California 2011

After an 11-day trip, I have hundreds of pictures. How do I narrow down what to blog about? I don't, so hold onto your hats.... Just kidding. I chose 3 pictures for each person to reflect their experience on the trip. So that is still 21 pictures, but better than hundreds :) Starting with Zachary. This picture shows a lot of people, but one of my favorite parts of his trip, was watching him build a relationship with Aunt Judy. She's the cute blond kneeling by him. He was too young last time he saw her to really remember her, but after this trip, she has found a place in his heart. She spoiled him with love, lots of toys to play with, and lots of attention. She was the one that stayed with him at the beach when the seaweed scared him and he only wanted to play in the sand. She's the one that coaxed him back to the ocean to get water in a bucket to pour around his sand castle. So it's great to see him know another person that loves him.

Zachary : Keeping in the theme of people, this cute little red-head next to him is Callie. He adores Callie. She is the cousin closest to him in age and they have always had a lot of fun together. They were inseparable whenever we they were together. This picture is just after she dumped water on his head. He hates that, but he tolerated it because it was Callie doing it. He talks about Callie all the time. How we wish they lived closer...

Zachary #1: The most memorable moment of the whole trip was this! He loves everything to do with Buzz. We went on the Buzz ride several times every day. He talks about him all the time, acts out his shows, and wants to buy anything that has Buzz on it (even bubble bath, which helped him get past not wanting to bathe). We tried for several days to find Buzz at Disneyland, and then finally learned that you can ask workers to call and find out when and where extra characters will be. So we found out about a 30 minute window Buzz would be appearing, and stalked the area until he showed up. We were the group of green following him through Tomorrowland until he reached his photo location. David did a great job of capturing the look on Zach's face when he first got to meet Buzz. Definitely a moment I will always remember. It's not often a parent really can make a dream come true for a child.

Tyler: Tyler got to be the older, more grown-up boy he always wants to be. Having 3 older siblings often leads to him being left out for being so young. Once he was given permission to take Zach on the Buzz ride, he was beaming and requested they be together the rest of the times we went. He was so cute holding Zach's hand and telling him about how they would take out Zurg. Love that my boys like each other.

Tyler: California Screamin'! He was too short to ride this ride last time we came to Disneyland, so he was way excited to ride it this time. So excited in fact, that we broke tradition and didn't go to Tomorrowland first, but went straight to this ride. He loved it! He kept his eyes open the first time through, and was soon holding his hands up through the entire ride.

Tyler #1: LegoLand. He is the main reason we wanted to go to Legoland. He is way into Legos, and we felt bad we missed this stage with David. The park is fun, especially for younger kids. But the best part was all of the amazing things built out of Legos. Whenever Tyler has money, he wants to buy Star Wars Legos. So it was great timing that LegoLand had Star Wars scenes created out of Legos. The detail was amazing. It was a lot of fun to hear him tell me all about what was going on in the scene. He even spent all of his trip money on Star Wars Legos direct from LegoLand.

Brianna: Driving. What kid doesn't want to drive? This year was the first that Brianna was tall enough to drive an Autopia car all on her own. I was behind her, and can say that given the constant stop and go, I can see why Disney set the height limit to drive by yourself. She loved being all grown up.

Brianna: Ariel ride. The ride opened up to the public on our last day in the park. We got in line outside before the park even opened. It was worth the wait, to see our beautiful little Ariel fan get to be one of the first to see this ride. So cute, and well done. She said it was the highlight of her time in Disneyland.

Brianna #1: Morgan. She may be a few years younger than Brianna, but they have always been close. They love to spend time together whenever possible and had another great visit this time around. Brianna even got to have a "sleepover" in Morgan's room on the nights we stayed at their house. I love that she gets to have such great cousins to be close to. We went on a 2 1/2 mile walk with Quinn and Leslie and their kids, and these two girls held hands much of the time. I don't think they ever stopped talking :)

Mikinna: The beach. It's been a lot of years since we've been to the ocean at a time of year that it's warm enough to get in the water. I don't think Mikinna got out of the water for more than a few minutes at a time. Judy had a boogie board that she let Mikinna try, and she spent a lot of time trying to ride the waves. I didn't take my camera to the beach for fear of it getting ruined in the sand, so I don't have any actual pictures, which is too bad because everyone had a wonderful time.

Mikinna: Tower of Terror. All the kids used to hate this ride. Then Tom showed them a couple of episodes of Twilight Zone, and then all of them wanted to go on it. Mikinna now likes it so much, that she spent her hard-earned money buying herself a Tower of Terror shirt, in the picture above. Sidenote: I love this ride, so I was glad to have kids want to go on it this time :)

Mikinna #1: Zachary. She has always been close to Zachary, so watching him experience all of the magic this trip, was magical for her as well. She loved to take him on rides and watch him take in all there was to see. She loved to take his hand and walk him around the park. She loved to entertain him in the lines. I can't tell you how many pictures she took of him in line for Buzz and Toy Story. We now have a picture of him in front of every poster. She was amazing with him through the whole trip. She kept him happy during the drive, shared a bed with him at the hotel, calmed him down when he was scared, and played with him a lot. Sure love this girl!

David: Kids. Yep, he's 14, and one of the amazing things about this trip was kids. This is his 2 year-old cousin, Carter. He played with him the whole time we were at their house. He would wrestle with him, play games with him. Anything Carter wanted to do, David was game for. It was so tender and amazing.

While we were in Legoland, some of the kids from Judy's daycare came with their families. There was a mother with her 3 young girls that was there without her husband. David was volunteered to take one of the girls on a ride. That girl was glued to his side the rest of the time. Instead of complaining, he held her hand and talked to her and helped her have an enjoyable time. I'm a proud mother.

David : Okay, driving would not make the list in David's mind. He hates driving and can't watch the tv for very long without getting sick. This picture was taken near the beginning of the trip when he was listening to his iPod and resting. 2/3 of the way to California, at the border of Nevada and California it all changed. He set down his iTouch in the bathroom for just a minute (literally), and it was stolen. We tried everything we could to find it, to no avail. The reason I include this is because of how impressed I was with my son. I know he was way disappointed. He had worked for 6 months to earn the money to buy the iTouch himself. He loved it. So did he get mad at everyone and take it out on his innocent siblings? Did he sulk through the whole trip because he was so angry? Nope! He took a nap because he was afraid he would take his frustration out on everyone else. After that, he had a great attitude and had a great trip. He went out of his way to spend time with each of his siblings and didn't even complain at LegoLand where I know he was quite bored. What a boy :)

David #1: I know this was the highlight of David's trip. Tom has been an A's fan his whole life, and David has started following them closely the past few years. When Tom found out they would be playing the Angels while we were in town, he got tickets and took David and Mikinna. They had a fantastic time. David got to meet a couple of the players he had heard about and followed. They got their hats autographed and a couple of pictures. What a fun afternoon!

Me: We took 20 minutes while we were driving from Judy's in San Diego to stop at the San Diego temple. I'd driven by it before, but never pulled off to see it. It was beautiful. It was great to share this with my kids. While we were visiting Judy, she invited us to attend her Catholic church. The kids and I had never attended any religion besides LDS. It was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot. I was proud of my kids for being reverent and respectful. Audra : Waiting in line. Yep, you heard right. 5 days at amusement parks, and it's waiting in lines that was one of the highlights of my trip. I loved how the kids entertained each other. There was very little arguing. I got to visit with my kids, laugh with my kids, eat lots of snacks with them, and be silly with them. We had thumb wars and lots of hand-slapping contests. The kids who are most likely to fight in the real world, were having fun in line together. So, to see my family enjoy one anothers company while standing around, was a great thing for me. Audra #1: Time with Family. We got to spend time with both of my brothers and their families in Orange County, and Tom's Aunt Judy in San Diego. With all of them living so far away, we don't get to see them often enough. It was great to spend time with people that we love and enjoy so much. The kids loved time with their cousins and a way fun aunt. And all of the family were so generous to us. They gave us places to sleep and lots of wonderful food. Places to play, swim, relax, and do laundry. Yep, family is the best!

Tom : For four days we walked through the central plaza at Disneyland, and every time, Tom would say, "we need to take a picture in front of Walk and Mickey". He patiently waited while we rushed by each time. The last night at about 11:00 pm, we finally stopped and he got to have his picture. We both grew up loving Disneyland, and continue to love it. This is one way that Tom's memories are tied together from when he came as a kid.

Tom : Watching. It was Tom's idea to try LegoLand out because several of our kids love to play with Legos, and the older kids are outgrowing this park. He was so pleased to watch Tyler enjoy this new experience. When Zach got to meet Buzz, and Bri got to ride on the Ariel ride, he was standing back with a huge grin on his face enjoying their enjoyment. He works so hard to provide for all of us and to pay for this trip. He did it so we could all have fun. The best part is that he got to have just as much fun.

Tom #1: Tom went to lots of A's games growing up thanks to cheaper ticket prices, and generous neighbors with season tickets. He has continued to follow his team religiously. So to share this joy with 2 kids that were way excited, truly created one of his best experiences.

Oops, it still turned into an incredibly long post and I hardly covered all of the fun memories we made. But at least I have some of our best moments documented.

Family Vacations ROCK!!!!