The House of Mouse (Cali Trip Part 3)

Thursday we headed off to the Taj Mahal of Southern California - Disneyland! Spencer's sister Tracie has friends that work there and they were able to use their extra passes to get us in for free. What a blessing! We took the obligatory photo out front but honestly, I looked terrible, so we're starting with the mouse himself!

 

Sammy wasn't too sure about meeting Mickey, and Lucy wanted nothing to do with him but Spencer and I were happy for the photo op without the giant line. :)

 

Our first stop was the carousel which we thought was a pretty safe bet as the kids have ridden them before. Lucy loved it.

Sammy did not. lol!

The kids took some time warming up to everything around them.  They were a bit overwhelmed and it took a few hours but then they absolutely loved it!

 

Grandma Van Hoose came with us too which was fun for the kids, and helpful for Spencer and I.

 

Spencer demonstrates why I am not seen in this picture. That would be me if I were riding the tea cups!

 

One ride the kids both loved was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode it twice even. It was so dark though that this is the only picture that ended up in focus.

 

Lucy loved the castle and the whole princess thing.

 

And she was so excited to see where Rapunzel was. She made plans to get brave and go meet her later.

 

We watched the musical parade while we were there and this might have been my favorite part of the day.  The kids got so excited to see their favorite characters. The first princess to come by was Ariel and we told Lucy to wave to her. After she waved, Ariel looked down at her and waved back and the expression on Lucy's face was priceless. It was like, "oh my gosh! She just looked at me! I can't believe it!" It was that magic that people always talk about that's there at Disneyland. She had a similar experience with Rapunzel as well.

 

Friday we were supposed to go back to Disneyland and get in with another friend of Tracie's but his passes were blocked out because of Mickey's Trick or Treat that night. We were a bit disappointed but spent the day shopping, cleaning out the car, and resting instead. The Lego store at Downtown Disney was super cool and had this Buzz and Woody out front that are made completely out of Legos.

We also stopped by the team store at Angel's Stadium to pick me up an Angels cap.

 

Saturday we had planned to head back to Utah but when we had the chance to spend one more day at Disneyland, we decided to extend the trip a day. We got there nice and early and it was drizzling a bit so the crowds were really low to begin the day.  We hopped on Peter Pan which is always super busy and hit a few more rides before heading to toontown. There we meet Pluto but no one wanted to be in a picture with him - just to say hi.

 

Mommy and the kiddos got in a bit of trouble at the dog pound.

 

And Lucy and Sammy took a ride on the firetruck.

 

Toontown has such great places for photo ops!

 

After a bunch of rides and lunch, Sammy and I rode the train around the park while Spencer and Lucy stood in line to meet her favorite princess Rapunzel.  Spencer said they waited 40 minutes, which I guess isn't too bad.  She was so excited and Rapunzel loved her long hair.  Spencer joked with Flynn Rider and Rapunzel and Lucy spun in their princess dresses before the visit ended. She was so happy about it later. :D

 

The visit brought her out of her shell a bit and Spencer was able to get a bit of a photo shoot out of her in front of the castle. This is my favorite.

 

On a whim, Spencer decided to see if there were any other princesses by the wishing well and he must have just hit it right because they only had to wait 10 minutes before they met Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother. Cinderella, of course, commented on their beautiful matching dresses.

 

And they were able to catch Snow White and the Evil Queen before we headed out of the park for an afternoon nap and break.

 

Later that evening we headed to Cars town.  We rode Mater's Tractor ride and both of the kids absolutely loved it.

 

We also stopped and met Mater himself. Carstown is super cool - they made it look just like Radiator Springs in the movie.  We also headed back over to Disneyland and had great seats for Fantasmic.  The kids were amazed by it. If you ask Sammy about Disneyland he'll say he saw Mickey and that Mickey beat the dragon.  We also watched the fireworks and then took in one last ride - Soarin' Over California.  What a cool ride that was! Lucy was big enough to ride but Sammy wasn't so Spencer and Lucy went and then Lucy and I got to go right back on, which was pretty cool.

 

Sunday morning we packed up the car and headed home.  It was such a horrible car ride! The kids got to bed so late the night before and then woke up when we got in the car so they were so ornery. We had such a great time but we were so glad to see our little house when we finally pulled up!

 

So many people made our trip possible and so enjoyable. The Weinstocks and Spencer's cousin Wendi were so welcoming in their homes. Tracie's friends were so giving in helping us out with Disneyland. His aunt and mom were so generous. People are amazing!

All Things Aquatic (Cali Trip Part 2)

Tuesday we packed a lunch and headed down to San Diego and Sea World.  

 

San Diego is about an hour and a half's drive from Anaheim and Sammy was so ornery on the way down.  He finally feel asleep about 10 minutes before we got there!

 

 

Once there, we checked out the polar bears and beluga whales first. The kids got a kick out of watching the bear swimming in the water.  

 

 

We also checked out some other animal exhibits at first - the sharks and sea turtles and such.  Then we headed over to the dolphin show. It was pretty cool.  Not only did the dolphins do tricks but there were divers too that were pretty cool to watch.  

 

 

After that we took the kids to the kiddie rides.  While there we ran into my old roommate Shanna! Small world! We were roommates while I lived in Cedar City and now she lives with her husband and two cute girls in Willard, Utah.  So it was pretty random to see her there!

 

 

After lunch we hit up the Shamu show which was awesome, as usual.  

 

 

We also pet the Bat Rays.  Lucy really liked that, and really, so did I. :)  

 

 

On the way to our last show of the day, we stopped and visited the Sea Lions.  They were super loud!

 

 

We ended our adventure with our favorite show of the day - the Clyde and Seamore Spooky Adventure.  It's got sea lions and an otter that interact with actors and it's pretty entertaining. We all got a kick out of it.

 

On the way out of the park, we attempted a family photo.  The kids were so tired though! Next time we'll do it on the way in! :)

 

 

Wednesday we went to the beach again but this time to one a bit closer. We went to the one Spencer used to always go to growing up - Bolsa Chica beach.

 

It's a more traditional beach - long and sandy without the tide pools.  

 

We had lunch and spent hours playing in the sand, making sand castles, playing in the waves, and looking for sea shells.  

 

We found a ton too, once we found the right spot and technique.  We brought a whole gallon-sized baggie full home. Spencer even found a sand dollar.  Sadly, I broke that too. :(  

 

We borrowed a boogie board from the Weinstocks and Spencer went out and caught a few waves.  Unfortunately, something bit him while he was out in the water, cutting his wave time short.  It was the first time that had ever happened to him!  

 

By the time we were done, the kids were out! This happened so many times on our trip but this was the only pic we got of the kids crashed in the backseat.  They are so cute. :)

The Motherland was Calling! (Cali Trip Part 1)

The Motherland was calling - California, that is! I told Spencer if he could get the days off and arrange a place for us to stay in Cali, we could go.

Well, he did his part, so we planned the rest of the trip and headed off on the morning of the 13th.  His mom, Susie, hopped in the car with us and was a great help as we spent literally all day that Saturday traveling.

Our first stop was in Cedar City where we had a late breakfast at Discovery Park with Grandma and Grandpa Great.  The kids loved playing and exploring (it really is a great park - I should have pulled out the camera). And it was nice to catch up with my grandparents.  After a couple of hours we climbed back in the car and continued our adventure.  As we went along, I'd pull out little surprises for the kids as we traveled, which helped a ton with their boredom factor - things like new coloring books, playdough, and books.

We stopped at another park in Vegas and had lunch and then again at a fast food place in Barstow for dinner.  We finally pulled in to Anaheim (Buena Park?) at 10:30 local time.  It was a long trip there but the kids really did do great.  They only got antsy just before a planned stop, and really, who could blame them? We spent most of our time in California at Spencer's old scoutmaster's home.  He's friends with their son too.  They were wonderful and we felt so at home there.

 

Sunday was spent going to church at Spencer's old ward and reconnecting with his old friends.  We had lunch with his old Young Men's President/Bishop and his family, the Thompsons.  They were so welcoming, friendly, and interesting.

We spent all afternoon there and completely enjoyed ourselves. Their oldest son was one of Spencer's best buddies when he was a teenager and their youngest is a six year old girl.  She and Lucy played and played all afternoon.  Lucy asked if we could go back. :) That evening we had dinner with the Weinstocks, our hosts.  It was so nice getting to know them.

Monday we took our time getting going and then headed down to a beach in Newport Beach called Little Corona Beach.  It had great tide pools to explore.  We found hermit and regular crabs, sea urchins, clams, and a really cool starfish! It was big and orange and kind of stuffed in between some rocks.

We also had lunch on the beach and the kids and Spencer made a sandcastle.

The kids loved just being on the beach - the sand, the water, the shells.  Spencer and I found this super cool shell but, sadly, I stepped on it before we left. :( I was so sad!

 Other than that, though, we had a really great time and promised the kids we'd be back to a beach before we headed home.