Roadtrip to Dino Land

After the bridal activities a few weeks ago, I went over to my momma's for some good ol' family fun. 

Both my lil sister(Lisa) and brother (Quincy) have birthdays in September so we celebrated them with some bbq and football.

Monday we woke up early and I hit the road with my older sister (Ami) and her two super adorable kids. They were coming to visit me in Arizona for the week so we decided to make a road trip out of it.

Now I will admit, I stop at the dinosaurs in Cabazon almost every other time 

I drive from California to Arizona. 

Yes, I realize I am 27. 

But when I was a kid, we used to stop every time we went to visit my grandparents in Joshua Tree so it holds a special place in my heart. Plus... dinos! 

We would always go up into the gift shop in the belly of the brontosaurus and stare at the massive t-rex. We would beg our parents to take us into the back museum, but always got told "no" due to time and money constraints. 

This time, since we were old enough to have our own money but with young enough kids to have an excuse, we decided to go into the museum in the back. 

Childhood dream realized. 

The back museum has 50+ dinosaur statues and robotic dinosaurs. 

With museum admission, you also get to walk up into the mouth of the t-rex. 

Yes, the big one you can see from the freeway. 

It was an intense climb up a tiny spiral staircase. But awesome view and experience. 

I love that she is casually posing on the teeth and he looks terrified. 

Such a great time.

Santa Monica Instadump

as promised yesterday, here's some pics from my santa monica adventure
this adventure was fairly last minute
but when someone says "hey, do you want to stay in my beach condo for the weekend?"
you don't say no... am i right?

shirt my brother got me - seemed appropriate for the roadtrip 

saying good bye to arizona and the sun

not a shabby view

frank the turtle who resides in the courtyard

santa monica pier at night

(taken by @okfnjesse)

santa monica pier during the day

the dinos in cabazon - i have to stop every. single. time.

windmills remind me of going to my gma's as a kiddo

the weather was lovely, i spent most of the day reading and soakin in the scenery
sat night we went to sushi with my good friend tijana and her man
(known that lady since 5th grade, whaaat?)
and then we all walked down to the beach for some night time wave watching
after returning to the condo, my friend nicole from college came over with her man
and i realized we had a lil ucla party going on
(2 ucla undergrad students, 1 ucla masters student... go bruins!)
we chatted into the wee hours of the night (aka midnight... i'm old now)
then sunday was more book reading and sight seeing as we drove home

not gonna lie, all this traveling is fun. but its great to be home.
sleep in my own bed. use my own shower.
unpack my suitcase (two loads of laundry done!)
and it'll last a whoooole weekend.
because i'm road tripping out to san diego in two weekends.
somebody stop me.
or dont. i like the adventures.
so i better rest/catch up while i can ;)

have you guys been traveling lately?
anyone gonna be in sd in two weekends?
anyone else love those dinos?!?

Dino Monday :)

I will return with a "real post" soon. 

Til then, I hope my little friends make you smile :)

Friday Smiles

 

Update: Boyfriend just sent me this pic, which made me laugh as well 

I might have a thing for dinosaurs...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!