Thursday, July 9, 2009

Day #4 of California Trip

Day #4 of our trip was a relaxing day at the beach. We have some really good friends who live in Huntington Beach, CA. We went to school with Nick and in the last few years have gotten close to his girlfriend Shawna. We were excited to get the chance to hang out with them and take the kids to the beach.

Shawna was working on this day, but Nick was off so we drove to his house and then he took us down to the beach for the day. It wasn't super hot, but we still had so much fun. When we got to the beach and started walking on the sand Kayden looked up at me and said "Mom, is this real sand?" I had to just laugh. I had to remember this was the first time EVER my kids had been to a beach.

Here is Huntington Beach
Once we got there Troy and Nick walked over to the a little pizza joint close by and got pizza and drinks for us while the kids and I played in the sand. Then when they got back we put some blankets down and had pizza and soda. It was a lot of fun to have a little picnic on the beach.After eating we just enjoyed the beach. The water was cold, not warm enough to completely just jump in, but we still had a ton of fun. The kids and I built sand castles, we walked along the beach and found sea shells, we played in the water, and we did some wave jumping.

We had the most fun running out to the water and then turning around and running back trying to not let the waves catch us. The kids laughed and laughed.




Troy and Nick spent a lot of time visiting and catching up while the kids and I played. It was such an enjoyable afternoon for all of us and absolutely priceless to experience the beach for the first time with my kids.


After we got back to the hotel we went to dinner with Troy's Stepdad Dave and his Mom and all of Dave's Cornwell dealers. Then we took the kids swimming for a little bit in the hotel pool and went back to the room and put the kids to bed so they would be refreshed for the next morning. Then we went into Dave & Deb's room (which was hooked to ours) and played pinochle just the four of us. It was a ton of fun and such good bonding time.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Day #3 - Sea World

I am now playing catch up on my blog. I am doing this more for my record, but please feel free to enjoy also.
Day #3 was spent at Sea World. We could not have picked a better day to go. It was a Tuesday so there were practically NO lines for anything. The park was not over crowded, and the weather was PERFECT, not too hot but not too cold. We also got great seats for all of the shows (the splash zone).
We started the day off with a family photo while we were waiting for the park to open up.
Sea World is owned by Anheuser-Busch. S0 one of the first things we did was go over and see the clydesdale horses. The kids wanted to get a picture in front of the statue to show Papa Clyde since this is his favorite kind of horse, and beer :).Then we walked in the stables and looked at all the real horses. They are so big and so fun to watch.Ori even got to pet the Dalmatian, but he had to be very careful and slow because this dog was very shy.
Next we went and saw some seals and whales. The boys and their dad got to go on a helicopter simulation ride, but Jaycee wasn't quite big enough so we waited for them by the seals.Next we headed over to see the polar bears, and this is what we saw....As all the adults are chuckling, the kids wanted to know why the two polar bears were playing like that. They didn't like the idea that the bigger bear was sitting on the smaller one. Explain that one to a 7, 5, and 3 year old. :)
Then we took some pictures in the polar bear caves.

And then got our picture taken with a real polar bear......well kind of :) Next we went to one of two Shamu shows. The first one was showing us how they train the whales. We got amazing seats front and center, in the splash zone. The kids were completely amazed by the animals.

After that we went the Sesame Street Bay of Play. This was a fun little area. The park employees said the added this to give a little more stuff to do for the younger kids that come. It had a great big huge jungle gym that you could crawl all through which we did as a family. Let me tell you, that was quite the work out.
There was water fountains for the kids to run through.A great big huge jump area. Then they got their picture taken with Elmo.And then Jaycee got her picture taken with Abby Cadabby.
After a quick bite to eat we headed over for the dolphin show. This was such a fun show and the kids loved watching how high the dolphins could jump out of the water and all the tricks they did.


Then we walked over to the penguins. On our way there we passed by a pool with different things inside of it that you could touch, pick up, and feel. The kids thought this was pretty cool. They each had a turn holding a star fish and touching some of the other creatures.
Next we saw the penguins, which Jaycee especially liked because she is a big fan of the cartoon happy feet.

Next, Troy and the boys went on the ride Journey to Atlantis. Jaycee wasn't tall enough to ride this so we watched. (And I was secretly okay with this so I didn't have to get wet again:)
Then we went to our second Shamu show. This one was called The Story of Shamu. This was probably the best show out of all of them. The did all sorts of tricks put to really neat music. The kids were absolutely amazed and I loved watching the looks on their faces. We were in the splash zone again, but it was worth it to be right up close.

After that show we headed over towards the shark exhibit. On our way there we passed by the flamingos. For some reason they were very interested to watch and we stood there for a few minutes.The shark exhibit was very cool. The boys really loved it. Jaycee thought it was a little dark and scary. We actually got to walk through a tunnel under ground and the sharks were swimming above and around us.
After the shark exhibit we walked over to get good seats for the last show of the day. This was Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue. This was by far the most entertaining show of the day with the jokes and the funny story. Ori also thought it was cool that the sea lion had the same name as him and Grandpa. While we were waiting for the show to start we took a picture of the kids by the tank.
Then we got some snacks to munch on while we waited. I don't know why but I thought these pictures of Jaycee were so priceless. She enjoyed this cotton candy so much and didn't even realize that anything else was going on around her, she was so focused on her treat.Then the show started. This is Clyde...And this is Seamore....dancing behind one of the actors.It was such an enjoyable day and we managed to visit and see everything the park had to offer. We then loaded up and headed for our second hotel in Anaheim. We had an hour long drive from Sea World to our new hotel in 5 lines of traffic going both ways at about 85 miles an hour. It was super crazy and frightening and I was so glad Troy was the one driving because it didn't even faze him.
Jaycee was asleep about 5 minutes into the ride.When we showed up at the hotel Grandpa and Grandma were there to greet us and show us around our hotel. The hotel was super nice and was a couple of blocks away from Disneyland. Here is Grandma and the kids in front of the water fall in front of our hotel. And this is the kids showing how tall our hotel was.Then we finished the evening off by going to dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. We walked over to a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. And Jaycee of course talked Grandpa into giving her a lift. :)