Southern California---fun times!!!

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Family Vacations!!!

We drove down to Southern California stopping for a night in Vegas on the way. We slept at Circus Circus and enjoyed a very talented juggler, an amazing magic act which mostly included clothes changes that we couldn't figure out and we enjoyed the trapeze artists. Our kids are still out in the backyard doing trapeze tricks on the swingset. The kids noticed at in the parking lot of Circus Circus, lots of people had used their shoe to make a footprint on the parking structure walls and they all eagerly removed shoes and clapped them onto the ceiling to leave their print as well. Our first day in California we went to the beach. It was so much fun, though yes Ali does look freezing because she is. The boys all got in the water and played in the waves. Ali and I hun to the shore and dug holes, found shells and watched the birds. We managed to control the sun and nobody went home burned. Our hotel was the Ramada in Carlsbad and I have to say, really great hotel. Nice neighborhood, grocery store right down the street. Close to the beach, and they had waffles for breakfast which Byron loved.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!
Carter really wanted to go to Legoland for his birthday.
LEGOLAND was our first amusemet park. We had a wonderful day at Legoland. It is a smaller amusement park, there were no lines, since it was a Monday. The rides are geared toward younger kids, more Tyler's age than Carter's. We had a fun time and seeing all the things made out of legos is neat but I wouldn't recommend it with so many other options around. Ali broke out in a fever mid morning and I went on the quest for Tylenol. Luckily the gift shop had some childrens motrin and saved the day. She ran a fever for the next three days but if we kept her medicated she was able to enjoy herself and feel good.

This picture above is what vacatining is all about. Family vacation is where brothers become best friends. Our family had so much fun!!! We will have to make vacationing together more of a priority.

On the way home from Legoland we noticed a pick your own strawberry field. We stopped and bought an empty bucket and we all headed out into the muddy and sticky field to pick a bucket of strawberries. It was a fun adventure and they were delicious as well.

Eating cake and ice cream with strawberries on top for Carter's birthday party. I found a medium size cupcake at the bakery by our house and we bought Carter a boogie board for his birthday present. He was so excited to try it out.

SEA WORLD
I loved Sea World. We were walking over to the Shamu show and ran across this flock of flamingos which had somehow managed to escape the flamingo exhibit. The workers were having a difficult time herding this flock back into their proper enclosure. The crowd helped of course by taking pictures and being noisy and excited. We loved watching the dolphin and shamu show. They also have a cute pet show that the kids really liked as well, maybe even more than the sea life shows.

These sea lions were fun. You buy a little packet of fish and get to drop it down to them. When Ali was dropping hers a bird flew in and swooped a fish right out of her hand, Ty had the same trouble. So at Sea World they have well fed sea life and fowl.

This is Carter letting a sea star give him a hug. The kids were very excited about this tide pool experience. The water was ice cold but we learned lots of new things.


DISNEYLAND

We went up to Disneyland on Wednesday, a little earlier than we had planned hoping to avoid some of the crowds from the weekend. It was a good strategic move. When we got back there on Friday it was much more crowded.

Carter in Jedi Training Camp. He actually fought the Syth. He really enjoyed this and we would highly recommend this activity at Disneyland, probably one of our favorites. Ty was to nervous the first day to raise his hand and try to get picked but later we went back to try again so he could do it and he wasn't selected. We were all disapointed he didn't get the chance.

I bet not many of you have a photo of your family with the painting the roses red cards from the Alice in Wonderland ride....the ride actually broke down when we were half way through so they turned on all the lights and we walked out of the ride. Of course we had to stop and snap a few photos along the way. We exicted through the fix it room with the extra cars and all sorts of tools. It was neat to get a behind the scenes tour of a ride. Especially since it didn't break down on a ride like space mountain or anything. We waited through the line again and rode the whole ride later. Ali really love Alice in Wonderland, especially when we called the ride Allison in wonderland. She got a real kick out of that.

This was the highlight of my trip. Ali has a Tinkerbell room and has taken a liking to her. She has Tinkerbell costumes and pajamas and a little ride on car,, etc. etc.... I can't tell you how excited she was to meet Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell was so sweet and cute and asked Ali all sorts of question. She asked Ali if she was related to her friend Ariel and told her how much she loved her red hair. Ali just stood there grinning. Melts your heart to watch your child grinning and so obviously enjoying the company they are in. I really just loved the disney princesses, they are very well trained in dealing with little girls.

We found the funnest beach. We went to LaJolla Cove and snorkled and looked through tide pools. The air was pretty warm this day which made the beach all the more fun. There were no waves here and the boys had fun putting on the snorkle masks and looking around at the world under the water. Carter was the most adventurous and actually went out with Byron, breathing through the snorkle and everything. Ty liked to look under but stuck closer to the shore. Byron goaded me out there but I have to say I enjoy snorkeling with a buddy better than alone. There was plenty of sea grass and sea weed which made me nervous, not being able to see what was under me lurking in the grass. Carter and Byron saw a sting ray when they went out one time.

The seals were loving this beach!!! We saw about 20 seals resting on the beach and splashing in the water. It was like Sea World but free. There were even a few snorkelers out in the water with the seals. In my dream world that would be something I would think I would really like but presented with the opportunity I didn't jump on it. It was pretty chilly by the time we found the seals and they are actually fairly intimidating in mass numbers like that.

This is at Carlsbad State Beach. The boys had a great time until Carter got pummeled by a big giant wave which raked him over the sand and I think shook him up pretty good. Who would have thought a bunch of white Utah folk would take to the beach so fast. Our kids really loved it!!

On our first day at Disneyland I learned the line for the princesses is usually around 2 hours....Argh! So when we got into the park on Friday I headed straight there. V-line to princesses. Ali thought this was a great idea as well. We practically jogged there darting and zig zagging through masses of people. We waited forty minutes anyway but much more reasonable than two hours. We got the priviledge of meeting Jasmine, Belle and Arielle. Ali was in heaven chatting with Arielle. They talked a lot about having red hair and Arielle asked Ali if she wanted to touch her hair. It was so cute. Arielle asked what Ali's favorite flavor of ice cream was and when Ali told her play dough kind Arielle said she would have to go try it and bring some home for Prince Eric. Ali was in princess heaven.

Tyler and Tigger having a bounce. Ty didn't want to meet all of the disney characters but he had fun with Tigger. He had no interest in meetin Pooh, he didn't want his picture with Handy Manny. He did request a photo with Mickey but only because Mickey was in his wizard suit. It was funny to watch the boys trying to act all big and too mature for some stuff but then getting so excited about others. Carter downright refused to be in a photograph with the whole family just because there was a fairy in it with us. Interesting.

This is Ali and I on the speedway car ride. I pushed the pedal and she steered us down the road. She had a blast, I am telling you it was like her radio was blasting and she was singing along and driving down the road without a care in the world. It was an interesting look into her future as a teenage driver. As you can see here she is in the middle of singing along to the music in her head and loving every minute of it.

Jungle Book Ride-This ride is so fun. At one point a hippo or something jumps out of the water and since Byron had previously been on the ride without us, he knew it was coming but we didn't. He was ready and caught this precious moment. A little concerned but it all turned out okay.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
This is the Mickey Tyler wanted a photo with. It was for some reason easier to get to the characters at California Adventure. They are all over the place which makes the lines shorter as they roam the streets taking photos with people.

Ali and sweet Minnie Mouse. (Tyler would not get in this picture, no way MOM)

Stitch is still cool enough though so we got a photo of Ty with Stitch.

3D glasses are all the rave. Some of the theater shows freaked me out as bugs flew at you, water squired at you, bugs ran under you tooshy on the seat and mice scurried behind your legs. I left a few of those shows seriously disturbed.

These photos wrap up how much fun we had. We haven't yet received our AmEx bill from our trip so I have all fond memories still, untainted by the actual monetary burden it will end up being. We had so much fun and enjoyed being together so much. If you haven't done a family vacation lately, go.

I am pretty sure this was on the Lady Bug ride which Byron and Ali went on together at least three times. The Lady Bug bonded Ali to Byron for life, she loved it so much and he just kept letting her go again and again and again.

TOY STORY FUN
The new Toy Story ride at California Adventure was our family favorite. Everyone could go on it, you got to play boardwalk games while you ride through shooting with the little guns. Even Ali loved this ride. It was so much fun we rode it three times even though the line was excruciating long and there was no fast pass.

This is nearing the end of our trip, end of a long day. We were all happy to sit and wait for the 3D Muppet Show to begin.

LAS VEGAS-Treasure Island Buffet
On our drive home we stopped over in Las Vegas again to break up the drive. It was a good call. We ate a lot at the Treasure Island Buffet and swam in the cool pool. It was a good end of our trip. (Don't fool yourself though and think Las Vegas is a fun place for kids....if you can get your boys to walk around with their eyes constantly lifted to the sky avoiding all porn dropped on the ground then sure, it's family friendly.)

This will go down in history as a favorite vacation and awesome adventure.