Our 2019 Spring Break trip was a tour of Southern California. We had a 6:00 AM flight out of Nashville on day 1 and it was the kids first flight ever. We are BIG fans of the Bucket List Family, so we copied a page out of their book and kissed the plane for good luck!

As we were boarding, one of the flight attendants pulled the kids to the side and let them visit the cockpit. They LOVED being able to meet the pilots and see all the controls. Our sweet flight attendant even called us out over the announcements–he said, “I need to let our first time flyers, traveling to California, know that we are expecting turbulence and things might get bumpy for a minute, but that’s ok!” Then he came by and made sure they heard him! All the flight attendants on this first flight were extra-attentive to the kids and made them feel so special.  We couldn’t have asked for a better “first flight” experience for them!

Libby was very nervous before this first flight. She was asking lots of questions to try to understand what was going to happen during takeoff. Right before the plane picked up speed on the runway, the intercom dinged. Libby looked at me and said, “Mama, what was that?” And before I could even acknowledge that she had asked a question, she said, “Mama, I really need an answer!” I got so tickled! The second we were in the air, she was totally fine. In fact, for every flight after this one (we took four flights, total), she was a professional!

Jase rode around multiple airports (and the rental car stop) on top of suitcases and I thought it was the funniest thing! I was also super jealous in Chicago when we had to walk what felt like four miles to our next gate!

From the airport, we headed straight to our hotel. We are HUGE Hampton/Hilton Inn fans, so for night 1, we stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Santa Monica. We checked into our rooms, freshened up a bit, and headed towards the Santa Monica Pier and beach.

I’m not sure what I expected from the Santa Monica Pier, but it wasn’t what I got. I didn’t even get a photo of or on the Pier because I was just trying to take everything in. (Full disclosure– I missed a lot of great photo opportunities on this trip because there was just SO MUCH. I was afraid I was going to miss something if I stopped to take a picture of something else!)

We took the walkway from the Pier down to the beach. The views were amazing!! There were several vendors on the walkway selling Mexican street corn and churros and all sorts of other things. It was such a fun experience!

We enjoyed one of the best meals in Santa Monica at Casa Martin. It’s a locally owned Mexican restaurant and when the owner stopped by for a chat, we asked for menu suggestions. Based on his recommendation, we ordered the Mar, Cielo, Tiera Molcajete to share and it was, without a doubt, some of the best authentic Mexican food I have ever had!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to let the kids swim in the pool for a bit. We wrapped up day 1 a little early Cali-time, but it was almost midnight Alabama time, so we were exhausted! We were all tucked in by 9 and ready for day 2!

PS: California Vacation Day 2 (Los Angeles) blog post coming soon! Subscribe over in the sidebar so you don’t miss it (or any other posts!).