds insane, but we are having a blast.
We love traveling with the kids. Exposing our oldest two to different traveling experiences at an early age, really has made them great travelers and we are hoping to do the same for little Avs.
Today is our last full day of our 10-day California roadtrip/vacation and looking back, I am kind of in awe of how much we have done and all that we have seen.
Highlights Of Our Last Days Of Summer… So Far–
Exploring Nature And Visiting Landmarks
A road trip would not be complete without visiting landmarks along the way, and California has a ton of gorgeous spots.
Last year, James and I took a quick baby moon to San Francisco and explored the gorgeous Muir Woods. When we planned this road trip, we knew immediately we wanted to bring the kids there.
Sight seeing becomes a whole new kind of fun when you give kids their own camera. These two have been taking selfies like crazy. We plan on making a book for them when our trip is over.
Acting Like A Kid
We planned a few stops along the way to Disneyland, that were especially exciting for the kids– and what is gross to adults is awesome to kids. So when we found this fun little spot in San Luis Obispo, called Bubblegum Alley, we immediately put it into the plan.
We brought a slew of Juicy Fruit Fruit Chews for the road (because they fit perfectly in cup holders) and some classic Juice Fruit Bubble gum for the plane (to avoid that ear pippin) so we were more than prepared for this spot.
When we arrived the kids reactions were… gross!, Wait, we can put our gum here?… COOL! – in that order.
Inhaling the little moments
We always take our family vacations at the end of summer and I look forward to them because they really allow us to reconnect as a family– away from our every day life. I cannot even count how many times I have seen our oldest two holding hands, arms around each other and just hanging out– not fighting!
When we return, we’ll will be posting some more about our trip, including some inspiration for taking your own road trip with your family, but in the meantime, you can see more and follow the rest of our end of summer adventures on Instagram @Complicatedmama #SimplyCali
How are you/did you spend your last days of summer?
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Share your sweetened up last days of summer with Juicy Fruit by using the hashtag #JuicyFruitFunSide on Twitter and Instagram!
This post was sponsored by Juicy Fruit.
Looks like such a fun trip!! I also started traveling with my kids when they were tiny and it has made it SO much easier as they got older. They love and appreciate traveling now.