old stomping ground ~ CA

We lived in Southern California for 2 years...almost 9 years ago.  WOW!!  It's been along time.  While in Cali, for the reception, we had to drive down memory lane.  Before moving there, I always pictured it looking like the picture below, streets lined with palm trees.  Not many of the streets are.  But this one is and this is the street Mason was born on.  When I was going to my appointments I always loved the look of all these palm trees.  I wanted to get a picture.  We moved when Mason was 10 months old and I never got a picture.  This time I made sure to get many pictures.  Mason has always asked where he was born and was excited to finally to see.  When the moment arrived he really didn't care.  So I went down memory lane and enjoyed every moment of it.

We also went past our old neighborhood.  This the elementary school that McKinzie and Bailee attended.  It is much smaller than I remember.

Our home looks almost exactly the same.  When we lived there we had a palm tree in the front yard near the sidewalk.  I loved that little tree.  I think all the first day of school pictures are in front of the palm tree.

Up the street from our house is a nature center.  The two girls would go there all the time with some neighbor girls.

The kids wanted to hike up the trail to a rock that had graffiti on  it.  It was quite a climb.

Bailee told me they use to climb up here all the time.  Bailee was in first grade and McKinzie was in 6th.  I was a little surprised.

The boys loved it.  They want to move back so they can play on the mountain regularly.

It really was a great day.  The memories, climbing the "mountain", spending time together and in no rush what so ever.

This trip really made me miss California.  If we could have the same lifestyle there that we have here (size of home, cost of living...) I would move back in a heartbeat!