Heading Home

It's Friday already and time to head for home.  We still had plenty of time to have more fun before catching our flight home.  We had to pack, clean up, and eat.  The kids begged to try the Cheesecake Factory.  We have passed it so many times when it has been packed to overflowing.  Today we were going to beat the crowds and have an early lunch.  We arrived just as the doors opened and where treated to amazing service.  The food was amazing with amazing portion.  Everyone was stuffed some of use still had room to try the Oreo Cheesecake.  It was big enough that we had a hard time finishing it.  This is definitely an addition to our list of places to eat when we are back in town.

We were stuffed and still had 7 hours to kill.  It was time to head to the beach but not to play in the sand but to check out the shops.  We were headed to Long Beach.  It has changed a lot since our last visit but not the shops.

Wanted Poster?
We definitely want her alive.

Peter Pan or Reganne?

Fun Shop Pirate's Cove

While everyone was shopping it was time to check flights and make sure everything was on track.  Surprise or Not!!! the flight was down to 1 seat.  We were still first for standby but would it make a difference with the 5 of us.  Thank goodness for friends who were still working and could give me some good alternatives.  There wasn't any except driving home.  Thank goodness our rental car was able to be dropped back in town.  One last call to the rental agency to make the adjustments.  Thank goodness I followed the advice given to me before we left and picked the right company.  The one call did the trick and we could enjoy a little more time shopping before we had to start driving.

Ryder & Rylee saw these two
cars back to back.
Who knew you could ever see these together
anywhere.

Walking on the pier.
It was chilly the closer we
got to the water.

Family Selfie
Only one of 20 Dave snapped.

We needed another
group photo with the Queen Mary in
the background

Look at all the boats.
Could we take one for a test ride?

Walking back
and watching the clouds roll in.

Our ride home.
What an airplane!!

Getting everything adjusted for the long ride home.  Could we beat rush hour?  We hit the road and with no such luck hit the traffic right off the bat.  We plugged into Google Maps and tried to follow the crazy directions it kept giving us.  We saw a lot more of Long Beach than we wanted to.  We made through the traffic, a few rain showers, a few bathroom breaks, and car sickness.  Over all we made great time and got to the airport just before closing time.  

We made it home just a 1/2 hour after the flight.  There were two empty seats left on the plane and the other 2 standby's made it home.  All said and one we would have still been one seat short.  I a glad we decided to make the crazy road trip home.  We made it home to a house full of company to share the remaining couple of days of spring break.  Let's have some more fun.