The After Math

Our drive home was a bit of an adventure.  And by adventure I mean miserable long drive.  The kids did so well on the drive to LA that we decided to make the 16.5 hour drive all in one shot.  We were just ready to be home.  We left San Diego around 8:00 that morning and were scheduled to be home around midnight.  But there were a few bumps along the way.  The first one was Ainsley getting car sick again and throwing up in the car.  We weren't as lucky as we were on the way down though.  This time there was puke on the seat and floor of the car.  We cleaned it up the best we could and continued on.  Then we stopped at a Walmart for some food because we knew we would be driving through the barren desserts of Nevada during dinner time.  Then we stopped at a home depot we saw on the side of the road when we all realized there was still the faint smell of barf in the car. 

Then we started making decent time.  John drove the bulk of the way.  We made a stop in Vegas for some food and shortly after that John started feeling sick.  Fast forward 5 hours, 4 stops for puking, and we finally made it home.

I drove the last 5-6 hours with John semi-conscious moaning and apologizing.  There was rain, 5 hour energy drinks, and luckily sleeping kids before we pulled into the driveway at 2:00 in the morning.  The next 3 days were spent doing laundry, resting, and with 2 more kids getting the stomach flu.  I can't think of a better welcome back to reality that the flu.  Poor Owen and Emmie had rough time with it.  And Emmie had to miss her fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch.  Owen came home from school today still feeling exhausted and under the weather. 

We're all hoping that next week is a little less eventful!

Sea World

After our final night at Disneyland we drove to Sandiego so we could go to SeaWorld on our final day in California.  We were all pretty beat by this point.  But I thought it was worth it.  Mostly because I got to touch a dolphin!  Oh, and Ains and Owen did too.  SeaWorld is a lot different than I remember it.  They have a lot more interactive areas than when I was last there (15 years ago!).  We all loved watching the dolphins up close.  Emmie loved it up until they splashed her, and then she wanted nothing to do with them.

We also got to touch bat rays. 

And starfish.

I really like the fish tanks.  Full of huge fish, coral, sharks, turtles, etc.

 

And of course the Shamu and dolphin show didn't disappoint. 

By this day everyone was growing tired of rides...plus they just didn't compare to the rides we had left (can we say spoiled?).  Everyone that is, except for Owen. It killed him that no one was willing to go on any of the rollercoasters there with him.  But then he found this ride that he could ride without and adult.  If you look closely you'll notice that he's up there all by his lonesome.   Poor kid.  But he was in heaven, up there spinning all by himself. 

After SeaWorld we stopped at In-N-Out for dinner. John's only request for the week.  We fed our entire family for $20!  It felt like nothing after spending $30-$40 per meal all week.  So we got  milkshakes.  And then we all felt a little sick :)

Our Final Day at Disney

Our last day at Disney we headed back to all of our favorites.  The park seemed much busier this day, but we didn't mind so much because we had already done all of our favorites. 

Emmie is actually in this Splash Mountain Picture.  She's behind Ainsley next to me.  And just so you know...she did not like this ride.  We only made her try it once.  The kids however rode it 3 times. 

Owen got to eat his much anticipated turkey leg.  Apparently he liked it.  The thought of it makes me  a little sick.

We also watched the Mickey's Soundsational Parade.  Have I mentioned my love for Disney parades?!

That night the kids raced to use their fast passes and do their favorites again.  I think they rode Indiana Jones 5 times.  The ride broke down on our last time and the kids and I got to see what part of it looked like with the lights on, while strapped in our jeep.

We polled the family and asked each their favorite rides on the way home and this is what we learned....
Owen likes Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror best.
Ainsley's favorite is Indiana Jones
Emmie's favorite is the Dumbo Ride and Cars
John's favorite is Splash Mountain
And I have like 10 favorites.  Pirates, Indiana Jones, Peter Pan, Splash Mountain.  And also the Toy Story Ride (Because I'm the ultimate family champion!  My 2 scores were 126, 300 and 139,600 respectively.  While John's scores were 96,000 and 84,000 respectively.  And he can't try to beat me again for years :)

While the kids got to ride their favorites one last time, Emmie got to wander around with John and I enjoying main street for one last time.  Notice the map she is holding in this picture....she loved that map and referred to it a lot during our stay.

I can't speak for the rest of my family but I was sad to leave Disneyland that night.  I can't wait to go back!  Hopefully there won't be a 10 year stint between trips this time.

In conclusion:  We love Disneyland!  And even though there was pee and poop and whining and fighting it was a magical trip.  We have been making Ains and Owen wait for Emmie to be 4 so that we could go to Disneyland for years.  And I must say it was well worth the wait.  Our kids were the perfect ages and we had a ton of fun!

Universal Studios

After a day at the beach we headed to Universal Studios.  The day was cold and rainy, the drive to get there was kind of long, and if I'm being honest it was the only part of the week that I didn't love.  We still had fun, but it just wasn't a great day.  I think in general Universal is a little too old for my kids, which I knew going in, but it was part of our city pass, so to Universal we went!  At least my expectations were met! 

The highlight of the day was when Owen got called up on stage during the Animal show.  He was cute up there and REALLY nervous!

And he got a free drink for going on stage.  And if you know Owen you know that drinks are one of his favorite things.  (Notice we got  hot chocolate...we were a little chilly.)

We did the studio tour, a few rides, and a water special effects show, and then we decided we were done with Universal.  So we left and got some dinner.  We ended up at a Mexican restaurant that my dad loves and lucky for us it was kids eat free night!  So we got a sit down dinner and were pleasantly surprised that we spent the same on that as we had spent on every other meal we ate while at the parks all week.  It was kind of nice!

The Beach

After 2 full days of Disney we took a bit of a break.  We slept in and headed to the beach for the day.  Our kids had never seen the beach.  I wish we would have had 2 days there.  The kids looked for sea shells and played in the water for hours.  I found myself wishing that I lived somewhere near enough to the ocean that we could do day trips there. 

While we were there we met some friends!  Well, our kids met them, John and I have known them all along.  Johns high school friends Jamie and Jason Kinder just happened to be at Disneyland when we were.  And we ran into them 3 times in Disneyland!  What are the chances of that!?

We met up at the beach and our kids played for hours.  It was great.  The kids had fun, the adults had fun, and Ains and Owen got a break from fighting with each other!

We also went out to dinner with them that night.  It was really great to catch up with them, and completely random that it happened in LA!

California Adventure

Day 2 we were up bright and early again and headed over to California Adventure.  This was a first for John and I so we had a bit of a learning curve here.  But I thought it was fun to explore.  The first thing John did was wait in line for 30 min to get a fast pass for the Cars ride.  The wait for that ride was already 90 min just 30 min after the park opened.  So while he did that the kids and I explored.  And we found Sully (who Emmie refused to have her picture taken with, but the other two happily obliged.)

If you look closely at my eyes in this picture you night be able to tell how tired we were...

Owen's favorite part of everything was the rides.  The scarier the better according to him!  During this picture Emmie and I were waiting below.  I called John and his phone answered right as they were all dropped in the Tower of Terror.  I got to hear all the screaming.  It was great!

Ains and Owen rode California Screamin' with me.  Owen really wanted too and while Ains was cautious she didn't want to be left out.  She was really nervous about going upside down.  But we did it and we survived. The picture from that ride is my favorite...but it's only on my phone!  Ainsley's face is one of sheer terror, and Owen is holding on for dear life.  I, of course, look beautiful.  Owen would have ridden in again if any of us could have stomached it another time.

Emmie love the calmer rides.  She loved this Carousel and The Dumbo ride the best.  Emmie also got to ask a question to Crush during Turtle Talk.  Her question was a deep one, she asked, "Why are you a turtle?"  They had a lovely conversation and Crush nick-named Emmie Extreme Emmie.  That attraction is seriously impressive.  I'd love to see how they do that one!

Cars Land didn't disappoint and was pretty impressive.  Especially all lit up at night. 

We even happened upon a dance party while walking down the street.  I must say, I love the constant entertainment that we happened upon all the time.   Never a dull moment!

Our afternoon at California Adventure we rested a bit and watched the Aladin show and the Pixar Play parade.  I'm amazed by Disney's attention to detail.  Every show is impressive and no detail is left unattended too.  I love their parades.  I wish pictures could capture the feeling during them so I could relive them, but they don't.  No one else takes time to make everything so magical....bubbles floating everywhere, amazing costumes, and music blaring.  I love it!

We also watched World of Color this night.  It was fabulous!  My arms ached after propping Emmie up for the full 30 min, but it was well worth it.  And in case anyone was wondering, our favorite part of the show was the Pirates part.  Just FYI.