For Spring Break we decided to get out of cold, rainy, random weather Utah and head for beautiful skies, Disneyland and the beach. We were totally spoiled!!!
Our first stop straight out of Long Beach Airport was to AMERICAN GIRL PLACE at The Grove shopping district in L.A. Kaycee had been looking forward to this for a long time and has been saving her money to buy some clothes for her American Girl Doll - Julie. These stores are amazing and this one didn't disappoint! It was two stories and had a doll salon, hospital and a restaurant to eat tea or lunch with your doll. It's truly a girl's dream come true. The men could have cared less but the girls loved it! Grandma C. loved it so much that we had to make another trip there at the end of the week so she could do some major grand-daughters shopping. She called it her "Cabelas" (because all the men in her life love to shop at Cabelas). The Grove is a really cool place to shop - a lot of stars shop there (Toby from The Office was there:)) and we drove in and around Beverly Hills to get there. It's kind of fun to see Rodeo Drive and all the ritzy places you see in movies.
Kaycee in front of Julie's collection. She is quite the popular doll in California -probably because she's a San Francisco hippy- and a lot of her stuff was out of stock!
Kaycee did get some cute clothes for her doll including this matching P.J. set
THE BEACH is always so mesmerizing and relaxing. We went to the Oceanside beach twice during our trip. It was only a short walk from our hotel. The first day was a little windy and mid 60ish. We all wore our clothes and jackets. The kids loved playing in the water and got soaked in their clothes. We made sure to wear our swimming suits the next time we went. For those of you who haven't been to the beach in a while - this clip is for you so you can hear it and be jealous. Luke kept saying "this is awesome!"
John is so creative and cute when he wants to be:)
G and G C. preferred sitting at the park across the street the first day at the beach
DISNEYLAND is always our favorite! We got up early and spent 13 1/2 hours there. It was such a blast! It totally rained for the first couple of hours and then the sky cleared up and the weather was perfect! We got these great ponchos that felt like a blanket when you wore them. It was not busy and the lines were great. Kaycee loved the Matterhorn and Space Mountain and Luke loved the Indiana Jones ride and Space Mountain. It is impossible to be sad at Disneyland - there is so much to do and see! The fireworks were absolutely amazing over Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Well worth the 9:30pm time. The ponchos kept us warm. Thanks to Grandpa C. for saving us front and center bench seats for 5 hours.
DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE was crazy busy when we went on Thursday (Southern Cali's spring break). Thanks heavens Grandma and Grandpa C. received fast passes for all of the rides there for volunteering in the community. My family got a free ticket for volunteering. We made blankets for a women's shelter. You can see us wearing our "honorary volunteer" buttons below. We did have to wait in line for 1 hour for the Toy Story Mania ride because they don't offer fast passes for it yet - it's still too new. I guess it was worth the wait because Luke said it was his favorite ride at California Adventure. Kaycee was a good sport and tried out all the rides. She didn't like the blast off part of the California Screaming roller coaster. She was so scared to go on the Tower of Terror as you can see below. But when all was said and done she loved it and said it was one of her favorites! I still love the Soarin' Over California ride.BEFORE:
DURING: (we're on the front, right side)
AFTER:
SEA WORLD was totally awesome! Luke told me it was his favorite part of our trip. They do some really great shows. It is truly the coolest thing to see all the gigantic sea creatures up close and personal. The only drawback was the dolphins. Their show was closed because they are opening a new dolphin show in May and you can't pet the dolphins like you used to. You have to pay to feed them - and we missed the only feeding time they had that day. Kaycee was pretty bummed but then there was so much else to see and do that she got over it including feeding the huge bat rays. It was a little freaky but cool because they suck the fish right out of your hand:
The SHAMU show was amazing as always with one exception. Because of the trainer who was killed by the whale in Florida - no trainers could even get in the water with the whales. So we didn't get to see any stunts with the trainers and the whales together - like when the whales pop the trainers up in the air with their nose. It was kind of a bummer. It still amazes me how a huge killer whale can be trained like a dog. They are so beautiful. I wouldn't ever want to be in the water with a huge creature like that. The kids sat right next to the platform. They got soaked by Shamu and loved every minute of it!
THE HOTEL was perfect! We stayed at Grandpa and Grandma C.'s timeshare. We had a good time relaxing at the end of each day. It had a great pool/jacuzzi, basketball court, tennis court and playground for the kids. John even taught the kids how to dive despite the "NO DIVING" signs that were posted everywhere. Kaycee got pretty good at it. Luke did more of a superhero breaststroke jumping belly flop thing. It was super funny to watch him.
And of course we made a couple of ice cream stops during our trip.
It was a super fun trip and I am glad that we all have some awesome memories to keep forever! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!:)