A Quick Taste Of Summer

I have to start off with a warning. This post is going to be a travel log with lots of pictures. Not too exciting for most people. I'm writing this because my kids like to look back through the blog book, and I want them to remember our trip. So for those of you who weren't actually there, feel free to skip this entire post....unless you enjoy other people's vacation pictures. Every year, come February, Jon and I are so sick of the horrible weather we have. Jon always wants to take off somewhere warm and sunny...aka California. I, being the boring mom that I am, refuse to take my kids out of school. I know, I know. It's just grade school. This year I caved. Jon's parents gave us money to go towards Disneyland for Christmas. We wanted to go when it wasn't too crowded, and Jon's work wasn't busy. We thought we were going before spring break season hit. We were wrong. VERY wrong. We started off on a Friday. The van was packed 30 minutes before the boys got out of school, so we checked them out early and hit the road. Because of the late start, we only went part way that day. We got a very early start the next morning when the fire alarm in the hotel went off at 5:30am. It was quite entertaining to look out into the hall and see people walking around in little nightgowns, and my personal favorite, nothing but a towl (the guy looked just like the guy from the Old Spice commercials). At that point our kids were up, and weren't going to go back to bed. So we took off and made it to my sister Tara's house in San Diego before lunch. Plenty of time for a day at the beach....which had to end early so we could catch the BYU/San Diego game. Calla doesn't quite remember what a warm sunny day is like. Her first taste of sand. You would think that after a mouthful of the stuff, she wouldn't shove more in. Wrong.

She enjoyed being held most of the day.

Because the Tsunami from the Japan earthquake hit San Francisco that day, we were a little hesitant to let the kids go too far out in the water. There was a terrible undertow and the waves were much bigger than normal. They had lots of fun playing on the beach. Cousin Ty had some fun stomp rockets that the kids loved.

Of course, they had to bury each other in the sand. It looks so itchy!

Anika got a little impatient waiting for a big wave to come fill in the hole.

Pizza, BYU basketball, lots of trampoline jumping, and a big bowl of ice cream finished off the day. The kids always love visiting their cousins.

Before we left on our trip, we heard about the Whale Festival at Dana Point. We just happened to be in the area that week, and Tanner just happens to be the biggest whale fan. Ask him any question about any type of whale. He will answer it, then continue to talk about it until you can't listen any more. He wanted to go to Sea World instead of Disneyland.

We decided to stop and see if we could see any of the migrating whales. We didn't have the time to go out on one of the boats, but we took a walk down a path where you can sometimes see some of them breaching. Tanner claims he saw 13 whales. All I saw were a bunch of birds. But I'll let him keep on believing he saw them. He left happy, even without the boat ride.

For Disneyland we stayed with Jon's sister Carrie, who lives about 10 minutes away. The kids had fun playing with their cousin Samantha. The night we got there we had to head to Downtown Disney, getting excited for our upcoming days of fun.

The beginning of many long lines. The park wasn't expecting the number of people that they had. They were understaffed, and the lines were very long. Longer than they were when we went in the summer. But they ended up keeping the park open till later, and added extra shows at night. Our kids played long and hard, and crashed on the way home each night.

Calla did a lot better than I expected. It's never easy with a baby. But even with very quick naps, she did very well.

Last time we went to Disneyland Anika was so excited to go on the Snow White ride, but it ended up being closed the week we were there. This year she was so excited to get to go on it. It didn't prove to be nearly as exciting as she anticipated. Her favorite rides were the Matterhorn and Pirates of the Carribean. Tanner was a big Thunder Mountain fan, and Nathan, of course, loved Indiana Jones. We went on those over and over. They tried every ride at least once. Jon had to bribe Anika with chocolate milkshakes if she would just try a ride. We ended up owing her lots of milkshakes. Nathan enjoyed getting to use the extra fast passes and stroller passes for the rides the other kids didn't care to do again. He shares my love of speed.

Anika was so excited to walk through the Sleeping Beauty castle. I love watching the look on her face.

Tanner was so excited to see a whale on the carousel.

Anika is still so in love with princesses. We waited in line to see them, even though last time she was so shy when she met them. We talked to her to pump her up and try to get her to not be shy with them. It didn't work. But she loved every second of it.

I just thought this was a very realistic picture of the kids. Tanner with some goofy face, and Calla screaming because mommy wasn't holding her.

Priceless. They get the glasses on and have to pull cheesy smiles. My favorite thing about the Bugs Life movie was watching all the parents, who waited a while for the movie, have to get up and leave with screaming kids that think the grasshopper is real. I think half the theater was empty before the show ended.

Tanner wanted to stop and get the autographs of every character he saw. Calla doesn't look too sure of the big dog with his arms around her brothers. Anika, of course, got shy and tried to run away.

Jon took Tanner and Calla out on Tom Sawyer island, which is something none of us had done before. He enjoyed sitting on a peaceful island, looking out at the crowds of people on the other side of the water. Tanner loved exploring all the caves.

One of my favorite moments, now that it is over, is with the Haunted Mansion. Apparently it was a little too scary for Anika. Before we ever got onto the ride she ended up wetting her pants a little, out of fear. She has the bladder of steel, so that is saying a lot. We couldn't get out without going on the ride....which kept breaking down while we were on it.

On the drive home we tried to listen to the BYU game on the radio with horrible reception. What we could hear over the crackle was half BYU game, half some spanish station. That led to a headache for me, and frustration for Jon. We were welcomed back to Utah with a blinding snow storm and closed freeway. It was great to get away for a little bit. It helped tide us over for the few more weeks until the weather perks up. There's nothing like a trip to Disneyland to make you feel like you need a vacation! Hawaii, anyone?