Family Vacation

This last week we had an action-packed vacation to California. Other than the long painful driving (1559 miles), we were doing something non-stop. Sitting at home feels more like a relaxing "vacation" in comparison. On the plus side, we wore the kids out so they went to bed uncontested every night.

Friday afternoon we drove to St. George and stayed with Aaron's grandparents there. The kids are still talking about playing at Grandma and Grandpa Keeles'. We took some walks and went to this awesome kids water playground the city has built. It had the fountains - but what the kids really enjoyed was the mini waterfalls that flowed into a shallow river. Travis was in heaven stomped around and climbing on the rocks. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a scaled down version of it in our backyard.

Saturday we drove to California, checked-in and went to the beach with Jeff and Selly. I absolutely love the beach --so it made my day to see my kids love it as well. This was their first time experiencing the waves and sand everywhere. Whitney found out soon enough why it was important to keep your mouth closed while jumping the waves. After a while of playing in the water the kids got cold - it was overcast enough that Travis spent the rest of his beach time cuddled up in the towels.

Here they are trying to hide from me - but I took the picture fast enough after pulling the towel off them to get this picture.Here's Jeff helping warm Travis up.

Jeff was nice enough to help Aaron build a sand castle. My attention span doesn't last long on a project like that --especially when I'm trying to keep an eye on two kids.

Here's Dad and the Princess in her castle.
Here's Travis - adding his couple of shovel fulls. He loved being able to get dirty all he wanted.
That night after swimming in the hotel pool and getting a little sand off us, we walked around the pier area and ate at BJ's Pizza. We hit prom night - so the wait was ridiculous, but we still had fun.

On Sunday we headed to Jeff & Selly's house. They let us tag along with them to church and then made an amazing lunch for us. We then went to the LA observatory. This view is a quick reminder of the haze that constantly hangs over LA. There is actually a massive city hiding in this picture.

If you look very closely you can see the Hollywood sign in the back. The crystal clean air makes it really easy to see.

That night we went and visited one of Aarons friends from his football days at Rick's College. I had heard stories - so it was fun finally meet him - plus his wife is awesome and fun to talk to, which made it fun.

On Monday I insisted on another day at the beach - hopeful to get some surfing in. Aaron tried the non-existent waves out first. After an hour of floating in flat water he came back in - so we played in the sand.

Here's sand castle number two in the making.

I love this picture - the three things I love most - and my favorite place.

I love this picture of Travis running from the waves --moving his midget body.
We found time to bury the kids also - they loved the challenge of escaping, something they are very familiar with.

As the tide ran in - and some kids destroyed some of the mound while we ate lunch, the castle turned into the island. It was cut to watch whitney play with Aaron on the island and watch the water surround them.

Here's Jeff and Selly chillin'

They were nice enough to watch the kids while me and Aaron attempted to surf one last time. The waves were getting big fast as a storm moved in. We didn't make it too long - since we were getting pounded. There were waves one after another and a strong wind - not exactly ideal surfing. We got out of the water to discover that they were enduring a sand storm - so we headed out as fast as we could. After returning the surf boards and de-sanding we headed to Island's for some good burgers. Jeff and Selly came over for a little bit at the hotel and brought stuff to make smores over the oven burners. The kids loved every moment with Jeff and Selly - when there was a knock at the hotel door they would freak out and celebrate.

Tuesday was the big day - the day we've been hearing about for at least two months now - Disneyland!! They started chanting "We're at Disneyland!" all the way through the parking lot. Whitney's eyes got big very fast - as soon as she saw the castle at the entrance.

Dumbo.

Whitney and Travis were seriously disappointed that they weren't able to pull the sword out of the stone - Travis was looking forward to playing with it.

Justin and Harely gave us awesome advice - to go to Ariel's Grotto for a meal with the princesses. I ate great food while Whitney didn't take an eye off of the princesses walking around. She was in her own world meeting all the princesses and giving them hugs. We'd talk about what she should say to the next princess when the next one came - she was so excited!! It was worth the money and time - especially when I saw the freaking long (at least an hour and a half on a slow day!) line to see a few princesses elsewhere. From the moment we walked into the park Whitney started saying that all she wanted to do was see the princesses - so this was perfect - definitely a huge highlight for her.



While Whitney savored in all the princess stuff, Travis went with Aaron to do the more manly things. Travis got to see his heroes - McQueen, Mator, and Buzz. Thanks Selly so much for taking these priceless pictures while I was in princess land - so much appreciated!



Here's Aaron and Travis on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Travis would jump and freak out when he saw a character. Here's the kids with Handy Manny. Whitney was a little curious about where his tools were - but for some reason he wouldn't answer her question :)

Here's Travis on It's a small world - the kids loved it, but were a little spooked at first.


The kids got some suckers for the parade - which was lame. We ended up leaving three minutes into it and going to Pirates of the Caribbean - probably not my best decision. Whitney was crying a couple minutes into it, but we had her wanting to go again by the end - no worries, for nightmares sake we didn't. Travis was rigid during the whole ride, when Jeff leaned forward to whisper something to him - his whole body jumped.


We loved the California Adventure parade - short and sweet and to the point. It had all the characters our kids love - minus the princesses of course.

Whitney still talks about how she got to fly over Reagan's house on the Soarin' California ride. Travis is obviously a midget - and unable to, so I was thankful that I got to go on that ride with Aaron at the Epcot last November. When we left Disneyland Whitney was a little disappointed that she didn't see Reagan - apparently she thought she was going to show up - Since Jeff told her if she really paid attention during the ride over San Francisco she might see her cousin Reagan - we got a good laugh at it.

Travis loved the automobile ride - and the fact that I let him drive. He didn't really steer so he would giggle everytime we crashed.

It was a long day - but so worth it. My kids were is absolute heaven the whole time - and only lasted a matter of minutes before zonking out on the car ride home. Thanks Jeff and Selly for coming and playing with us - it was so fun to see your cute apartment and spend some time with you.

I have so many great memories of California growing up - it was kind of our family vacation every year since my Grandpa lived there. I felt old being the mom this time, taking my kids and being in charge. But to see the memories and looks on my kids faces will repair the feelings of old ladyhood.

We drove to Vegas (we got a nice hotel for $20.00) on Wednesday and then home on Thursday - arriving completely exhausted and happy that we had a three-day weekend to chill.