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...