California Vacation

Day 1
We woke up around 4am to get ready to head to the airport for our 6am flight. We arrived into LAX around 8:40. After meeting up with Aunt Cathy and Maddie we headed to the car rental place where I picked up the "Mommy Mobile." (Can you believe that I actually drove around a minivan for 5 days?!) We headed for Disneyland. And about 15 u-turns, and 1 hour later, we were finally there. We were all very excited. We separated for the first few hours and Will and I walked around and did the kid rides while Mom and Cathy took the girls on the rides that Will wasn't tall enough for. Later we met up to go on some rides together before we staked out a spot for the parade. The girls wanted to go on the "it's a small world" ride. I stopped to ask one of the Disneyland workers if there was a Fast pass for the ride. He informed me that there wasn't, but said he'd take us through the quick line. He stayed and chatted with us while we waited in the short line. Cathy said she liked traveling with me. I said, "I didn't even wink at him." But we enjoyed only waiting for 5 minutes for the ride, as opposed to about an hour. That night we watched the parade, went on a few more rides, and then watched the Fantasmic show, and a bit of the fireworks as we walked to the car. By the time I got into bed at after 11pm I was exhausted.



























Day 2
On day 2 I had the pleasure of having my friend Rachel meet up with us. I was SO happy to see her as she is such and awesome person, and I haven't seen her in over 2 years. It made the lines so much more bearable having a friend to chat and catch up with. She and I took will around Disneyland on all the rides he wanted to go on. Then we met up with Mom, Cathy and the girls at California adventure. Between going on rides with Will, Mom and Cathy were kind enough to watch him so Rachel and I could go on some of the height restriction rides. My favorite was Tower of Terror. We also loved the California Screamin'. After we all had our fill of rides, we went to dinner back at the hotel restaurant. It was a wonderful day!


























Day 3
In the morning we all piled back into the car and took the somewhat long drive down to San Diego to go to Sea World. Everyone except mom and I napped while we drove. We arrived just as the park opened. We had a lot of fun watching the dolphin show, the amazing pets show, and the Shamu show. We saw all sorts of animals in the exhibits, which Will loved because he loves animals. The kids even got to feed the Seals! (I was attacked by a seagull as I was carrying the fish that I had bought for Will to feed the seal. Yikes! Stupid bird.) Will and I also went and pet a Clydesdale horse, while Mom and Cathy took Mickayla and Maddie to go on the Journey to Atlantis ride. That night when we got back to the hotel we went and soaked our sore muscles in the hot tub. (Isn't it sad that we were sore, just from walking around Disneyland and Sea World?)


















Day 4
We had planned this day to be our relaxation/beach day. It was relaxing, but it wasn't quite the day on the beach that I had hoped for. It was pretty chilly. I sat (fully clothed) on the beach with Cathy and Mom, while the girls played in the water (I don't know how they could stand the cold) and Will built a sand castle and chased Seagulls. After about 2 hours Cathy and I couldn't stand the cold anymore so we all decided to go back to the hotel and warm up in the hot tub. We then cleaned up and headed out to go to our Medieval Times dinner. My friend Rachel and her husband Steve met us there. We had a great time! Will watched the show intently and then afterwards had a sword fight with Steve.





















































Day 5
We woke up earlier this morning in order to get to Disneyland early and fit in as much Disney time before we had to head to the airport. We started at Disneyland and then worked our way over to California Adventure. Going on all of our favorite rides again. We also ran into quite a few characters to take pictures with, and did a little bit of shopping for souvenirs to bring home. We then headed toward the airport.
































It was a very fulfilling, fun, exhausting vacation. I think we all had a blast, but are happy to be back home.

Until next time....