We began our much-anticipated trip to California on January 20. We left
around 9am and stopped in St. George for a Five Guys Burger. We got to
the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas that afternoon. We cleaned up and
went to the Venetian for dinner. We ate at the same restaurant we at at
last April--the one at the entrance to the Phantom Theater.
Kevin and I surprised the kids by getting Phantom tickets. We sat on
the front row of the balcony. We had seen this same production in the
Venetian in April 2010 and loved it so much we wanted to see it again.
This time we had a different vantage point. Emily saw the Phantom double
climb into the chandelier for one of the scenes. We enjoyed the
beautiful theater.
The next day we got breakfast at McDonald's on The Strip. (Before our
trip, James and I ran into a neighbor at Target. James excitedly told
them we were going to eat at McDonald's in Vegas). We drove through the
ugly desert to the town of Barstow, CA, and continued on through the
desert and mountains into Riverside County. My phone has a GPS and maps
on it, so we used that as our guide. Our destination was to
Westminster, CA to visit with the family of Marie Como. Marie is
Kevin's God Mother and lifelong family friend of Hank and Rene. She
died the week before and her memorial service happened to be on the day
we were to arrive in CA. We had fun visiting with Angel and other
family members in the same home Kevin spent so much time in as a child.
Our kids had fun outside and with the dog. We later heard that they
were very well behaved and very cute kids.
From there, we drove about 5 miles to the Pacific Coast Highway, where
we got our first glimpse of the ocean. We knew a different route would
get us to our destination faster, but we wanted to enjoy the scenic and
historic highway. We drove through Newport where we saw lots of
expensive cars and had a close call. Kevin nearly hit a Bentley. He
hit the brakes hard enough to lock our seatbelts and scare us.
Our destination that evening was Oceanside, where my parents had rented a
beach house. We followed the directions which took us to Pacific
Street, where we saw the ocean again. We arrived just as the sun was
setting and I snapped a picture of the sunset with my phone. We found
the beach house and my dad directed us in.
The beach house is one my mom found through a vacation rental website.
It had two levels, 2 kitchens, 2 bathrooms, and slept 10. We had the
upstairs and they had the downstairs. The house was probably built in
the 50s but had some remodeling done. The back yard had some grass,
then sand (fire pit, lounge chairs, tables, etc). then the beach! It
was literally in the back yard. It was night but we enjoyed the sounds
of the ocean.
The next morning was Saturday. Kevin, the kids, and I went to San Diego
Zoo Safari park. We took a tram tour and saw several animals. The
kids particularly liked the baby elephant we saw after the tram ride.
The park was nice, but it was hard to find our way around. We were
there about 3 hours total.
The kids wanted to get to the beach house and play at the beach. It was
very nice weather--in the 70s or low 80s. Of course the water was
cold, but we enjoyed in nonetheless. This was James's first time at the
ocean, and Emily was too small to remember (she was 3 months when we
went to San Diego and 15 months when we went to Seal Beach in Orange
County). They were thrilled! They loved running in and out of the
waves, carrying buckets of sand and water, collecting rocks and shells,
and having fun. Kevin and I had fun watching the kids and had fun
ourselves lying on the beach. We all took a walk a mile away to the
pier and back. There were lots of people on the beach enjoying the day.
When the sun went down, it got cold. We went inside and got showered. We had dinner with my parents.
Sunday, we had took some pictures on the beach. We went to Sacrament
Meeting at an Oceanside ward. The kids just wanted to get back to the
beach to play. We first went to San Diego where we went to Old Town.
We ate at a good Mexican restaurant outdoors and enjoyed the Latino
music and dancing there in the square. We left to get to the beach
before the sun went down. We played for a couple hours then went
inside.
The next morning, we went to Sea World. We got there right as it opened
at 10am. My parents met us there later. We saw the Shamu show twice, a
dolphin show, and a pet show. We rode the Shipwreck Rapids ride, which
James declared he did not like--as it was over. Sea World closed at 5
so there wasn't a lot of time to do much.
Tuesday morning was the time Kevin was most looking forward to:
Disneyland! We drove (with my phone's navigation) to Anaheim and
checked into Hotel Menage. We walked on Harbor Blvd. to the Magic
Kingdom. We kept in the tradition of riding Pirates of the Caribbean
very first. We all rode Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (both the kids'
first time), Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones,
Finding Nemo Submarines, etc. We also went to Disney's California
Adventure for my favorite ride (Soarin' Over California), Grizzly River
Rapids, and our new favorite, Toy Story Mania (we liked this in Florida
too!). At night we saw "World of Color" which is in DCA. It is a show
akin to "Fantasmic" at Disneyland, but different.
Wednesday was another Disney day. This time, my parents met us there.
They had not been to Disneyland since 1995 when my brother Rob was 9.
Ours were the first grandkids they have enjoyed Disneyland with. We did
many of the same rides we could all do together, and we got Grandpa on
Indiana Jones and Thunder Mountain Railroad (his hat blew off and
someone caught it!). We rode the train and saw Asimo the robot. The
crowds were light and the weather was nice.
James got chosen to be a part of the Jedi Training Academy in
Tomorrowland. Kevin and James went to watch it while Emily and I did
something else. From a distance, we could see him jumping up and down
with his arms in the air, wanting to get chosen from the crowd with
other kids. He got a light saber and a jedi robe. Along with other
little kids, he got to be trained as a jedi and even got to fight Darth
Vader. He was thrilled.
My parents went back to Oceanside that night. They were flying out Friday morning.
Thursday 1/28 we made our way to Universal Studios in Hollywood. We
passed the famous Hollywood sign and LA skyline. Universal is a park
Kevin and I visited on our honeymoon, but not since. The highlights of
this visit were the tram tour (twice), Jurassic Park (which we waited in
line for 2-3 hours in 1996), The Simpsons ride, and seeing the views.
The tram tour was fun because we got to see the new King Kong 3D
attraction. It is a 3D experience while on the tram, with a movie
screen surrounding the tram. Kevin loved it; James did not.
Our last day of the vacation was Friday, when we went back to Disneyland
for one last hurrah. This day, James was sick, so he and I didn't get
there till around noon. Kevin's friend, Cory Wilkin, and his wife and
two daughters met us there. We spent the afternoon with them. Kevin
took Emily on Tower of Terror this day. We finished our day in the gift
shop, getting Mickey Mouse earrings for Emily.
Saturday morning we packed up and checked out. We ate at Mimi's Cafe
then made the boring drive to Las Vegas. We once again stayed in the
Excalibur Hotel. We went to a nice outdoor mall south of the strip
where we did a little shopping and ate a nice Italian dinner. During
dinner, Emily said she didn't feel well. When we were walking to our
car, she threw up in the bushes.
Emily got sick during this trip. She had a fever and cough. It would
come at night and in the morning, but she managed to keep it away during
the day. Kevin made a few different trips to local stores to get
medicines. Later in the week, James got sick also, with croup and a
fever. He did OK and had fun anyway.
Sunday we headed toward St. George and ultimately home. We stopped at
my parents' first to attend their setting apart for their mission. They
left on February 1 to drive to Washington, D.C. The whole family was
there (minus Craig and family, who live in Kentucky). We were tired,
but it was nice to be with our family for this occasion. We got home
around 9pm.
The next day it was windy and snowy. It was kind of a shock to come
home to cold temperatures after being in sunshine and warmth for 11
days.
All in all, our vacation was great. We loved being away and in the warm
sunshine. It was a great time of year to go--after Christmas and in
the dead of winter. We are grateful to my parents for sharing the beach
house with us. We got City Passes at Costco, which allowed us to have 6
days of park admissions for a low price.
