CALIFORN-I-A

Heidi gave me one week to get the post up from California and I know she will be surprised that it is up after only ONE DAY! Be impressed.

For Christmas our family was given a trip to California to do all sorts of fun things. We left this last Monday afternoon for the airport. Luckily for us my dad has airline tickets so we got to fly. My parents also have a timeshare so we had a place to stay as well :). We thought it only fair to invite them along for the ride and we were sure glad they did! After we got to LA we split up and they headed to Bakersfield to a farm show and we headed to Anaheim.
On Tuesday we went to Disneyland :). I don't think the boys knew quite what to expect other than what Grandma Jones told them. Kace was SUPER excited to ride the tower of terror........but we didn't go to California Adventure until Thursday.

Anyway, it was such nice weather and it wasn't crowded at all. We could just walk onto most any ride we wanted. Ty LOOOOVED the Matterhorn (understatement). He loved the abominable snowman that growls at you in it. He loved all the more 'adult' rides that went really fast. We kept teasing Kace about going on his "favorite ride" which was 'It's a small world' because that was his favorite the last time we went to Disneyland which was when he was almost one. He didn't like the teasing very much!

Kace's REAL favorite ride at Disneyland was space mountain. They were both exhausted by the time the day was over. Who am I kidding, we were ALL exhausted. But they were still excited to see Goofy (I kept getting mixed up on Pluto and Goofy and they were both quick to correct me!)

While we were waiting for one of the shows to watch Ty made a friend by the 'waterfall'. He seems to make friends wherever we go. He is such a friendly kid. They had a great time together laughing and splashing.

Mom and Dad came back to Anaheim on Tuesday night so they were with us the rest of the time.

On Wednesday before the whale watching cruise we hung out by the rocks and tried to see what we could see. Ty got splashed by a big wave that came up and got him wet. It reminded me of when we went to California when Carson was about his age and Carson got all wet. Ty's reaction was much the same as Carson's, but as soon as his shirt got taken off he was fine and starting being a "big stud boy" as he likes to call himself.

We all went over to this big rock to see what we could find......but mom.......she didn't want to get her pants or her shoes wet. She looks so alone way over there.

Then we did what Kace really wanted to do and went on a whale watching cruise. This was probably my favorite thing too. I will be honest, I wasn't too excited, but I would highly recommend.

Again, one of the nicest things was that there wasn't too many people and we were pretty much the youngest one on the boat. We figured that Ty would entertain all the older people. We weren't out very long before we saw our first dolphins. We were so excited, but little did we know what was to come. After about 1/2 hour there were thousands of them jumping and swimming all around us. It was SO AWESOME! I tried to take some pictures, but I don't think they do it justice as to how many there were.

If you blow the picture up you can see all the splashes of all the dolphins. Every white splash is one dolphin and for every dolphin you see there are 3-4 under the water. SO FUN!

After we went around with the dolphins for awhile we tried to find some whales, but didn't find any. We did find some seals and sea lions, but no whales. Kace wasn't too disappointed because we saw so many other things.

By the end of the trip we were all pretty worn out. I don't know why it is tiring to just stand there, but it is.

When we got back to the beach we went to the tide pools (it was now low tide) and searched for all the little critters that hang out there. This was Nate's favorite thing to do when he was younger.......and I think now too. Kace loved it too.

Kace is showing off his find. He worked for a long time trying to get this starfish off, which I am pretty sure you aren't supposed to remove (don't tell). Nate and Dad found some crabs and lots of other ocean stuff. :)

I don't know why Kace has to make a pose in EVERY picture, but he does, and we still love him!

We ate dinner that night at the Boiling Crab. It was interesting because you just picked the seafood that you wanted by the pound, they cook it, season it, and put it in a plastic bag for you to enjoy. Nate really really liked it. The rest of us thought that you had to work a lot for a little bit of meat. I had shrimp. Dad had crawfish. Nate had lobster and mom lived on the edge with fried catfish and fries. It was an experience!

The next day we went back to Disneyland and went to California Adventure. This was my favorite place! Maybe it was because I hadn't been there before, but there were so many fun things to do. Kace loved the tower of terror (that was my favorite ride too :) ) Ty loved it too. I was surprised, but every time I looked at him he was laughing his head off. Nate's favorite was the 'talking with Crush' and 'Soarin' over California'. Ty's was still the Matterhorn and we had to go back to Disneyland at the end of the day so he could ride on it one more time. Kace also liked the California Screamin' roller coaster.

Don't worry I took a picture of our picture :)

We also liked the Bug's life show. It was fun for everyone.

By the end of the day we were all totally worn out again. Who knew vacations were so tiring. Mom don't kill me with this picture. It is funny.

The next day we went swimming at the hotel and then went back to the beach. It was such a beautiful day. Nate and Kace went looking for creatures again. Ty wasn't so much into that and just wanted to play in the sand. They all liked 'running from the waves'. The water was SO COLD, but it was so nice outside that no one minded getting a little bit wet.

That night we went to a medieval times dinner show. This was also fun. It was a lot different than I thought it would be. When we got there we were all given crowns and told what knight we were supposed to 'cheer' on. Nate was worried that he wouldn't have enough food and would have to go to Taco Bell afterward to fill him up, but we were all stuffed by the time the evening was over. Ty and Kace loved the sword fights (although they were cheesy and fake) and loved cheering and yelling for 'our knight'. It was a fun fun time.

And now our trip is over and I have a TON of laundry to do.