Disneyland & California Adventure

We packed up and headed into the city (oh we were already in the city...we stayed in a hotel just down from Disneyland for the next three days of fun!)  We had a three day hopper pass to Disneyland and California Adventure.  We went to California Adventure first cause it looked less busy.  (It was still plenty busy)  The kids liked "Bugs Life", the feel of bugs crawling under you, getting stung, spit upon, and the stinky smells!

There were lots of carousel rides.  (Little line)

Mom, Ashton, Logan and Ava went on the Ferris wheel. We were freezing at the very top, it was rainy and windy.

Hunter and Ashton "Jellyfish"

Bumper Cars

The Catapillar

The spinning Lady bugs

We got a kick out of Mr. Incredible strutting his stuff!

We spent day two at Disneyland.

One of my favorite things was Ava's reaction to all the Characters, I didn't realize she even knew who they were.  She couldn't keep her eyes off them!

Nope...not strong enough!

"Dumbo"

"California Screaming"

Hunter, Clint, and Eric

Day Three we did both.

The favorite rides were, Soaring over California, Tower of Terror, bugs life, we enjoyed the show of Aladin. Pirates of the Caribbean, and Splash Mountain.

On the first day, Logan asked if we could go back to the beach....We all liked Disneyland and California Adventure,  it would have been more fun if the weather would have cooperated a bit more.  I might have enjoyed it more had I not been pregnant too.  We are so glad Clint went with us (we would have probably lost a kid or two with out him).  It was fun but I think I'm good for awhile, before I think we should go back.

We stayed the night in Las Vegas on the way home.  Clint and Eric took the big boys to a nice buffet dinner where they were able to try all kinds of cuisine.  I stayed in the motel with the littles.  The weather from there went from bad to worse.  We stayed in Salt Lake City, the next night because the roads were so bad and we had about all we could take in the car since the trip was much slower going because of the bad weather. 

We have some great memories from the trip and look forward to the next family vacation!

Back to the Beach

Our third day we spent it back at the beach.  The weather was even cooler today than the first day but we still had a good time.  We practically had the entire beach to ourselves.  We saw lots of sea creatures today.

 

 The seal was just hanging out on the rocks in the morning.  You can see him in the background of our family photo below.

The Star Fish were really cool....we had never seen live starfish in the wild before!

This poor crab was being hunted by seagulls, when
Ashton rescued him.  I doubt he lasted long after we left.

That evening we drove down the road to the wharf.  There were quite a few people fishing.

There were seals all around, barking, waiting for the fishermen to throw the scraps to them after cleaning their catch.

Another fun filled day!

L.A. Zoo

Our second day in California we decided to go to the LA Zoo.  One reason we chose it over the San Diego Zoo was it was closer and we couldn't talk ourselves into another long car ride just yet.  (Traffic was crazy so it still was a long ride in the car)

 

 One of the first exhibits at the zoo are the Flamingos.  Who knew flamingos stink so bad.  Ava was cracking up everyone around us with her comments about the stinky flamingos. 

 Hunter and Ashton with the Koala bear.

There were a lot of people at the zoo (Presidents Day weekend).  Im not a big fan of zoos but the kids enjoyed it.

California Vacation -Newport Beach Day 1

And the "family vacation" begins.  We loaded in the van on the 15th of February when Eric got off work and headed out.  We drove to Nephi where we picked up Uncle Clint.  When I invited him to come with us I figured he would want to fly to California and just meet us there, instead of joining the "crazy" and riding in the car with us.  (The kids actually did really well traveling, I was pleasantly surprised!)  We drove to Cedar City that night and got there very late.  After a little bit of sleep we headed out.  We got to our destination at New Port Beach around 2pm.  We rented a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner).  It was a two bedroom, kitchen and living room.  It was a short walk to the beach, basically all we had to do was cross the street and we were there.   We were anxious to get to the beach so that was the first thing on the agenda.  It was a bit chilly but we didn't let that stop us from having fun!

 

Clint was good to help the boys on the body boards.  They caught a few waves before they were frozen.

Being four months pregnant I didn't join in the body boarding, which I was totally ok with, sticking my toes in the cold water was enough for me, I was glad to have a good excuse.

We loved having Uncle Clint with us!

Ashton found a crab leg...yum yum.

Sometimes the waves came to fast.....

Ava wasn't fast enough and went down...got a little to wet for her liking.

The kids loved finding sea shells and playing in the sand!