California Trip

This last week the kids had fall break. We took a trip to California. It was the first time our kids had ever been there. We had a fun filled week but were very exhausted at the end! It turned out to be a great family vacation we will remember forever.

We spent our first day in Anaheim @ Disneyland. The first ride I took the kids on was "It's a small world". The second the ride was over Drake looked over at me with this dumbfounded look on his face and said "I don't EVER want to go on that ride again. I HATED it. It was so long and dumb." I just started laughing. Later that day Mike took Drake on space mountain. When they got off Drake was crying. He said to Mike "When I grow up and come to Disneyland I am not taking my kids on that ride". He loved all the other rides though like Indiana Jones and Matterhorn. Madelyn loved all the rides too (except Space Mountain). It was just too dark for them and they couldn't see where they were going.

Riding the tram to Disneyland



Madelyn got to meet the princesses and it was the highlight of the trip. Her favorite princess is Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and she was there




There was a cool Buzz Lightyear ride that the boys loved



Madelyn also went to Pixie Hollow and met a few of the fairies including Silvermist and Vidia



Cache got a cool new Cars toy and he carried it everywhere

We loved watching the parade







We had to take a snack break we were so hungry and tired

Then went on a few more rides

The giant Mickey pumpkin was super cool

At the end of the day we were all worn out. Cache said it best. He fell asleep holding his drink. He was too tired to even have some water. That was only day 1


Day 2 we left our hotel in Anaheim and headed down to San Diego. Some of our friends from Spokane (Seth, Heidi, Taft and Luke) now live in Coronado. Seth was a resident with Mike in Spokane and now finishing his residency in Anesthesia. They showed us the cool places in Coronado. We took the huge bridge to get over to the island and spent the day on the beach with them. It was beautiful. The weather was good, the sun was shining, the base right there was practicing and so there were fighter jets flying above us. It was so loud a few times it seriously hurt our ears. They were also practicing rescuing guys from the ocean so we watched the helicopters hoover overhead while they pulled guys up. It was super cool to watch. We found clams that were huge and still alive, Mike and Seth boogie boarded, and we also watched dolphins jumping just a few yards off shore from us. It was amazing! The water was about as cold as ice but that didn't stop us from having fun. We did take home 1/2 the beach and 1/4 of it was just on Cache.

Bridge from San Diego to Coronado

Love this sign. It's posted before you drive on to the bridge










This clam was huge. It kept spitting water at us




We then spent our 3rd day at Sea World. It was actually Cache's birthday but since we were out of town we waited to celebrate it. We went and saw the Shamu show. My brother, Isac, had been there 2 days before us and told us to sit on the 3rd row in the soak zone. I talked to my kids about how wet they would get and asked if they still wanted to sit there. They were adamant about sitting there. They loved the show until the very end-that is when Shamu literally soaked us. The water was ice cold and nasty tasting. We were dripping wet from head to toe. Both Drake and Madelyn were bawling and hysterical. Cache only got mad when I tried to cover his face. It was kind of funny when it was all over with but both kids said that was the worst part of the trip. In fact, Drake said "It's all Isac's fault". Both Mike and I thought that was hilarious since Isac wasn't even there and I gave them the choice. The kids had an awesome rest of the day. We went to the dolphin show and the kids loved that. We visited all the exhibits. We loved seeing the sharks, penguins and other animals. Cache LOVED the animals. We heard "WOW!" about a bazillion times. It was fun to watch him. We also gave the kids some money to spend while we were in Cali. Drake was so stressed about spending his the whole time but not spending too much. He ended up buying a little figurine after each exhibit at Sea World-Shamu, dolphin, penguin, polar bear, sharks, and more. He also got a Mater car at Disneyland. Madelyn got a Sea World Barbie. She is in her wet suit and trainer gear for her Shamu, dolphin and seal. It's a really cute set. Cache got a "Mamu"-Cache saying Shamu-squeaky toy. He loves it and is always asking for Mamu.



Cache wanted to be on the ride with them-Most of the pics from this trip are of Cache's back. He was so in to what was going on he couldn't turn around for a picture. So, you don't see his face much but that means he was having too much fun to look


Before the Shamu show

After-NOT HAPPY

Cache just needed some food and he was good to go

Dolphin Show

Mike and Madelyn on the log ride






Touching the Star fish





Our last day we went to the San Diego temple. It is such a beautiful temple. In fact, it's my favorite. We then went and visited the Mormon Battalion church site. It was a fun little activity and tour for the kids. We finished the day up by eating dinner at our friend's house in Coronado. We put Cache to bed there and turned on a movie for the kids while we watched the BYU football game. Of course we'd never miss a game, even if we are in another state on family vacation. We had a blast. Our 2 hotels were amazing too. We had 2 rooms and continental hot breakfast. The breakfasts in both hotels were just unbelievable. They had sooo much amazing food that we weren't even hungry until late in the afternoon. We will definitely stay in these hotels again. Also, thanks to Seth and Heidi for dinner and showing us around.





We drove home the following day. We followed the Mexican border for a good chunk of the drive. We could see over to the Mexican side. It was just land but you could see the dividing line. It was pretty cool. We had a great time! Now Mike and I just need a vacation to recover.