California

(I'm posting this now without all the pictures, because I need to just get it up. I need to transfer the pictures from Dustin's laptop. So, I hope pictures of the first half of our trip will come soon.)

Wow! What a great trip! We had sooo much fun.

Day 1 (Thursday): Las Vegas
We spent the night in Las Vegas to break up the drive. After we checked in to our condo, we played a little basketball and then headed to the MGM Grand. We saw the lions and then ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. The kids loved the huge fish tanks and the animals. The food was okay, but it ended up being the most expensive meal we had. After we ate we walked down to M&M World. The kids had fun there. They have a wall full of M&M's of almost every color you could imagine! We let the kids each get a bag of whatever color they wanted. Micah chose yellow, Jacob chose green, and Xan chose blue. They were charging $12.99 per pound (seriously!) so we didn't let them get very much. We still spent $24 on three little bags. Crazy!

After M&M World we drove down the Strip so the boys could see all the different casinos. If it would have been a little warmer we would have walked around them, but we were able to stop in front of the Bellagio and watch their water show. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

Day 2 (Friday): Drive to Anaheim
We left Las Vegas and drove to Anaheim. It wasn't a bad drive except for a HUGE traffic jam in Cajon Pass. They were doing construction and were taking 4 lanes down to 1. The signs said to expect a 3 hour delay, but luckily we were only stuck there for 1 1/2 hours. Oh, and in that hour and a half, we only traveled about 3 miles! That was the worst traffic we saw while we were there.

After we got to our Condo in Anaheim and got groceries, we went swimming in the pool. Our condo had a nice big pool, a kiddie pool, and two spas on the ground floor, and two spas on the roof. You could see Disneyland from the roof and see the fireworks.

We were all glad to be out of the car and hung out at the condo.

Day 3 (Saturday): Sea World
We were worried because we were told that it would take us three hours to drive to San Diego, but it was only about and hour and a half. The drive is beautiful. You drive right past the San Diego Temple and it is gorgeous. Sea World was a lot of fun. It was a little crowded, but not too bad. We went to the Shamu show and sat in the Splash Zone. The kids really liked watching the killer whales do all their stuff, but were disappointed because we didn't get wet. We went to the dolphin show later and we did get wet so they were happy. We got to pet bat rays, touch starfish and sea urchins, see sharks, penguins, polar bears, sea lions, and all sorts of fish.

Micah's favorite thing at Sea World was the dolphins. Jacob's favorite was the killer whales, dolphins and sharks. Xan wouldn't tell me what his favorite was.

Day 4 (Sunday): Maritime Museum
We heard about the Maritime Museum in San Diego and decided that it would be lots of fun. So we drove back to San Diego. The Museum has the Star of India, which is the oldest sailing ship around. It was also one of the first ships built with an iron hull. It's awesome. It looks like a big pirate ship. They also have the HMS Surprise, which was used in the movie "Master and Commander." Now we'll have to let the boys watch that movie. We went on a tour of the harbor there and were able to go up next to the USS Midway, which is an aircraft carrier that they have docked in the harbor and is a museum now. We were going to tour the Midway, but we were tired and the kids wanted to go to the beach. Back at the museum we also went through two submarines: one US and one Russian. The USS Dolphin has the record of the deepest dive, and is was tiny inside. I don't think tall guys like Dustin would make good submariners. They'd bonk their head too much! The Russian sub was a little bigger, but still small. It was very cool to be able to see all of that.

Micah's favorite thing from the museum was the Russian submarine.

After the museum we drove to the beach and played in the water. I expected the water to be a little warmer than it was, but it was cold. We didn't care though. We just had fun playing in the waves, collecting shells, running in the sand, and chasing seagulls! It was a beautiful beach, and we decided that we wouldn't mind living in that area. Everything was green (although the locals would probably say everything was dead, but compared to Utah winter....).

Day 5 (Monday): Disneyland
This was Dustin and the boys first time at Disneyland. I don't know who was more excited, me or them. I had Dustin take Jacob and Micah on all the rides Xan wasn't big enough for. They had a blast! Since it was a holiday it was a little crowded, but still nothing compared to summer crowds. We ate lunch at Disneyland today for only $45! At Tomorrowland they have Jedi Training and Jacob was chosen to go up and train with the Jedi's! And then he got to fight Darth Vader! It was really cool! I took a video of him and when we got home that night I let him watch it. He had a huge smile on his face the whole time he watched.

We went back to our condo so Xan could have a nap and the boys wanted to go to the pool. Dustin took the boys swimming while I took a nap with Xan. We came back for Xan's nap everyday and let the boys swim. Dustin and I traded off who got to take a nap and who went swimming with Jacob and Micah. Then we'd have an early dinner so we could head back to the parks.

How Xan passed the time while we waited for Dad, Jacob & Micah to go on Space Mountain

After dinner we went back to Disneyland so we could watch the Fireworks and Fantasmic. We had really good seats, and even though the kids didn't want to wait for the show, they really liked it and were glad we stayed for it. Before the show we went on Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, and a couple others. The Haunted Mansion scared the boys pretty good. Xan held Jacob's hand the whole time.

Waiting for the train

Day 6 (Tuesday): Disneyland and California Adventure
We went back to Disneyland and rode a ton of rides. We were all excited to go on Splash Mountain but it was closed. I was feeling bad because if I had known it would be closed until May I would have made sure we went on it Monday. Oh well. We had a lot of fun.

Xan and Jacob on Flick's Flyers

After a late lunch we went to California Adventure. We rode Monsters Inc, and then we walked past Tower of Terror. The line wasn't too long so Dustin and Micah went while I took Jacob and Xan over to the Bugs Land rides. After their ride, Dustin and Micah told me and Jacob that we had to go, and there was a part that "freaked them out." So Jacob and I took our parent pass up to the front of the line, not having any idea of what we were in for. Holy cow! It was not what I expected! What an intense ride! During it I was thinking, "Oh what have I done to poor Jacob!" I was freaked out and I thought Jacob would be crying. But he was fine and told me that it really scared him when it made him fly out of his seat. When we got back to Dustin and Micah they were laughing because we were freaked out. Dustin said that at the end of the ride poor Micah was frozen in place and had a look that said "What in the world just happened?" He was afraid Micah had peed his pants, but he didn't. I was glad that we had done it, but I didn't think we needed to do it again.

That night we went to Downtown Disney and ate at the House of Blues. The food was really good, or maybe we were just really hungry. After dinner we went to the Lego store. It's amazing what you can build with Legos.

Day 7 (Wednesday): California Adventure

We went back to California Adventure in the morning. We went on Toy Story and thought it was so much fun. Jacob took me on California Screamin, his first big roller coaster.

(Dustin & Jacob are on the next to last row)

I thought he'd be scared with it shooting you up and going upside-down, but he loved it! He wanted to go again with his dad. The smile on his face after the ride says it all!
We had a lot of fun on all the rides in California Adventure.

After dinner we went to Disneyland to ride a few rides and then headed back to California Adventure to see the show World of Color. It was really cool. We all enjoyed it, but were very tired by the end of the night.

Jacob & Micah on the zip-line

Day 8 (Thursday): Disneyland and California Adventure
We were able to do a "Magic Morning" where they let you in an hour before the park opens. We were able to go on a couple rides we hadn't done yet, and some of our favorites again. It was crazy, but the Peter Pan ride had one of the longest lines! And it was that way the whole time we were there! We were able to go on all the rides we wanted to do again. Jacob and I decided that we wanted to go on the Tower of Terror again, and Micah surprised us all and decided that he wanted to do it again too! We couldn't believe it!

"Waiting again?!"

"But I like this!"

Jacob says his favorite ride is the Matterhorn and California Screamin. Micah says that his favorite ride was Thunder Mountain (I think they went on it six or seven times!). I think Xan's favorite ride was either Dumbo or the Teacups.

Xan on Dumbo

Day 9 (Friday): Home
On the way home we stopped at Cici's Pizza in Las Vegas. We weren't planning on stopping, but Micah needed a bathroom and we happened to pull off where there was a Cici's. It was cool because they have Cici's in Oklahoma and Dustin went there a lot on his mission.


Characters that we saw:
Mickey, Minnie, Mary Poppins and Bert, Goofie, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Donald, Alice in Wonderland, Queen of Hearts, Rapunzel & her prince, the princess from Princess & the Frog, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Cap'n Hook, Hip Hop Mickey, and Kenai and Koda (from Brother Bear)

We love Disneyland!