A Somewhat Different Whale Show

On Thursday last week we went to Sea World. Chris and I went there over nine and a half years ago and we were really looking forward to taking the kids.

We saw the Sea Lion show which was cute.
Wesley wanted to ride the rapids ride but this time he was prepared. He wore his jacket zipped all the way up and had on his hood.
It is a good thing because they were squirted with a lot of water.

The culprits? Lydia and Lucy! The two kids who were too small for the ride.

The best show was probably Pets Rule. Wesley pointed out that this cat looks like one of our cats but our cat couldn't do that.

I would like to do this to our cats sometimes.

We enjoyed the Shamu show. There are now a couple of differences in the show. The biggest change is that none of the trainers get in the water with the whales and the girls all had their hair pulled up.

I had fun trying to catch the best actions shots with my camera. I am sure it would help if I read the owner's manual.

The whales are beautiful and it was fun to see the show.

The dolphin show was closed because they are re-doing it. We did watch some of the dolphins swim around.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to our family. The kids really missed their cousins the rest of the trip

Character Day

We were surprised by the size of the castle at Disneyland. It is smaller than the one at Disneyland but the kids enjoyed the walk-through of the story of Sleeping Beauty.
I love these two pictures that Chris took of Lydia. She was very happy to pet the goats.

While everyone else rode Big Thunder Railroad, I took the three year olds to see Winnie the Pooh.

And Tigger. He played with them for a minute or so before posing with them for the pictures. The characters at Disney are so great with the kids.

And Eeyore!

After spending the morning at Disneyland we parked hopped to California Adventure for lunch and then rode rides and met characters. Everyone else was on Tower of Terror and missed Woody.

Wesley chose to ride Monsters Inc again instead of riding Soarin' again so he was with the little girls to see Goofy.

And Pluto.

While Amanda and I rode Soarin' everyone else went to see It's Tough to Be a Bug. This is one of the few photos we have of all four kids.

While Wesley and Chris went to ride Space Mountain one last time, I took Lydia to see Mickey Mouse. She had a lot to tell him before posing with him. I think she was still talking in this photo. So, we saw lots of characters and rode lots of rides on our final day.

Lydia went all day without a nap. The park closed at 8 and we left about 7:30. When we told Lydia we were leaving and there wouldn't be any more rides she went right to sleep in the stroller and slept through dinner.

We had such a good time at Disneyland and we are grateful that we got the chance to go. Since the crowds were light we got to do everything there that we wanted to do and most things we did more than once. Chris and I did miss Great Momements with Mr. Lincoln but I think we did almost everything else there. It was fun to be there with family.

Facing My Fear

At Disneyland, our kids loved walking with Claire and riding rides with her. Wesley wanted to ride every ride with her.
Chris and I were surprised by the number of outside rides at Disneyland. Many more rides were completely outside and uncovered or, like It's a Small World, they started and ended outside. It must be because the weather is milder and drier in CA than FL.

Toontown is much bigger and cutier at Disneyland. (Disney World is getting rid of its Toontown to make room for enlarging Fantasyland.)

After spending the morning in Disneyland we park hopped (walked across the plaza) to California Adventure. After lunch we headed to Paradise Pier and rode Toy Story Mania which is one of my favorite rides.

I faced one of my fears and rode the ferris wheel. I really don't think I have riden a ferris wheel since elementary school because I am afraid of heights. When we walked up to the start of the lines I was excited to see that the wait for the stationary gondolas was 1/2 the time as the swining gondolas. I assumed everyone would want to wait as little as possible but everyone wanted to ride the swinging gondolas. Everyone but me that is. I sucked it up and I decided not to chicken out. If David and his family had not been with us I would have watched my family ride it. My foolish pride made me get on the ride.

The swinging gondolas roll around on their own little tracks inside of the ferris wheel. Wesley was so happy when he realized our gondola moved so much. He said, "This is the kind of car I was hoping to get!"

Yep, he loved it!

As did Lydia. I am sure my eyes are closed in this picture. I was okay as long as the gondola wasn't swinging. When the ferris wheel stopped to load or unload passengers, the gondola would sometimes swing a lot. I was okay if I kept my eyes closed during all this swinging. The first time swinging was the worst. I had my hand on the back of the seat behind Lydia and when we got off the ride I left behind a sweaty hand print.

The view was nice but I didn't really enjoy it. After it was all over I was glad I did it. Maybe next time I will be able to fully enjoy and not have to close my eyes.

I rode the carousel with the kids while Chris rode California Screamin' with David and Claire. Normally I love linear induction roller coasters (this one goes 0 to 55 mph in 4.7 seconds) but I thought it would be best if I skipped it ths time. I was happy to skip Maliboomer and avoid being launched up 180 feet in the air. Amanda rode the wild-mouse-type roller coaster, Mullholland Madness, with Wesley and he really enjoyed it.

Here are Claire and Lucy with two cute bears at the big playground area.

It wasn't a very warm day but Chris and Wesley rode the Grizzly River Run. Afterwards, Wesley had to wear his jacket zipped all the way up because he took his wet shirt off. Too bad we didn't think to put his jacket on before the ride.

We finished the day back at Disneyland.

Day One at Disneyland

The reason for our trip was to meet one of Chris' bothers and his family at Disneyland. Six years ago we we met them for a few days at Disney World but back then Chris and I were DINKs and Claire was an only child. She was the exact the same age Wesley is now.
Monday was an action packed day and we took very few photos. We had fun at Disneyland. We started with Peter Pan because that line gets so long and then rode everything in Fantasy Land. We rode a lot of rides before park hopping. Everyone but the two three-year-olds rode Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Both rides are very smooth so I knew it was fine for me to ride them. I did skip the bumper cars at California Adventure so Amanda got stuck riding with Wesley.

Lydia loved driving, of course.

California Adventure has a really cute, well themed (It's a Bug's Life) area with four cute little kid rides that the whole family can ride together, including the bumper cars. There is also a nice a wooded play ground on the other side of the park. David and Chris took Lydia and Lucy there while Amanda and I rode Soarin' with Claire and Wesley. We got eight fast passses to all the big rides which meant Claire and Wesley rode them twice while we took turns waiting with the three-year-olds.

I also skipped The Tower of Terror. Wesley's two favorite rides are Tower of Terror and Space Mountain.

I have to mention our hotel. We stayed at the HoJo and got 50% off using our Entertainment Card. I saw the deal on a Disneyland message board and did some calling around until I found a bookstore that still had the Entertainment Books in stock. The hotel was an 8 minute walk from the main gate and the room had a good coffee, a fridge, a microwave, and free parking. There was also plenty of drawer space. The hotel is right beside of I-5 and I thought all the freeway noise would be too loud but it turned out to just sound like great white noise in our room. We would stay there again, especially for $59 a night.

Muscle Beach

On Sunday we flew into LAX from Dulles. We flew Virgin America and they are my new favorite airline. When we wanted more soda or water or a kids meal we just ordered it on our touch screen and a minute later it arrived at our seats.

Once in LA we took the advice of our next door neighbor and went to Santa Monica. We had lunch and walked around on the pier.
We skipped the expensive rides on the pier but we rode the carousel which was free for the kids and only $1 for me. The carousel dates back to 1922 and I thought it was really pretty.

We walked down the street to Muscle Beach. In this picture you can see the Santa Monica Pier in the background.

I didn't know anything about Mucsle Beach and I had no idea what to expect. The kids and I could have spent a lot of time there watching the people practice their aerobatic tricks. In the picture below you can see a guy practicing his handstands. Chris missed getting a photo of the couple to his left practicing their hand to hand stunts. In the background of the picture you can see a guy swinging on the rings. Everyone who took a turn on the those rings was very impressive; that takes a lot of strength. There were also guys doing horizontal handstands on vertical bars. We saw people practice tight rope walking. The rope was low to the ground but it was still fun to watch.

There is also a playground area there for little kids.

So far a great start to our vacation!

Doughnuts for Dads

Chris usually leaves for work before the kids wake up but this morning he went in late so he could take the kids to school and go to "Doughnuts for Dads". It was so nice to have him home this morning. He is a huge help and I had a great morning! In Wesley's class there was a project for the dads to complete - an airplane made out of candy. One of the teachers asked Chris if he was engineer because he finished the plane first.

See the piece of gum on top of the smarties? The airplane has life savers for wheels and everyting is held together with a rubberband. Wesley and Lydia don't understand why they can't eat the candy. They don't get why Mommy wants to save this forever.

Wesley decorated a light switch cover for Chris and made a card that said, "To Dad Love Wesley". It is so exciting to see him writing.

Chris also visited Lydia's classroom. Lydia decorated a pencil holder for him. Notice how animated she is in this video.

So sweet! I love their preschool and I am so thankful for the wonderful teachers and the great experience the kids are having.

When You Eat An Apple...Wordless Wednesday