California City Pass

Universal Studios was definitely more low key than Disneyland. It's a fairly small park, with not a ton for the little ones to do. We enjoyed the Back lot tour, although it is geared more for a teenage or adult crowd. That can really be said for everything there.  Jaws still comes out of the water, although I remembered it being so much more life-like when I was a kid!

 

Emma enjoyed the characters and Nathan liked the Simpson's ride (except for the part where Maggie slobbers on everyone!)

Couldn’t resist this one:

Casey and Hannah got invited to help with the sound effects show.

Casey must have ‘the look’ because everywhere we went, he was invited on stage! He always did a great job and really played it up!

After a long drive to San Diego, we were on to the last leg of the trip.  The kids really enjoyed Sea World. They loved the touch pools.

Tyler loved petting the Rays. They were so soft!

Randy took the kids on a ride while Emma and I saved seats for the Shamu show. They claim there was no warning and the ride took them under a waterfall. There was no escaping the water! Again, it was not a warm day and they were soaked to the bone.

Since they were already wet, we decided to brave it in the ‘Soak Zone’.

All the shows were top notch. It always amazes me what they can get the animals to do….now if we could just get Molly trained!

Hailey and Casey actually touched dolphins.

Casey was just beginning to dry off when the dolphin turned around and splashed him!  He laid on the ground to dry off.

I don’t know about you, but to me they appear to be laughing at what they did!

San Diego Zoo was our last stop. I had been there when I was a kid, but had no idea how big this zoo was! It covers a lot of ground- on steep terrain!

The baby gorilla was so stinkin’ cute! He kept pounding his chest and acting like a big gorilla. Kind of like a toddler would do.

He was trying to reach some leaves, but ended up hanging from them instead!

These little bears played king of the branch for quite a while. The kids were afraid one might fall and get hurt.

and more bears…

Don’t let his cute looks deceive you. This was one animal I wanted to see. I remembered seeing them when I was younger and thought they were so cute!

Tyler wasn’t the only one that thought these big cats were AMAZING!

This giant sloth is actual size of the prehistoric creature that inhabited California! Can you say R.O.U.S?

Can you see a lab coat in his future?

I don’t have a clue what this is. I don’t think it’s a hedgehog, but I could be wrong. It was just in a little enclosure in the kiddie area. It was actually quite soft. We got a kick out of how it waddles!

 

It was great to see animals so active. Even the hippos were constantly moving! These things are ginormous!

Kind of like my kids, they weren’t phased by all the floaties in the water!

We had a great time and made lots of memories…hotel motel woes, donut shops every morning, hanging our laundry in the motel room, and Hometown Buffet.  I’ve already told Randy that as soon as Emma is 40 inches, we’re doing it again!

Disneyland ‘09

With the kids getting older, and family vacations with the whole gang being numbered, we decided to forego the typical Christmas and take a vacation instead. So rather than buying lots of presents they don’t need, and that I’d have to pick up 6,547 times over the next year, we bought California City Passes… 3 days at Disneyland and California Adventure, a day at Universal Studios, Sea World, and San Diego Zoo!
The trip was lots of fun and filled with lots of learning experiences. The first: never travel from Las Vegas to L.A  on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Or probably any Sunday for that matter.  Remember our detour on ol’ Route 66 last time? This was somewhat less adventurous, but reminiscent nonetheless.

Can you see the bumper to bumper traffic through the dust?

Thank goodness for the GPS Randy’s dad loaned us. It saved us time once we got into CA and had more freeway options. But the drive that should have taken 4 1/2 hours took 7!
The first stop was Disneyland. This was the second lesson learned. Save the best for last. We didn’t want to be there on the weekend, or when the kids were tired from a long week. But in hind sight, I think it would have been better. Next time.
As is tradition, I make matching shirts whenever we go to the big D. It makes it so much easier to find everyone. Not to mention, my kids are pretty good sports about all the attention it draws. Tyler even wanted to keep a tally of how many times somebody commented. I don’t think that would have been possible. These shirts drew quite a bit…

We hit Fantasyland first. We have always skipped over Fantasyland in past visits. One day isn’t enough to do it all, so something has to go. But not this time. We did it
ALL!



Our first time in California Adventure. The kids are hooked! I’ve got a bunch of adrenaline junkies on my hands! They couldn’t get enough of California Screamin’!
  My personal favorite was Tower of Terror. Nathan- not so much. According to him, this ride gave him the ‘shivos’.
Casey discovered his dream job: the Green Army Men drummers. Does it get any better than that? Seriously! They were hilarious. They called the kids up, referring to them as ‘Team Creamsicle”. Tyler and Nathan were a bit too shy to get up there and Emma was sleeping.

Hannah and Casey got called up separately, as well.

Randy took the older kids on the Grizzly River Run and they got soaked. It was not a warm day, but they were good sports about it!

I braved the Maliboomer with Casey and Hailey. Tyler was bummed he was barely too short while Randy chickened out gladly took the other kids on the ferris wheel. (after we convinced him it wasn’t so bad, he finally mustered up the courage to ride it!)

Unfortunately, Emma was an inch and a half shy of the 40 inch mark for most rides. But she was old enough to know what she was missing out on. The Matterhorn was the biggest ride she could go on, and she loved it! Nathan warned her she would be ‘freaked out’.  After the first ride, she said, “I was totally freaked out! LET’S GO AGAIN!” She was fearless.  Nathan on the other hand, doesn’t care for the Abominable Snowman. On the way back to the hotel one night he asked why the monsters don’t leave Disneyland. I tried telling him they weren’t real, but it didn’t help that Dad kept telling him stories of the monsters eating little kids. No wonder Nathan liked riding that ride with me instead!
Whenever Emma was told she was too small for a ride, she’d stand on her tip-toes and say, “I’m growing!” :( To make up for it, I’d find something fun for just the two of us while the rest of the family rode the big rides. (Don’t tell the others, but that is when we’d buy cotton candy and Churros!) She loved the characters!

Disney goes all out at Christmastime. Everything is decked out for the holidays. “It’s a Small World” and “Haunted Mansion” are completely transformed! And the fireworks at night are amazing!

At the end of a long day, it’s hard to get little feet to keep going. Nathan shoved his body- face first- into the stroller. It didn’t look too comfortable, but it got us to the car!

Three fun-filled days behind us…three more to go!

Over the River

and through the…um…er…desert to Grandmother’s house we went. OK, so if you want to be technical, we stayed with Randy's sister, but Thanksgiving '09 was great.  The whole family was there; all the food was yummy and the hosts were great, too!

We had a good time listening to Hailey and her great-grandpa play their accordions together.

 

We hiked along an old railway…

…with only one (major) meltdown.

 

We picnicked right along side the bighorn sheep at the city park…

  …and had them eating out of our hands!

 

We waited in the hour long traffic to see the Hoover dam…

...or should I say the bridge being built over the Colorado River. (Hey, I’m married to a Civil Engineer!)

 

We  captured the yearly Christmas Card Photo (sorry, Grandma and Nita- we all know you really aren't that short. My photography skills could use some improving!)

 

And we continued the family tradition of caroling to old friends. And I didn’t even hear much complaining!

But one of the highlights was our Dollar Store gift exchange! How easy to please are we? We drew names and headed to the dollar store to buy presents. It was so fun to see what everyone was able to buy for $1.

After successfully trashing Randy’s sister’s house, we packed up the car and headed west for our next adventure….

I Should be Fired

Not that anyone can or will fire me, but if they could, I'd deserve it. While going through a bunch of books yesterday, Randy came across our family journal. I bought it when , Casey was born and intended on using it for recording our family's history. There are a grand total of 7- yes, 7 entries in it. Mind you, those seven entries are between March 24, 1996 to November 14, 1997. Sad, huh. Hailey wasn't even born yet. I told you I should be fired. So I got thinking about the sad state of this blog. Life has been busy. That is my excuse. But all that busy-ness has been so fun, that I should write about it. But it's hard to stop and write when you are having so much fun!

So I am going to do some recaps. Keep in mind that just because they may be short posts, doesn't mean they weren't important.or 'super fun' as Emma would say.

HaPpY nEw YeAr…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

….and all that.

Not Enough Hands

Some days I feel as though I will never catch up. If I could clone myself, I would. At the very least, I'd grow a few extra arms.
As you know, raising a family is not easy.  And while I don't feel my family is large, it is more challenging than it was when it was smaller. There are many days I wonder what I am doing. Am I doing a good job? Do my kids get all the attention they need? And then, the wake up call comes and I realize why I am so grateful I don't have enough arms to do it all.
My kids always step into take care of each other and fill the gaps I can’t. They give more to each other than I could ever give even one child.

When I see my kids helping each other and even doing ‘my job’, I can’t help but think it is making them better people. Selfless and caring.

And to me, there is nothing more priceless than the bonds my children are forming with each other.
 
Sure, there are plenty of fights at my house.  And I lose my patience far too often. There are days I’m not sure I can do it all (and many I don’t) but then, one of my kids will turn my day around and remind me it is all good.

'”Mom,

Tomorrow I need you to take a break. Go somewhere fun and relaxing. Go as long as you’d like. I’m going to set everyone straight. When you get home it will be sparkling clean! Thanks for all you do! I love you so much!

Love,

Hailey” 

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

*Just in case someone is thinking it’s all roses here, just stop by unannounced sometime and you will be set straight!