On July 19th, we boarded a plane bound for sunny California. We would be spending two weeks in Thousand Oaks, just north of Malibu. My mom thankfully came along to help out with the kids. We stayed at a beautiful home in a quiet neighborhood of Thousand Oaks. The backyard was amazing with a pool and hot tub that we put to good use.
Aria and Sam would be working with Alyssa VanOver, a CME trained physical therapist with a small clinic just 20 minutes away in Agoura Hills. Since she only had a daily 1-hour slot for each of the kids, we added on an OT session for them both as well.
After arriving to the rental house and unpacking, everyone headed outside for a dip in the pool.
Monday came and we headed to the clinic for our first sessions. Aria had an hour of PT and OT followed by Sam. They both did great. We had the afternoon free so decided to attempt a hike up the hill in the back yard. To get to the entrance, we had to walk several rather steep blocks. It was pretty warm out, and I had Aria on my back and Sam was on Shane's. It was quite the workout just to get to the trail entrance. But we pushed on and up Tarantula Hill and made it to the top!
Owen sat this one out, deciding instead to take up residence in the hot tub while we made the trek. On our way back down, we could spot him lounging in luxury.
I was hoping the walk down would be easier, but due to the steepness of the trail and having a 37 pound child on my back, my old knees almost didn't make it down.
The next couple days were therapy for the littles and pool time for the bigs. The OT that we were supposed to work with sadly got sick with COVID after our first session so the remainder of our therapy time was going to be quite light with just PT for Aria and Sam.
Before leaving for our trip, Owen had researched 4D theaters. He was adamant that we watch a movie in '4D'. I wasn't quite sure what that meant but agreed to it. We booked tickets for him, Rose and I to see 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps" in 4D at the Regal in Valencia.
On Thursday, we ventured off for our excursion to the theater. We took a 'short cut' to get to the theater through the mountains and oh my, were those quite some curvy and steep roads. Thankfully traffic had subsided by the time the show ended so we stuck to the freeway on the way back as there was no way I'd navigate the mountainous roads in the dark.
We arrived to the theater just in time. Owen did not want to miss the previews so we headed straight in to take our seats. Thankfully we had opted out of drinks and popcorn. As the movie began, our seats started moving and vibrating with bursts of air and water shooting out at times. It was definitely not a sit-back-and-relax type of experience. Both Owen and Rose absolutely loved it!
Friday therapy finished up early so we decided to check out the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden. It was more of a nature park than a Botanic Garden and not at all accessible. But there were some nice views from the top of the hill.
Afterwards, we walked along the pier and enjoyed a late lunch next to the water.
Then we were off to Santa Monica Pier. We grabbed lunch first at a local Mexican restaurant before heading out to the pier.
Our first stop was the carousel. Everyone enjoyed the ride.
It was Aria's absolute favorite ride as she rocked back and forth on her horse. She loved it and asked for more once we came to a stop. But with so much more to do and see, I promised her we'd stop on our way back for one more spin.
Next we took a ride on the famous ferris wheel to see the amazing views.
Rose, Kate and I rode on nearly every ride available.
Then we hit up the games. Kate spotted an avocado stuffy that she just had to have. Shane stepped up to the task of throwing the football through the hole and voila! Kate got her stuffy!
On our way out, we stumbled upon Zoltar from the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks, and we of course had to get our fortunes told.
Then it was onto to the carousel for one more spin on the horses, and we were finally on our way home. The next day Aria and Sam would be back to therapy so they both needed a good nights sleep.
The littles spent the next week hard at work while the rest of the crew hung out at the rental house enjoying the pool. The OT was unfortunately still out sick so Aria and Sam got some pool time too.
Towards the end of week two, the OT was back in the clinic for one last session before we finished up our intensive. She worked so well with the kids we were bummed we only had a couple sessions with her before heading home.
Working with Alyssa was amazing. She is the only level 4 CME trained therapist in the US. She was incredible. I only wish her schedule allowed us to see her more than a couple hours a day. We are used to doing 4 hour intensives (2 hours for Aria and 2 hours for Sam), so only one hour for each was pretty laid back for us.
We snuck in a few more fun activities late in the week including an outing to Brandon's Village, a wheelchair accessible playground.
The merry-go-round was a bit hit!
Friday to celebrate the end of a the littles intensive therapy, we headed to a splash pad. Surprisingly Kate was the only one interested in getting wet.
Afterwards we grabbed some shaved ice at a small mom-and-pop shop down the road where the hornets terrorized us in their attempts to get to our sugary goodness.
Saturday August 2nd was our last full day in California. We packed in our final adventures with a trip to the Natural History Museum.
We then headed off for Malibu. We grabbed a late lunch at Sunset Restaurant then caught the waves at Zuma Beach.
It had gotten pretty late and chilly by the time we arrived to the beach. While that kept the majority of us out of the water, it was no deterrent for Rose and Kate who were both soaked by the time we left.
Soon we were on our way back to our rental house to get packed up. After an amazing two weeks in California, our trip had come to an end and it was time to head home.
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