Aiden’s Malibu California Birthday Trip

A special trip, to one of my favorite places, with my favorite boy! Chris and I planned a thirteenth birthday trip for Aiden to Malibu California — and it was filled with memory making that I will cherish forever.

I can’t believe that our boy is turning thirteen his month. Mamas, hold tight to your little ones, it goes impossibly fast. And yet, with every new stage comes new joy, falling in deeper love with this journey of motherhood and what a gift it is.

Aiden is just so easy to love, he has a heart of gold, and makes us proud every single day. We wanted to celebrate this milestone birthday with a special trip. I truly can’t yet grasp that he will be a teenager! He’s mature and wise beyond his years in many ways, but also in my heart he is forever my little boy.

There’s something especially tender about the birthdays of your first born. After all, it’s our anniversary of becoming parents. Our worlds changed when Aiden was born. We have so much to celebrate and to be grateful for.

We decided to head to Malibu/ the coast of Southern California for Aiden’s special birthday. I grew up coming to Malibu California Beach, and my brother went to college at Pepperdine, so I have many special memories here. I love sharing places that are important with me, with my children, and to experience the wonder through their eyes.

We stayed in a home right on the water, the ocean is impossibly blue in Malibu, and the waves can be huge! The home was the perfect malibu california aesthetic. Aiden really got a kick out of the sound of the crashing waves and watching them from our deck. We had some fun walking and exploring the beach, seeing the Malibu California Homes and enjoyed our hot tub with an ocean view!

A few of our favorite Malibu California Things to do including:

Malibu Farm

The most picturesque restaurant, right on Malibu Pier! There’s a more sit down restaurant at the front of the pier, and a cafe at the end — both owned by the same restaurant. Fresh California clean eats are their speciality. We love coming here and the views cannot be beat!

Malibu Country Mart

Our favorite shopping area in Malibu! They have independent shops as well as more well known stores. They have lots of delicious restaurants to choose from. One of my favorite stops is Sunlife Organics for smoothies, juice and açaí bowls.

Universal Hollywood

Heading into LA we couldn’t wait to take Aiden to Universal! He loves Jurassic Park, Transformers and all of the fun to be had there. I loved watching him have such a great time!

As we headed down the coast we also love stops like Lego Land just outside of San Diego, Sea Aquarium in Dana Point Harbor, 3 Ben Brown 9 hole golf in Laguna Beach — complete with lunch at Harvest Rest overlooking the course. We love Montage Resort and walking Treasure Island there, and had lunch at Ruby’s Diner across the street. 5 Aliso Beach at the beach shack is another favorite not to be missed!

What I think may have been the highlight of the trip for Aiden was Prehistoric Pets. Aiden got to meet Jay with Prehistoric Pets and it was such a special moment for this reptile loving boy! He really had a blast here and got to see so much!

My parents have a home in California, so we ended our trip there before flying back to Texas. It was such a lovely trip, with so many special memories made.

XO,

Casey Wiegand