CALIFORNIA TRIP

For Christmas like I mentioned previously, we gave our kids a trip to California!  We've never been to California with our whole family so it was especially exciting!  

{Saturday}

We drove down on a Saturday and made it to our hotel at night just in time to swim and get settled in. We stayed at a Hyatt House in Cypress and it was a perfect spot for our family.  We swam as much as we could and we usually had the whole pool and hot tub to ourselves which was extra fun! And they served the most amazing continental breakfast with lots of options (omlettes, pancakes, bacon, waffles, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, cereal, everything you could think of).  So it felt like a treat getting to eat there every morning.

{Sunday}

Sunday morning we got up and tried to make it to church nearby but when we got there the parking lot was empty so we decided to go to a later sacrament meeting and head to the LA temple.  Steve had bought us discount tickets to the Aquarium there and he had left them near the LA temple so we had to go pick them up.  So we went and got the tickets and then walked around the temple grounds and went inside the visitor's center.  It is such a beautiful temple!  And then since we missed an earlier church, we ended up going to the church on the temple grounds and it was a singles ward...so that was an interesting and QUIET sacrament meeting but at least we made it to church :)

 After church we headed to Hunington Beach to play around for a bit.  It was about 65 degrees so not super warm but the kids still got pretty far in the water and they had a blast playing in the sand.  We had lots of fun searching for sea shells and sand dollars too.  The beach wasn't crowded at all so it was a perfect, chill Sunday evening.

{Monday}

 We were planning to go to Universal Studios on Monday for the Harry Potter section but when our kids saw Knotts Berry Farm they really wanted to go there for some of the big rides.  So Nate and I gave the kids the option of either park and they chose Knotts.  And we didn't mind one bit because it is about half the cost! And there are LOTS of little kids rides at Knotts so it was a better choice for Callie and Graham. It turned out to the be a great decision!

So Monday morning we headed there.  The weather wasn't supposed to be the best - it was supposed to rain on and off all day but when we first got there the weather wasn't bad at all.  The little kids loved the rides in Camp Snoopy and Aiden and Brennan enjoyed some of the roller coasters - Jaguar, Silver Bullet, Pony Express, Montezooma's Revenge (except the boys were SO scared on it!), and Sierra Sidewinder.  

 Graham LOVED the choo choo and rode it a few times there. He is now obsessed with trains, just like Aiden was at this age.  

 As the day went on the drizzily rain got heavier and heavier and it didn't stop.  A lot of the big roller coasters shut down because of it so we put on our BYU ponchos and tried to find any rides that were open.  We went on the river raft ride and then headed to the bumper cars and the Iron Reef ride which was indoors and did that a lot while we waited for the rain to die down.  But the rain never died down so we stayed on those rides for the rest of the evening.  Good things the kids loved those rides. 

 By the time the park closed we were soaking wet and cold.  The kids were bummed we never made it on the big wooden roller coaster Ghost Rider and a few other rides so Nate wrote Knotts Berry Farm a nice email to see if we could just come back another day that week just to ride those couple rides and to our surprise they gave us free tickets for our whole family for a whole another day!  So we were very excited we got to go back and have some more fun there later in the week when the rain died down!

{Tuesday}

Since it was expected to rain all day Tuesday, we decided to do some indoor activities.  We first went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and had a great time there!  There were so many cool things to see there - we especially loved getting to pet sharks and stingrays, look at the jellyfish up close, touch some anemones, see the sea lions and seals up close and watch them put on a show, look at the penguins, and learn cool facts about the ocean.

 Later that night when the rain didn't let up, we headed to Mulligans for some laser tag and arcades.  We had a good time there too. We were the only ones there so the kids loved having free reign of the place.

 And we finished the night at Yogurtland.  Always a favorite of ours.

 {Wednesday}

We woke up early and went to Disneyland!  We were hoping going on a Wednesday in January would mean it wouldn't be crowded, but we were wrong!  It was crazy busy (due to it being the first day of the week with good weather) but we still managed to have an amazing day!

 The first thing we did was sign the boys up for Jedi Training.  For two boys obsessed with Star Wars it was the perfect activity for them!  They got to fight Kylo Ren in the Star Wars show.  Every little boys' dream :)  

 Callie got to meet many princesses (and other Disney characters) there and that was the highlight for her!  Every little four-year-old girl's dream!  She met Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Moana, Alice in Wonderland, and Mary Poppins.

 

Brennan and Callie didn't even know who Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter were...I guess we need to watch that show soon! But they still wanted a picture with "Little Cinderella" as Callie called her. :)

 My friend Nikki lives by Disneyland now and she met us there for a couple of hours.  It was so fun to see her and catch up and meet her adorable little boy Teddy!

 Disneyland sure wore him out and he had a nice nap in the stroller!

 We have lots of favorite rides at Disneyland - Space Mountain, Matterhorn, It's A Small World, Star Tours, Casey Junior Train, Pirates, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Autopia, and many of the other fun rides there.  We did our best to get Fast Passes for the busy rides but going to Disneyland is definitely an art!  It was SO busy the day we went so we didn't get on every ride but we did get a chance for most rides. But now that we've been we learned what rides to do early and what rides have to have fast passes and all the Disneyland tricks. So we need to go back again since now we're pros at all the Disney tips and tricks...right Nate?!

{Thursday}

On Thursday we headed back to Knotts Berry Farm (thanks to Nate's email and subsequent complimentary tickets).  Knotts Berry Farm is way less crowded than Disney so it was really nice. And we got to go on some of the rides that we couldn't on Monday.  We were especially excited for the big wooden roller coaster Ghost Rider and it was a pretty intense!

 {Friday}

On Friday we met up with Steve & Rayane & kids at Magic Mountain. They have season passes so they drove over from Ridgecrest and they were able to get 4 of us in for free!  So how could we not pass up another theme park?!  We LOVED seeing them and had so much fun!

Six Flags Magic Mountain has so CRAZY roller coasters.  Some of the craziest I've ever been on!  Steve is so obsessed with crazy adrenaline-pumping roller coasters so it was so fun to go with him and Rayane!  The one pictured below is Tatsu.  And once you're sitting buckled in your seat, it moves the seat so you are looking straight down - laying on your stomach! We were a little nervous to go on it but we did and it was fun but crazy!  It was the weirdest feeling to be so high up in the air on our stomach.  Some other favorites were Twisted Collasus (a wooden/steel roller coaster), Full Throttle, Gold Rusher, Scream, and the Riddler's Revenge.

The kids had fun with all the kiddie rides too.  It made it so fun to have their cousins there to go with.  

We drove back to Steve's that night and the kids didn't want to go to bed.  They loved playing at Steve & Rayane's new house.  And in the morning they were so sad to go home too! We need more time with Steve & Rayane next time we go!

{Saturday}

We woke up early and Rayane & Steve made us a yummy breakfast.  And we packed up and headed home on that long drive - nearly 10 hours.  Thanks to the license plate game, naps, and the iPad and binky, it wasn't too bad :)

We had such an amazing week in California and I loved spending time with the family without any interruptions. Hopefully I can talk Nate into round 2 again soon!