Our 2-Week California Vacation (Week II)

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, Sunday. (You may be bored with these day to day details, but it's really for my own records, so feel free to skim...) Sunday we had planned to go to the beach, but it was cold and rainy, so we decided we would try SeaWorld. It turned out to be the last day of their Halloween Spooktacular which basically meant that they had "trick or treat" stations around the park. The girls were excited because they hadn't been able to do any trick or treating this year. I was excited because the candy was yummy. I even made us go through the Tootsie Roll line a few times. The girls seemed to enjoy all shows, but they especially loved the Halloween show with some of the Sesame Street characters.

It did rain on us and we all got a little wet, but we still had a good time.

Monday we got up bright and early for another day o' fun at Disneyland. Our goal every morning was to leave by 9 am, but I don't think that ever happened. We wanted to get to the park when it opened, but we couldn't seem to get out of the condo that early. We usually got to the park at about 11am and left when it closed at 8pm. We were all still very excited to go back, even though we had already been there for 3 days. The condo we were staying in was a good hour from Disneyland, so this time we couldn't walk and had to pay $12 each day for parking. The parking lot is so far from Disneyland that you have to ride a tram to get there. The girls seemed think it was just the first and last ride we went on each day. Camille was excited to go on the rides with her "favorite cousin, Desiree." Desiree decided most of the rides were scary even though Camille tried to convince her not to be afraid. Camille seemed to really enjoy the LOUD, dark rides and wanted to go again and again. We were so glad that Camille and McKenna were willing to go on every ride they were big enough for.

All of the girls loved seeing the Princesses. We had to wait in a pretty long line, but Camille was especially excited to meet Cinderella. She kept telling her, "You're my favorite Princess." McKenna warmed right up to Snow White and gave her a big hug.

After meeting the Princesses, there is an area where the girls made crowns and participated in an interactive show for children to learn to dance and curtsy like real Princesses.

Kenny and I did get to go on a lot of rides, we just don't have any pictures. We took turns watching the girls while Joel and Tiffany went on rides and then they did the same for us. One night McKenna and Chloe had crashed in their strollers, so Kenny stayed with them while I took the girls through the Tarzan Tree house. We went through it about 5 times.

We had planned to spend Tuesday or Wednesday at the beach, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was always warmer inland than on the coast so we spent those days at Disneyland and California Adventure. I can't say that I ever got tired of it. There was so much to see and do. Six days was just the right amount of time for us. Wednesday afternoon Camille was so tired, her eyes were falling shut. I told to just lay down in the stroller and take a little nap. She had done this just fine on other days, but she knew Wednesday was our last day at Disneyland. She said, "I'm afraid to close my eyes, because Disneyland will close." Finally at about 7pm while we were eating dinner, she fell asleep. I woke her up as we were leaving the park to see if she wanted to go on 1 last ride. She could only open her eyes long enough to say, "Goodbye Disneyland."

Thursday we decided to go to the beach. It was only about 75 degrees and the water was freezing cold. We went to the beach Kenny and I had been to on Friday, but there dozens of dogs running around and shaking sandy, stinky water all over us. We wanted to go find a different beach but we had already paid $8.00 each for parking. I got really angry when some big dog ran right over the top of McKenna getting sand in her eyes and mouth. I walked up to an innocent guy sitting on the beach and quite angrily said, "Is this some kind of dog beach or something?" He looked a little nervous and said, "Um, yeah." I quickly calmed down and asked him where we could find a people beach. He didn't know because he lived about an hour away and had just come there with his dog for the first time because it was one of the few beaches that allowed dogs. Well, even though we didn't want to pay for parking again somewhere else, we decided to drive further down the coast and try to find a different beach. Well, lucky for us, we found a lovely and almost totally empty public beach about 5 miles away. (Oh, and no parking fee!)

We had a great time finding sea shells and building sand castles. Kenny spent a lot of time chasing the extremely agressive seagulls away. It looked liked a scene from The Birds. After a while, we realized there weren't any bathrooms anywhere. So, Joel and I felt a strong drive to get in the water. (At least up to our waists.) It was like ice water, but we did have a good time. Joel even dove all the way into a wave. Camille got in with me and we had fun running away from the waves. Pretty soon, though, she needed to go to the bathroom and she said she couldn't go in the water. So I pulled her swimming suit down and helped to squat at the edge of the water. I was looking around and Joel walked by and said, "What are you doing?" I looked down to see Camille going #2, just as a wave came in and washed it up onto the beach. I asked her why she hadn't told me she needed to poop and she said, "I don't know, it just fell out." Kenny didn't look too pleased as he scooped it up into a Big Mac box. I guess we should have just stayed on the dog beach where someone could have given us a poop bag.

Later that evening, we packed everything up and hit the road. We decided it might be nicer to drive with all the kids sleeping. We got to Mom and Dad's house at about 2am Friday morning. We spent Friday and Saturday playing and resting in New Harmony. We also celebrated Kenny's birthday while we were there. We went out to dinner without the kids and mom made her delicious coconut cake. We reluctantly headed home Sunday. It was so much fun to spend 2 whole weeks with my wonderful husband and daughters. I love my little family SOOO much. I feel so very blessed to have my life. I really do have all I ever dreamed of having and so much more.

Our 2-Week California Vacation! (Week I)

Now that I've had a month to recover, I'm ready to relive our vacation. We had so much fun! We left after work on Friday, the 24th of October. We drove about 3 1/2 hours to Mom and Dad's house and McKenna cried or SCREAMED for about 2 hours of that. Needless to say, we were left feeling very excited for the 7 hour drive that lay ahead. We spent Saturday and Sunday being entertained at "Grandma's house on the rocks." (That's what Camille calls it.) We rode 4-wheelers, played games, and even went golfing. (I left everyone feeling pretty inadequate with my natural technique and effortless skill. I'm just that good!) My dad also helped me start this blog. (He wrote that first entry about our vacation beginning.)

Monday morning we headed out for Anaheim. We discovered quickly that McKenna was only happy watching Dora The Explorer DVDs. After about 6 hours of nonstop Dora, McKenna started speaking fluent Spanish. Amazing, huh?!* (It's too bad she can't speak English, yet.) Anyway, we arrived at our "castle" hotel at about 6pm. We had dinner and then went to the pool. It was probably in the 70's outside, but the pool water had ice floating in it. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but close. So, I sat in the hot tub and let Kenny have the pleasure of taking the kids in the pool. They had a lot of fun, and slept like logs that night.

Tuesday morning the "Aunties" arrived as well as Paul, Ines, and the boys. Gladys and Dean weren't as anxious to get to Disneyland as the rest of us, so they came later that day. Camille was very excited about seeing her "Aunties" and she kept telling McKenna, "The Aunties are very nice." Our hotel was only a few blocks away, so we were able to walk. We actually forgot our camera the first day. What kind of blogger am I going to be if I can't even remember to take pictures? I guess you'll have to use your imagination.

The girls really didn't know what to expect. They watch a cartoon called Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and they love Mickey. We had been telling Camille we were going to Mickey Mouse's house. When we got in the park she said, "Mickey's house is kind of like a carnival, huh mom?" I had also been preparing Camille to see Mickey and I told her that Mickey probably wouldn't be able to talk to her. (She gets a little upset when people don't answer her or respond to her constant chatter.) I told her that Mickey had lost his voice from a cold. So when she finally did get to see Mickey, she kept saying, "He can't talk, huh mom? Is he still sick?" Then on our last day at Disneyland, Minnie Mouse up and made Mom a liar. Camille claims that Minnie said, (in a little screamy voice)"I love you." She was very excited about it.

Wednesday morning we went to the "Breakfast with Minnie" in the park. Camille liked the characters, but she didn't start "spazzing" until they brought out the balloons. McKenna took awhile to warm up to anyone, but she did like Minnie. We were a little disappointed with the characters at the breakfast. Instead of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Cinderella, we got Tigger, Captain Hook, and The Fairy Godmother. Camille really only cared about Minnie Mouse. She kept saying, "I just love her so much."

Tuesday afternoon we had taken the girls back to the hotel for their nap. It had worked out well so we thought we would do that again Wednesday, but as soon as we left the park, the girls zonked out in the stroller. So we turned around and went back inside. We were so blessed to have the sweet "Aunties" there to babysit while Kenny and I went on some rides.

Thursday was our last day at Disneyland with Kenny's side of the family. We spent some time at Disney's California Adventure Park as well. There is a really big roller coaster there called The Screamer. Camille was very upset to find out she wasn't big enough to go on it. She really did enjoy the fast rides. Her favorite ride was the Matterhorn. She also loved the Pinocchio ride. McKenna's favorite ride was probably the Carousel or the Dumbo ride. She also loved Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. She wanted to go again and again. Kenny and I decided we should see the parade that night so we found a tiny place to stand on Main Street. The parade was scheduled to start at 7:00, but people start lining the streets at about 6:00. So we got a place at about 6:45 and then the actual parade didn't get to us until 7:45. We were all pretty tired and ornery, but we were glad we saw it. (I really thought we took some pictures, but I guess we just took video.)

Friday morning we had a late breakfast with the "Aunties" and then we had to say goodbye. They left for home and we headed for Solona Beach where we were meeting Joel and Tiffany to share their 1 bedroom condo for a week. We arrived a few hours before them, so we spent the afternoon at a beach only a few blocks away. The girls loved the waves and were soon soaking wet and stripped down to diaper and panties. After getting settled into the condo, with only one complaint about noise from the downstairs neighbors, we had a nice dinner and went to bed.

Saturday we decided to go to The Wild Animal Park. To be honest, after being at Disneyland for 3 days, I think the girls were bored. There was a lot of walking and it was really hot that day. Most of the animals were just sleeping, so that's not much fun. There was a little splash park there that the girls didn't want to leave, but other than that, they weren't too thrilled about anything we saw. I can't say we were really thrilled either. Seriously, how many kinds of antelope are there?!*

Even after stopping for some ice cream, we got back to condo by early evening so we all went swimming at the pool. This was the highlight of the day for the kids. They all loved the water and didn't want to get out.

Well, this entry has taken me about 4 days, so I think I'll post now in case it doesn't even work.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I am SOOO bad at this!!!

Okay, so I am trying to start a blog. So far it has taken me about 4 months just to get this thing started. I am a really bad journal writer and I'm not a "scrapbooker" at all. I thought this might be a nice way to keep in touch with family and keep a little family history to look back on as well. Anyway, I hope I can figure this thing out without crying, screaming or swearing. I've relied on my "computer men" - (Dad, brothers, husband...) for so long that my brain has atrophied. Did I spell that right? Is there a spell checker on this thing? AH HAH! There it is... see, I can do this. Hey, I can write in different colors. I think maybe I'm gifted. Well, if this actually shows up on the blog, I'm going to go have a nap. I totally deserve one... and maybe a cookie, too.

Disneyland 08

Hi,

Our two week vacation to Disneyland has begun!