California

We have been planning our trip to California for a while now.  Aaron loves Legos (see previous post) and we promised him that the next vacation would be to Legoland.  We got up early on Tuesday morning and made it to Mom's house at 4:30 am so she could give us a ride to the airport.  

I packed my sunscreen in my purse and it was confiscated by TSA.  Funny thing was, the guy in front of me had his OFF confiscated and I was thinking in my head, "Idiot, don't you know not

 to pack that stuff in your carryon?"  People in glass houses.....

While riding the moving sidewalk, Aaron quipped, "Now I know how luggage feels."  Funny.  

We arrived in San Diego at 8:30 am and headed straight to the USS Midway.  www.midway.org.  This was awesome and we all loved it!  The midway is an aircraft carrier.  It has 3 decks and was huge.  It took us over 3 hours to see the whole ship.  

Next, we headed to Oceanside Beach.  It was a little chilly, but the kids didn't care.  We went to dinner at Ruby's, a 50's diner, at the end of the pier.  Yum!

The next day was Legoland.  This was the day that Aaron and I conquered our fear of roller coasters.  Good thing, because we would go on many more roller coasters before our vacation was over!  Aaron and Van took a Lego class while Alyssa and I explored the park.  I decided to put my fear of roller coasters aside and go on them.  It was so much fun!  I then decided when we met back up with Aaron and Van that I was going to make Aaron go on the roller coaster.  As we were on the ride I knew that Aaron was scared.  We came up to the steep drop off and I said a silent prayer.  At the bottom of the hill I heard loud, roaring laughter coming from my son.  It was music to my ears!  That's what Aaron did on every "scary" ride, while Alyssa and I were screaming, Aaron was laughing out loud.  Check out his expression BEFORE the rides.  

I think Alyssa and I are allowed to go through this gate-don't you?

This water fountain had water coming up in all sorts of places.  Aaron was able to stand in the middle of it, have water squirt out all over and not get wet.  Van told Alyssa to go there so he could get her picture.  She did, but a big stream of water came out the center and Alyssa got soaking wet.  She spent the next few hours giving poor Van the silent treatment.  Such is life with a preteen.  This happened many times during our trip.  Most of the time Van and I didn't know what we did to her.  Once Van asked her why she was mad at him and she said,  "If you dont'know, I shouldn't have to tell you."  Yikes, has she been listening to me? 

Next day:  SeaWorld

I have to say that this day was our least favorite day.  The Shamu show was awesome!  Alyssa and I sat in the soak zone and got soaked!  Van and Aaron elected to sit up higher where they wouldn't get wet.  We weren't that impressed with the aquarium exhibits.  The rides were fun, but there were only 2.  There was a sky cab and an observation tower that you had to pay $3 a person to go on.  We didn't go on these.  I felt that since I had paid almost $200 just to get in, we shouldn't have to pay for the extra rides.  That night we went to a delicious Mexican restaurant, El Indio, which was featured on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."

Next Day:  Disneyland!

This was an awesome day.  I have to say though, that the "magic" of Disney is gone for my kids.  They saw it as a great amusement park, but weren't into the characters.  Every time we walked by a character and I wanted a picture, the kids rolled their eyes and wanted to keep going.  One of the shows that Aaron was looking forward to was Jedi Training Academy.  Participants are randomly selected to be part of the show. I had read that kids who wear Star War's costumes are more likely to be picked, so we packed one of Aaron's costumes.  Right before the show, he put it on.  When he got to the show, he realized he was the only one wearing a costume (that's the whole point) and so he refused to volunteer for the show.  Alyssa did volunteer though and Van thought this show was one of his favorite parts of Disneyland.  

The final day was another beach day at Huntington Beach.  The weather was warm and it was a very relaxing day.  I decided to try my hand at boogie boarding-it looked so easy.  It's not!  I was waiting for the wave, but rather than ride the wave in, the wave came over me and I did somersaults in the water.  The boogie board hit my head and I saw stars.  I was disoriented and couldn't find my way to the surface.  Finally I came up for air.   Van was standing near me and so I knew I wasn't in danger, even though it was scary.  Van thought I overreacted a little seeing as it was only 4 feet of water (but with the wave it was higher!)  Overreact??!  Me?!?!?  Below is my bruise from when the board his me.