Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Our California Adventure!

I've tried to post this post 3 times now, and every time it gave me trouble, but I finally got it to work so here is the rundown of our California Adventure!
We were able to go to California at the end of April. It was a last minute decision to go, and we only had one available week, inbetween the school semesters, so we decided on a Thursday that we'd go, and then we left the following Monday. We left early Monday morning and drove. Traveling with children is a different experience because we had to stop more often for potty breaks, to feed Chloe, and to let Daniel get out some wiggles so he wasn't so antsy. We got to our hotel around 7pm and Chloe was SO HAPPY to be out of her car seat and able to crawl around on the floor. We stayed in Marina Del Ray at the Inn at Marina Del Ray. We got settled in and went to bed. We were all pretty tired after traveling.
Tuesday:
On Tuesday we were able to meet up with Tim's uncle, Walt, who lives in West Hollywood and we spent the day with him. We first went and visited Tim's great uncle who is in a rest home in Tustin. He had a stroke in March, and wasn't doing very well. We all thought he was going to pass away, but he made a huge comeback, so we decided it was important to go to California to be able to see him while he is still here. Uncle Bill was excited/suprised to see us, and it was so nice to see him smiling! He especially liked the kids. Daniel was even able to get him to laugh when while playing with the wheelchair in his room Daniel wanted to push dad around in it, but Tim said he was to big for Daniel to push. So Daniel said "push mom." So I went and sat in it and he tried pushing me with all his might and he was even grunting, but I didn't go anywhere. He promptly dropped his hands and said, "mom's to big." It gave us all a good laugh! After our visit with Uncle Bill we went and got some lunch, and then Walt showed us Hollywood. We just drove through Hollywood because there really isn't much to do, especially with kids. We only got out to go to a video store. It was actually a video/cd/ etc. warehouse with almost any movie you could think of. We had to use a lot of self control not to spend all of our money, and we only ended up getting 7 movies. After that we took Walt back home and then he gave us directions to the LA Temple. We went and walked the temple grounds and then went to the visitors center. It was the perfect way to end our day, and even though we spent 2 hours there, Tim and I probably could have spent a whole day there. It was such a relaxing time after having spent so much time in the car and it was what our whole family needed.
Wednesday:
We didn't have a whole lot planned for Wednesday except for and Angles game at 4. So we took the morning easy at the hotel. We decided we'd then go to lunch and then to the beach before going to the game. We went to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and we were a bit disappointed. It took us forever to get our food, even though it wasn't very busy and we thought the food was over priced. We won't go to eat there again, we'd only go for the Cheesecake, because it was DELICIOUS! The Cheesecake Factory was right next to the Marina, so we decided to hang out there instead of the beach because it wasn't nearly as crowded, and there was a play ground. Daniel LOVED the ocean. All week he had wanted to go swimming but the pool at the hotel was closed for remodeling so he was so excited to play in the water. I hadn't planned for him to actually get in the water because we were going to go straight to the ball game, but Tim and I had our heads turned for just a few seconds and he sat down. So after he played for a while we had to go back to the hotel to get him cleaned up, which made us a little late for the game. But we got there and it was a beautiful evening to be at the ball game. Tim and I just wished we didn't have the kids with us, because they only lasted about an hour before we had to leave. So we didn't get to really enjoy our first pro baseball game...oh well, another time. After the game we went to Venice Beach to watch the sunset. I love the ocean, and could definately live there!
Thursday:
Thursday was our day at DISNEYLAND. We were so excited to take Daniel and he didn't disappoint. He loved most of the rides (as long as they weren't dark inside) but I think his favorite was Dumbo and the Rockets. He's just a little adrenaline junkie. He really like seeing the Disney Characters as well, but we only stood in line to see Mickey Mouse, and Woody & Jesse. He gave Woody the best hug, but didn't even want to say hi to Jesse. It was pretty funny. Both kids did so great at Disneyland so we ended up staying until about 10:30pm when we had done everything we wanted to. We went back to the hotel and put the kids to bed while Tim and I packed up our stuff so we were able to leave early Friday.
Friday:
We woke up and finished packing up our car, and then got on the road. Again it was a much longer drive home with kids, so we didn't end up getting home until about 11pm. But it was such a fun family vacation, and our only regret is that we lost 2 days to driving. Next time we'd fly. Here are a lot of pictures of our fun!



Great Uncle Bill and Uncle Walt








LA Temple










Marina Del Ray






LA Angles Game





Venice Beach





Disneyland. Daniel gives the best hugs!






We went all day without getting a family pictures because we were having so much fun. So we had to hurry and get one on the way out, even though we all look tired.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

How fun! I want to take a vacation! Is your hair red in these photos? Either way, I really like it!

Hil

Jessica said...

Sounds like an awesome trip. And holy cow, I want to eat Chloe up in that little sundress!!

Georgia Omer said...

What a prefect vacation. Venice Beach and Disneyland are our favorites. I ADORE the picture of you in front of the castle all pooped out. Nothing says Disney like exhausted parents and happy children!