We left for Girls Days on Wednesday, April 25th. At 6:00 am, George and Nancy came to pick me up before grabbing April and heading to the airport. We flew to Phoenix and then to Burbank. Amy and Alli were already there to greet us. We had a delicious lunch at Portos and bought tons of pastries to supply us while at the beach house. As mentioned many times in past posts, Girls Days is an annual tradition with the Gruber women where we rotate taking turns hosting a few days of activities. This year was actually Amy’s year, but she took Alli up on her offer to stay at the Corday’s beach house. We had been there the year before as well while Nancy was hosting.
Nancy brought snacks to share on the flight
We stopped by Alli’s house to go through clothes and things that she was giving away from her own stash as well as things from friends and from Cordays that they didn’t want anymore. We left our big bags there since we wouldn’t have that much space for so many suitcases in Alli’s car. We went to visit the graves of family at Forest Lawn and then drove to Oxnard.
We settled in at the beloved beach house and then went over the itinerary that Amy had prepared for us. We walked along the beach, had an amazing Mexican dinner at Arcos, and then watched the sunset from the beach house.
doing some beach house fixing
We can't help doing a good old photo shoot:
no photos of Alli, she wasn't feeling well so she was napping back at the house
the infamous tar
we definitely didn't starve...
games
The weather this weekend was on and off warm and windy. We had a blast playing lots of games, relaxing, and eating tons of treats and goodies. Amy really had me in mind, being seven months pregnant. I was so grateful!
On Thursday, we had a ball completing a puzzle, and they all surprised me with a small baby shower! It was so thoughtful and nice! I was completely taken by surprise. Then we had beach time, playing frisbee and velco ball. We had lunch and dinner at home. Nancy did a little family history lesson for us.
a list of nice things Jason said about me being a mother
On Friday, we quickly assembled some hygiene kits that we took to a nearby Women’s Shelter. When we took the kits, we were also given a tour of the facility. It was humbling to learn and hear about the hardships of the women there, while at the same time the facility was impressive and inspiring to be reminded of such hard work and perseverance.
After the Women’s Shelter, we had lunch at another favorite spot, Jetty’s. Then it was back to the beach house for beach time, the Saran Wrap game, and a bonfire with hot dogs and s'mores.
it was chilly out there
On Saturday we had a fun time with paintings; this year, however, we had subjects of each painting already picked out and did a timed rotation. At the end, we drew numbers to see who ended up with which painting.
The Progressions:
The Seaside Scape
the finishing touch was some actual sand from the beach
Abstract:
Homage to Food
I may not have gotten the final look at this painting
Flowers
The Mountain Landscape
It was really fun to see what we ended up with!
All that painting made us hungry
After painting, we walked near Embassy Suites and found ourselves in the hot tubs there. It was amazing. Dinner was delicious at Pho Saigon.
gotta protect the skin
because Alli missed the first round
Then the dreaded Sunday came. We cleaned, packed up, and then headed home. George was a good sport again and picked us up from the airport. Lucky for us, we got to continue the family fun with dinner in Riverton with the whole family.
A most wonderful year of Girls Days activities! It was so nice and relaxing. It was also fun and entertaining. I sure do love these Gruber girls!
