Friday, September 10th Our vacation started about dinner time when we drove down to St. George, Utah to visit the family. My parents just came home from their 18 month mission to Beira, Mozembique, Africa on September 7th. We really missed them so we stopped off for that weekend to spend some quality time together. The kids were WAY excited! From there, we took off on Monday morning for Southern CA. I was able to get a 3 night stay at the Neport Coast Villas owned by Marriott for only $250!!! We checked in about 4 p.m. to our Villa complete with a nice kitchen, 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, dining room and family room! It was ideal for our family of 7!
After getting moved in, we got dressed in our swimming stuff and took a look around the place which had 4 pools, basketball court, arcade room, kids playground and a kids activity center. Our condo was in the same building as the King Triton's Cove Activity Center (just next door practically) We then took the free shuttle service to
Crystal Cove Beach where we played in the sand, explored and found some cute hermit crabs, played in the surf, etc. If we stayed longer, we would have had some fun there, but we were going to busy the next few days.
Crystal Cove
Hermit Crab we played with!
" Did Aleah do that to you Jake???"
"Ok, who burried Mr. Q?!!"
Aleah LOVES the sand! She was definately in HEAVEN!
Luke thought the sand and seaweed was food!
Dad had fun playing with the hermit crabs too!
Rachael
Qaiden
The next morning after a big breakfast of French Toast/fruit, and making peanut butter/jelly sandwhiches, apples, chips, etc., we drove up to Anaheim, CA to pick up our cheap 2 day hopper passes ($105/person, $55/me because I had a "Give A Day, Get A Day" for doing service which I actually couldn't attend but they gave me a free day nonetheless!) After picking them up, we parked a car ($15/day!) and took the trolley trains to the entrance!
Entrance to Disneyland's security check...
Boys at "
Autopia" waiting to drive their car!
The
Matterhorn Bobsleds ride...was one of the kids' favorites at Disneyland.
Poor Luke had to be in the stroller much of the time!
We did
Disneyland on Tuesday,
September 14th. I forgot to charge my camera so I didn't get many pictures that first day...darn!!! I did get some the next few days though. Well, after our first FULL day at Disneyland, we didn't get home until about 9 p.m. and then I made some yummy mexican tacos. It made for a late dinner, but was nice and satisfying. We slept VERY well after such a LONG day of walking and having fun.
September 15th-We slept in until about 8 a.m. and Richard and I had to attend a seminar where Marriott Vacations talked to us about buying a share of their Resorts all over the world. That's why we were able to get such a GREAT deal on this Villa. After that, we drove to Disneyland and got there about 11:30 a.m. and decided to do California Adventure. The kids' favorite ride was the Tower of Terror! That evening for dinner, we ate at Denny's nearby.
"California, here I come..."
Group Hug with the Brother Bears of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. The Bears came out and tried to give Aleah a hug and she was SOOO scared and would NOT get close to them...it was pretty funny! She sure is happy in the next picture though...after they left!
There's mom and the three older kids! I liked this ride but I got soaked!
This ride was for the kiddos...Aleah had fun!
This was their FAVORITE ride...TOWER OR TERROR!!! It made me a little nausiated for the next couple of hours! Once was enough for me!
Cool GREEN G.I Joe guys!
Late dinner at Denny's Restaurant- The GIRLS...
The BOYS...we were pretty tired here.
Thursday,
September 16th was our free day to leisurely drive down to Oceanside and to our Comfort Suites Inn. We couldn't check in till 2 p.m., so we drove further south to San Diego and decided to go to the
New Children's Museum. It was only $35 for all of us to spend the day having fun and being educated.
New Children's Museum of San Diego
Bouncing FUN in the tube!
Arts and Crafts for the girls
Can you tell he's an ENGINEER? Luke's just like his daddy I think!
This was a RAIN HOUSE...it sounded as if rain were pouring down on your roof and birds were chirrping. It was really cool when you went inside. It sounded so real!
TROJAN HORSE
Rachael and Aleah are hiding, can you see them inside?
Dress-up time with a CAMERA videotaping you and replaying it for you to enjoy watching.
The kids liked watching themselves on screen!
Our kids are so muscial!
Pump Bikes! They worked too...WAY COOL!
I was so proud of Aleah because she could even work them and pump across the room!
Qaiden got in trouble for pumping his down the hall instead of staying on the track!
Cute Birdie Aleah!
The kids made animals out of toilet paper rolls and Kazoo's out of straws...
After a fun-filled afternoon of imagination and creativity, we left about 2 p.m. to go get subway sandwhiches and then drove back to our hotel to get checked in. We had dinner of Rotisserie Chicken, 2 bags of bagged salad/dressing mixes, Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and fruit. It was a delicious dinner for under $15 as opposed to over $50 at Denny's the night before! I LOVE CHEAP things! That night, we relaxed in our hotel room and watched the Redbox $1 movie called, Prince of Persia.
Friday, September 17th was our trip down to Sea World. It was a TON of fun! I loved it even better than Disneyland/California Adventure. The kids' favorites were the rides of course and petting the sting rays. Rachael LOVED the Dolphin show as well. Here are some photos of our fun! This was the last day of our vacation to California and it was certainly the highlight!
Qaiden and the Walrus!
Fun ride, but DON'T sit in the front or you'll get SOAKED!!
Porpoises
Dolphin Show...REALLY neat!
There were 2 black whales and MAN can they SOAK you...yep, we were in the SOAK ZONE and we got a TON of salt water dumped on us. Aleah was asleep in my arms and when that water dumped on us, she was so startled that she started to cry. It was pretty funny!!!
"SOAK ZONE" here we are!
Pink Flamingos
We paid $12 for 2 trays of 5 fish each to feed the SEALIONS. It was pretty cool, except a dumb bird took one of my fish and took one of Rachael's fish!
I put a starfish upside down in the water waiting for the kids to come off a ride, and it took 10 minutes to flip itself around...it was pretty cool to see how they did it!
Killer Whale SHAMU got us a little wet...those in front of us got it worse!
We LOVED petting the Sting Rays...they were cool!
Aleah gets in trouble for taking Luke's new toy!
