Family Vacation 2013

This year, our family vacation was in southern California.  We spent 6 days relaxing and having fun.  I will break up each days activities in this blog and post any associated pictures with each activity.

Day 1

Day one is actually a day and a part.  I got off work a little early on Friday and we left to Salt Lake.  We went to bed early (except Jenny, who went out with Meagan until 12:30) and hit the road early Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m.  We stopped in St. George  around 9:00 a.m. for some leg stretching time.  We went to Pioneer Park, which has some cool rock formations and slot canyons.  Zadik was in heaven.  We could barely keep track of him as he raced from climbing one rock formation to the next.  Alise and Brenna had lots of fun too.  We played around for about an hour and then hit the road again.  Other than a quick stop for lunch at a rest stop, we drove the rest of the way to Anaheim.  The day was rounded out by a barbecue and swimming at the pool.

Day 2

Day two was spent swimming in the ocean at Newport Beach.  Zadik, Alise, and I had a blast going out as far as we could and letting the waves break over our heads.  Zadik and Alise each spent most of the time gathering sea shells.  Zadik decided his shorts were too itchy after a while, so he turned the beach into a nude beach.

Brenna and Jenny complained that the water was too cold, so they stayed closer to shore.  I did finally convince Jenny to come out into the deeper water with me.  She stayed out for about 5 minutes and was done.  Annie didn't want anything to do with the water.  She also wasn't much impressed by the sand.  She freaked out every time she got sand on her body.  At one point, I was trying to help her get sand off her hands.  She started to throw one of her tantrums and put her face on the sand.  Since she was crying, she got sand stuck to her eyelids.  I washed it off with water, which solved the problem but made her madder.  As soon as I let her go, she smashed her head into the sand and got a face and mouth full of dirt.  She swallowed some of the sand and gagged for quite a while.  I once again had to wash her off and then hold her to keep her from doing it again.  All told, we were at the beach for about 4 hours before everyone was ready to leave.

This was us getting misled by our GPS for about an hour.

Day 3

Day 3 was our first day at Disneyland.  We arrived around 10:00 a.m. and, other than a break for dinner, stayed until 11:00 p.m.  We hit a lot of the bigger rides in the morning and early afternoon.  The nice thing about going this time of year is that the rides have almost no lines.  For almost all the rides, by the time you walk from the entrance to the ride, you only have to wait 2 or 3 minutes to get on.

In the evening, they had trick or treating in the park.  They had several trick or treat lines set up around the park.  Once you got in a line, they would have 3 to 4 stations where you would get candy.  You just walked from station to station and held out your bag, The kids each got way more candy than they needed, and Jenny and I got double what the kids got.

Annie's favorite thing today was meeting Winnie the Pooh.  She ran right up to him and hugged him.  When we went in to a gift shop shortly thereafter, she grabbed a pooh bear and wouldn't let go.

As far as the rides went, Brenna said her favorite ride was Space Mountain.  It is a pretty intense roller coaster in the dark.  I thought she looked scared each time she went, but she insisted it was her favorite ride.  Brenna also had a blast on Autopia, a go kart type ride where the kids can steer the cars.  It is on a track, so you can't go off and hit other cars beside you.  She giggled like crazy every time I screamed that we were going to go off road and wreck.  Both Brenna and Annie went to the Halloween party dressed as cowgirls.

For Zadik, there could only be one winner.  Star Tours was his favorite by far.  We didn't get to that section of the park until the afternoon, but he spent all morning begging to go on Star Tours.  He was not disappointed by the ride.  It is a virtual roller coaster where the room you are sitting in moves up, down, and all around to match images on the 3D screen you are watching.  I have to agree with Zadik that it was a pretty awesome ride.  At the end of the ride, you have to exit through a Star Tours gift shop.  Prominently displayed in the gift shop is a station where you build your own light-saber.  Zadik had to build one.  We allowed the kids to bring all their saved money to spend however they wanted.  Zadik very quickly decided to spend most of his money building his own light-saber.  He got to pick out the color of the light, what type of handle, and what add-ons went on the handle.  A nice add on for Zadik was that he got to use his light saber that night as part of his Darth Vader costume.

Alise said her favorite ride was the Winnie-the-pooh ride, but she wouldn't elaborate on why.  She dressed up as Winnie-the-pooh and did enjoy getting her picture taken with pooh.  Alise did seem to get a thrill out of the bigger rides like splash mountain and space mountain.

Day 4

Day 4 was spent at Universal Studios.  Alise and Zadik enjoyed themselves, for Brenna the day was a wash, and Annie had an awful day.  Alise had a blast on Transformers, Revenge of the Mummy, and Jurassic park.  All are roller coaster like rides, but all are different.  Jurassic Park is a boat that floats along a river through Jurassic Park.  It has a couple drops, including one that takes you under a T-Rex who is about to eat you.  Alise went several times, but whined about getting wet.  Secretly, I think she enjoyed getting wet more than anyone else in our group.  Revenge of the Mummy is a lot like Space Mountain, in that it is a high speed roller coaster in the dark.  One major difference is that on Space Mountain, you start at the top and gain speed all the way through the ride.  With Mummy, you blast off right from a standstill and go up and down and all over.  At about the half way point, you come up to a solid wall and suddenly you are put in reverse and you go backwards through the entire ride.  Alise said that was her favorite ride.  With Transformers, it is a mix between a normal coaster and a virtual coaster.  You are in a moving coaster, but you down't really move along down a track.  You are surrounded by 3D screens that project a battle scene between autobots and decepticons.  You and in the middle of the battle trying to help the autobots without getting killed yourself.  It has some really impressive effects that really make you think you are part of the action.  Transformers was Zadik's favorite ride.  Brenna was too short to ride any of the coasters except Transformers.  It was way too intense for her.  When I asked her what she enjoyed the most from today, she kept naming things we had done at Disneyland.  For Annie, she was a pill all day.  It could be because she is stuck in a stroller all day, but it could also be because she decided to get some molars in this week.

Day 5

Day 5 was spent at California Adventure and Disneyland.  Alise had a blast in California Adventure.  She loved the Tower of Terror (an elevator ride that lifts you up and then throws you up and down), Soarin' over California (a ride where you simulate hang gliding over different parts of California), and California Screamin' (an intense roller coaster ride).  Zadik was too small for Screamin', but he enjoyed the other two rides.  Brenna went on the Tower and Soarin', but she said she didn't enjoy either one.  Both Brenna and Annie did enjoy spending time at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (a tree-house and forest-like path that i kid friendly).  After lunch, we headed back to Disneyland for the rest of the afternoon.  Zadik went to the Jedi Training School and was picked to be a padawan (Jedi apprentice).  He got to learn Jedi fighting skills and even took on Darth Vader in a light saber contest.  He really loved that.  We went on a few other favorite rides and called it a day.  We left around 6:00, at dinner, and the kids (minus Annie) spent about an hour in the pool.

Day 6

Day 6 was spent at Sea World.  I was definitely looking forward to this more than any other part of the trip.  Last time I went there, I thoroughly enjoyed the freshwater aquarium because I got to see larger versions of many of the fish I had as a kid.  This time, I was excited to see how the kids would react to seeing the fish.  Alise was the only one who was old enough to notice that we she had some of the fish that were on display. Even though she doesn't show much emotion, I could tell she really enjoyed seeing all the fish.

Alise said her favorite part of Sea World was the shows.  We watched Shamu and the killer whales, an interactive Dolphin show where the kids got to touch the dolphins, a dog and cat show, and a Sea Lion show.  She also enjoyed the Manta roller coaster.  The rest of the kids enjoyed the Sesame Street play area the best.  It had a several smaller rides, large climbing area, and a huge bouncy floor area.

After Sea World, we picked up some dinner and headed to the Beach to enjoy the sunset.  Our GPS got us a little lost, so we arrived a little later than we wanted, but we still managed to get some good pictures in of the sunset.

This is a tufted puffin, which Alise is obsessed with right now.  This is the bird behind her in the picture above.

Day 7

Day 7 was a return to Disneyland.  We started the day in Disneyland checking out some area the kids hadn't visited yet.  We rode the train to Toontown first thing.  All the kids enjoyed the rides and play areas.  We then moved on to Fantasyland and hit a few of those rides.  A couple were shut down, but Brenna was excited to go through the enchanted forest where Snow White lives.  To top it off for Brenna, we then waled through Sleeping Beauty's castle.  We then went on the carnival type rides in California Adventure and took a break for lunch.  After a few favorite repeats, we headed back to Disneyland and hit a bunch of the kids' favorite rides there.  I took Annie home around dinner time and packed up the car.  Jenny and the kids stayed until around 11:00 p.m.

Day 8

Day 8 started early again.  We were up getting everyone in the car and on the road by just after 5:00 a.m.
We only stopped to build a project at a Home Depot in Las Vegas (a sailing ship that sits on a table), to visit great grandma Beckstead (Brenna gave great grandma the ship she built), and to have dinner.  It was a long day in the car, but the kids did pretty good.  Jenny and I were sure happy to see our home when we pulled up around 10:00 p.m.