Day 1 and 2: It's only just the beginning!

The Nicola Family - Tom, Betty, Sam, Traci, Victoria & Samantha left Coal Township on Monday, June 30. We stayed at a hotel in Baltimore (where Victoria, Samantha, Traci & Betty did some swimming), got a good night's sleep and headed out to the BWI Airport for a 6:50 a.m. flight...the flight went VERY smoothly! Samantha cried for the first few minutes on the plane, but as soon as the plane began moving, she smiled, laughed and enjoyed the rest of the flight!

We arrived in California (after a brief layover in Milwaukee) at 10:20 a.m. Pacific Time (or 1:20 p.m. in Pennsylvnia). Pap-Pap went to get our luggage while the rest of waited for what seemed like forever at baggage claim. Finally, we got everything loaded into the rental mini-van, dropped all of our luggage off at Aunt Shiloh's and headed off to see Francis & Anthony (we were all meeting Anthony for the first time!) After a few minutes and a short nap, Anthony warmed up to everyone and we had a great time! We stayed there long enough to say hello to Jennifer so that she could relax after her day at work then headed off to Aunt Shiloh's again to rest up! We had a quick dinner of sausage and hot dogs and then Victoria & Samantha went immediately to sleep (quickly followed by the rest of the adults).

On Wedensday, July 2, we headed off to La Jolla Cove and Shores. We saw Sea Lions and then went swimming in the ocean for a bit! Victoria & Samantha had a great time splashing around in the cold water and Victoria even found a "hermit crab" in one of the caves! After that day, we made Pap-Pap's day by stopping off at Hooters in Mission Valley for lunch...after relaxing for a bit, we had dinner with Aunt Shiloh, Uncle Francis, Aunt Jen and Anthony at "Da Boys" pizza near where Uncle Francis & Aunt Jen live.

We're now sitting at Aunt Shiloh's (who is and will be part of all of our fun in California!) playing with Bruiser and yelling at Montego to not come outside!!! Relaxing a bit and getting ready to rest up for another fun and busy day in California!

We'll check back in tomorrow!!!

Sam

and Traci, Victoria, Samantha, Tom, Betty & Shiloh