Goodbye California!

By the end of our vacation we had some really sleepy boys on our hands. The were such great troopers through the hole trip. We had many late nights and very early mornings. We had so much we wanted to do and go see that there just was not much time for any sleeping.

Before we knew it it was time to say goodbye to California and fly back to Utah!We flew with Jet Blue airlines and I was very pleased. There was lots of room for your legs. They offered TV or radio for each passenger. So you could choose from several different channels or several different types of music while you were traveling. It made the flights much more pleasant (especially for the boys) I would fly Jet Blue again. Also we really enjoyed flying into Long Beach Airport. It is a very small airport but so nice that you can get in and out very quick. Anyway, we had such a wonderful vacation. It was hard to go back home but we had to do it!!

I would like to Thank my Mom and Roger for such a wonderful vacation. We had such a great time and it was so much fun to be able to spend the week with them. Again Thanks so much Mom and Roger for everything!! We appreciate you!!

Our Day at Sea World!

So we decided that for our last day in California that we would go to Sea World. So we drove to San Diego for the day. WOW Sea World has changed a lot since I have been there many years ago. (They even have rides now)

Anyway we all had a great time at Sea World!Mapping out our day and making sure we get to see all the shows.

The first show we went to see was Shamu.It was a pretty neat show. (if you ever go don't sit in the soak zone or you will get SOAKED and I mean SOAKED)

Another show that we got to see was the sea lions. This was the boys favorite show out of all of them. They were pretty funny and they did some cool tricks.

While we were waiting for Shawn and Bry to join us we just watched these really big turtles. The had like 5 of them and they just swim around and then go back up on the beach for a minute and then go swim again. They were funny little characters!

Shawn and Bry went on this water ride called Ship Wreck Rapids

(no one else wanted to go on the ride cause it was a bit chilly out and getting wet would make it even more cold) and man they got SOAKED!! It was because of the soaker boxes (which you will see pictures of them below) If it weren't for those they probably wouldn't have gotten wet at all! Anyway they had a great time!

here they are at the soaker boxes I was talking about

and these were one of several poor people that were soaked by the boys!! I guess paybacks are a ......!

Shawn said revenge is sweet!

Sea World has a few rides there now. So we decided to ride on the gondola. It was a pretty cool ride. It just took us from one side of ocean to the other (although you are not able to get off of the ride once you are over to the other side.) Anyway the views were beautiful and while we were on the ride the sun was setting. It was so neat to see.

Sea World has a really cool exhibit where we got to see lots of Sharks!! They had a tunnel that you walked through and the sharks would swim very close to the glass (see picture below) it was kind of scary but very cool!!

silly boy

They had really cool surf boards there and of course I had to have one last group picture!

The boys thought that this boat was so cool!

They also had another ride called Atlantis that Shawn and Bry loved!! (again it was another boat ride where you get wet and no one else wanted to ride it cause it was even colder than earlier that day) This ride was part roller coaster part log ride. Its Shawn's most favorite ride out of all the rides on our trip. And they didn't get too wet. (sorry no pictures of this ride)

Anyway, we had a great day at Sea World!!

Our 3rd Day at Disneyland!!

We were all excited to go back to Disneyland and ride more rides. We decided before we got there that we would start out riding the rides that we like the most and if we had time we would go and ride other ones. Well there were still lots of people but as the evening went on most of those people left and it made it much more fun for us. We didn't have to wait as long in the lines to ride the rides. We also were able to see the light parade and the fireworks when we were there on our last night.

We are on one of my most favorite rides at Disneyland. Its the Runaway Train!! I decided its more fun to ride this ride when its dark then during the day. Anyway we went on this ride a few times, the boys even loved it too!!

We were able to see the light parade. It was so neat to see. It was not what I expected it was so much better.

this is as close as we got to Mickey and Minnie.

(my boys really aren't into them so they didn't want to wait in line to see them when we went into Tunetown!) but it was fun to see them in the parade!

Its a Small World was so pretty all lit up! I just loved having the boys picture with all the pretty lights in the background!

This tree is HUGE!! This is one of the first things that you see as you walk into Disneyland!! Its so pretty and I had to have a family picture next to it. . . . .

Just one of many family pictures that I had to have!

The boys thought that they were cool that they got to drive these cars. Bry barley made the height requirements to be able to drive with an adult! So he was pretty proud of himself. Kode liked the ride so much he wished we had seen it on the first day to Disneyland!

Space Mountain!

this picture is of us while we were on the space mountain ride!

(Shawn wanted to take the boys on space mountain as their first ride in Disney. I said NO! Don't scare them first thing, then they will not want to go on another ride the rest of the time. This was not Kode's favorite ride but Bry said he liked it)

All in all we had a great day at Disneyland. It was hard to leave even though it was midnight (that's when Disney closes) but we were all tuckered out and ready for bed.

Universal Studios!!

One of the days that we were in California we decided to drive to Universal Studios. (Its been a very long time since I have been there and the last time I was there it was not real cool) It has changed a lot since last time. I was very impressed. There were so many cool shows that you could go to, and the tram ride was really neat (more about that at later on in this post) plus there were so many characters walking around (some we got pictures with) and a few more photo opps. Anyway, we had a great time at Universal Studios!

Just before we entered Universal!!

There at Universal they have several shows going on throughout the day and one of the many shows that we saw was The Blues Brothers. Well as part of their show they call kids from out of the audience and have them come up on stage and dance with them. So both of the boys were called to go up on stage and dance. At first Kode did not want to go but once he and Bry got up there along with other children he relaxed and began to dance. It was pretty neat to see them up there on stage!

This picture is of the boys (well actually all of us) on the tram to go and see where they film most of the movies there at Universal Studios. That was a really cool experience. Part of the ride is in 3D now so you had to wear the silly glasses. I think that the boys really enjoyed this tour!

Throughout the whole park they had lots of fun people to take photo's with. My mom and I decided it would be fun to have a picture standing next to Marlyn Monroe and then Shawn, I and Bry wanted a picture with the Frankenstein.

The boys thought that these mopeds were pretty cool. So I had to have a picture of them.

After spending the day at Universal Studios we walked the mini mall area that they have outside of Universal then we ate dinner at a really fancy but very neat restaurant. (they have mechanical bulls there that you could ride, and small fire pits that you could roast marshmallows at) Everyone had a little something different to eat and the food was great. Shawn ordered a margarita (they called it the bull rider) to drink and when it came out it was in a craft container. (he said he has never drank out of a craft container before) Then when we were all done eating dinner they brought out a HUGE thing of cotton candy. The boys loved that! (sorry no pictures of Kode. He was throwing a fit about going to this restaurant and he didn't want any pictures taken)

All in all we had a great day at Universal Studios!! I would defiantly go back there again!!