Sunday morning we drove from Mesquite to our Howard Johnson Hotel in Huntington Beach on Beach Blvd. The drive was nice although we forgot our dvd player. It's funny when I was a kid I just wished we could watch a movie in the car. Now it feels like a necessity, we almost turned around when we realized we didn't have it. So we started listening to Hunger Games on my ipod.
My mom has been recording books for my family for the last year or two and we love listening to her read stories to us. Anyway that really helped us pass the time and we were here before we knew it. The hotel is nice and the kids were so excited to go get in the hot tub. So we just chilled and relaxed and ate Subway which is just next door. While Terry tried to get the internet hooked up to our computer. Then we played in the hot tub until we were all ready to pass out. 
We have a long vacation ahead of us you see we bought the City Passes from Costco which includes 3 days at Disney or California Adventure, Universal Studios, Sea World and San Deigo Safari Zoo. All for the price of one day at Disney and SeaWorld. So we will do what we feel the energy to do. The weather doesn't look the best so we will probably be glad we have these passes. 
Monday we woke up and headed straight to Disneyland. It opened at 8:00 and we got there at 8:30 and stayed until 12:30 which is 1/2 hour after it closed. We had a great time although it was really busy and we bought dinner at the pizza place for $50.00. It was still a good time. We hit 18 rides using the fast passes really helped. Bowdee's favorite was Space Mountain, Tia loved Space Mountain and Treg loved Splash Mountain, Terry loved Thunder Mountain and I loved Splash Mountain. 
We had fun and loved every minute of it. I was amazed at It's a small world and the fireworks were amazing. I just can't believe how Disney does the best of everything they do. From cleaning their park to the firework show, even the costumes on the dolls in the rides. It just amazes me! 
I loved it so much more this time, our kids are at such fun ages. Treg just barely made the height requirements on the bestest rides and we loved being together experiencing the magic.
Tuesday we decided since it was supose to be cold and rainy we would hit California Adventure. This place didn't have as many rides as Disney but we still had alot of fun. Dad and Bowdee found their favorite ride at Hollywood Tower of Terror, this one gave me and Tia a headache. Treg found his favorite ride at Soarin over California, which I must say was way way cool. 
Matia loved the Carosel like always. We were not tall enough for California Screamin and we didn't have the time for the Ferris Wheel and we all agreed the Grizzly Rapids was too wet and cold for us to go on. 
After we got off the California Soarin it started to rain and mom got a migraine so bad we decided to leave. We got there at 11:30 then we left around 6:30 so we didn't stay too long. We all loved the Aladdin performance that gave us a real live theater experience and we all loved it. 
Wednesday we went to Universal Studios because it was still suppose to be cold. So we got there around 10:30 and stayed until 3:30 I thought we were going to beat the traffic but it was still crazy and it took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel. I am not a big fan of LA it is so big and too many people for my taste. Universal Studios was fun because it wasn't too crowded. 
We could ride the Jurassic park ride as much as we wanted because there was no wait. Then the Mummy ride was way cool but Treg was only 36 inches and you have to be 38 to ride that one. I think that was Bowdee, Matia's and Daddys favorite ride. Treg and I loved the Jurasic Park ride even though we got wet. 
We then went to the Movie effects and making show where they show us how they do certain things. They were asking for volunteers from the audience to come up so they can show the audience how they make movies and the kids were begging me to do it. So I raised my hand for them so they would think I was a way cool mom... Not because I actually wanted to be picked and low and behold out of a couple hundred people they picked me out of the audience and had me come up front.
As I was walking up there I remembered I just got off Jurasic Park ride and I was so worried it looked like I peed my pants. After it was all over Terry said he couldn't tell. Which of course if you know Terry he would have told me the trueth so that made me feel better. They did thinks like scare the crap out of me and showed us how they cut peoples arms off in the movies. 
It looked so real (even from up close), I really screamed and was wondering why it didn't hurt. So then we drove home on Pacific Coast Highway then came home and soaked in the hot tub which the kids absolutely LOVE! 
Thursday we FINALLY got to go play on the beach. It was still cold but that didn't stop the kids from playing in the ocean. Bowdee loved surfing he stayed out there for hours trying to get up. He reminds me of his father! Terry loved having him out there with him and Matia and Treg even tried it. Treg hated getting the salt water in his mouth. 
But they loved playing in the sand although we went to Huntington Beach first and they loved collecting the shells then we went to San Onofre for surfing and they couldn't find any shells there so they just wanted to go back. We had our Thanksgiving dinner there on the beach with a pumpkin pie for dessert. And sparkling apple juice for our drink. Turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberries and it was perfect. We even had our own little Thanksgiving Day football. After this unique dinner we built a fire and sat around and relaxed.
After we went back to the hotel and you guessed it got in the hot tub again. We all said what we were thankful for and this is how it went.... Treg was thankful for Turkey then mom and dad, Matia was thankful for her family, Bowdee was thankful for our house and family, I am thankful for eachother and the beautiful ocean, Dad was thankful for our health and the love we have for the same activities.
Friday we went to California Adventure and Disneyland again. But this time we got to meet Terrys sister Tammie and Ted there and play with them. We got there early and made a list of everyones favorite rides we wanted to go on. Treg wanted Soarin' over California, Matia wanted Space Mountain, Bowdee wanted Indiana Jones, I wanted Splash Mountain and Terry wanted Tower of Terror. So we got our fast passes and got busy. It was great in the morning and we got all the Disney ones done by 10. 
We ate lunch in the car again of course we had bagel sandwiches again all for like $5.00. On the way back to the park I just had to do some black friday shopping. So we went to the build-a-bear just outside the park. They had Holly the moose for $5.00 and I had to get my good deal of the day fix. Terry even let me make my very own first Build-a-Bear. It wasn't until 4:00 that we finally met up with Tammie and Ted. But we quickly made up for time lost. We had a great time with them. They are always so fun to be with. My kids LOVE them both. 
We went on the Ferris Wheel, Tower of Terror, Grizzly Rapids and we watched the Aladdin play again. All of it was such a great time! We ended up taking them back to the house they were staying with at 9:00 I wish we could have had more time but we were thankful for the time we did get. 
Saturday was spent in the laundry mat washing clothes and doing some shopping for wetsuits for our snorkling expedition in Catalina. We were all tuckered out and needed a break anyway so we got pizza and hit the hot tub and called it an early night! Gotta love this vacation thing.
