We visited Southern California last week with my whole family. All of my brothers and sisters came, and Dan brought his family from St. Louis (wife Lori, and kids Kohl, Brynn and Chase), and Amanda brought her new husband Matt. It was great to have everyone together for the vacation, and we were especially glad B.J. could get off work to come with us. We spent a few days at Disneyland, a day at Sea World, and a day at Knott's Berry Farm.
It was Arden's first visit to Disneyland. The park was all decorated for Christmas, and it was beautiful. Arden especially liked the Dumbo ride, the carousel, Small World, Jungle Cruise, and, of course, meeting Mickey Mouse. She even sat on Mickey's lap, and once her turn was over she pointed back at him and said "More mouse peez?" She liked the outside rides, but didn't really like the dark, loud rides like Pirates of the Caribbean. She didn't even like the Fantasyland rides like Snow White or Pinocchio (the whale in that ride really scared her!). She was glad her grandma and grandpa were there to take her on the "horsies" (carousel) over and over and over while Preston and me followed the other adults and older kids on Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, the Tower of Terror, etc. etc. (thanks Mom and Dad!!!). We also enjoyed the tortilla factory in California Adventure, where you can get FREE tortillas while they are still hot!
Here is Arden, Grandpa and me on the carousel.
We rode on the new Finding Nemo submarines, which had the longest line in the park, and no fastpasses! It was a cool ride though, all the kids especially liked it. I remember going on the submarines when I was a kid and totally believing that I was deep, deep under water instead of just a few feet down. Did anyone else fall for those bubbles when they were kids?
It was fun taking Matt on all of the rides, since he hadn't been to Disneyland since he was a kid. Matt was also the resident photographer, and we are all looking forward to getting a CD of all the pictures he took (thanks Matt!!!). Unfortunately, with Matt taking so many pictures, I got a little lazy about taking them, but I will post a few for you.
Here is Arden in her pirate hat inside the Blue Bayou Restaurant, which is the restaurant inside of Pirates of the Carribbean. My dad treated us all to lunch there (thanks Dad!!).
Here is Arden, Brynn and Grandpa on the Dumbo Ride.
It was fun to hang out with Dan and his family, we wish we got to see them more often. Arden loved to hang out with her cousins, and one of her favorite things was to ride on the back of their 2-kid stroller (our stroller mostly got used as a bag-holder). Kohl especially liked to go on the rides that get you wet, and could usually talk Dan and Preston into going with him, even at night (temps at night were in the 40s). Brynn and Kohl loved riding on Preston and Matt's shoulders whenever they could.
Everyone had a good time at Sea World. The kids (and the adults) liked to pet the dolphins and the sting rays. Brynn is so cute, she was chosen to be in the dolphin show and got to go up on stage and pet a dolphin. I always wished that I would get picked for something like that when I was a kid!!! Kohl was chosen to shake a sea lion's fin in the sea lion show too! Such lucky kids!
Here is Val, Preston and Arden playing with a starfish at the tide pool area:
I hadn't been to Knott's Berry Farm since I was a kid, so it was kind of fun to do something new. They have some serious roller coasters there. I liked the "Silver Bullet," it is one of those where the track is above you and your feet are hanging down. We also rode the old "Ghost Rider" coaster, which is one of those really old wooden coasters. It was the bumpiest ride I have ever been on!! We all needed to get back adjustments from Dan the chiropractor after that ride. There was also a lot of little kids rides there. Arden especially liked the one that looked like a school bus (of course), and the one where she got to pretend to drive a truck. Grandpa took her on that one about 6 times in a row while we waited for the rest of the family to gather.
Here is Arden, me and Val on the bus ride:
We had a great time, but Arden was running on a big sleep deficit by the end and was glad to get back to her own bed! We all had a great time, but now Christmas has snuck up on me so I better run and wrap some more presents! Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!
Next, here is Arden opening some presents with Grandma's and B.J.'s help on Christmas morning!
Here is Arden helping me open one of my presents. She was much more into opening presents this year compared to last year. She was getting pretty good at it by the end of the morning and wanted to help everyone open their presents.
