Goin' Back To Cali....

Southern California....there is nothing like that kind of traffic. At least here in Texas you will eventually get to where you want to go in a somewhat decent time. California traffic is horrible! You just sit there. For hours.....

Anyway, we went to Cali to visit some family last week. Kris, the boys, and I flew out last Saturday and the guys flew in mid-week. We did TONS of stuff: San Diego Zoo, Beach, Pool, Disneyland, SeaWorld, Catalina Island, and Hollywood. Whew, no wonder I had a cold when we got back. We were on the go go go!

We got in on Saturday and had a pretty lazy rest of the day. It took quite awhile to figure out what we were going to do every day that we were there. Too much stuff and not enough time! We also got to meet Tiffany (Dad and Teresa's new dog). She didn't really care for us at first and then decided she needed to boss us around after a few days. The boys tried playing with her but she didn't really want to have anything to do with them.

Colin trying to get Tiffany to play with him. He thought if he laid on the floor real quiet she'd play. She just sniffed him and walked away.



Sunday: San Diego Zoo! Definitely the best Zoo that I've ever seen. We saw all kinds of animals. Be warned: it is VERY hilly here. Bring your walking shoes. Our bootcamp instructor texted us while we were there to see if we were being good and we had no problem telling her how we were doing some major walking....we just didn't tell her what we were eating (ssshh).

The Pandas were really cute, but, I wouldn't want to see one in the wild. I think this one could tear me from limb to limb. You have to be super quiet in this exhibit and it's only open during certain times of the day.

Cute baby panda playing!

Polar Bears are HUGE!

Colin was freaked by the gorillas! He had is DSI out taking pictures of all his favorite animals.



Monday: we got to spend some quality time with our Granny (Great Nana). She was amazed how big the boys had gotten. The boys were on their best behavior (thank goodness).

Then it was pool time at my dad's. The boys loved their pool and also enjoyed putting Kris and me through a workout. They pretended they were our bootcamp instructor and made us do exercises in the pool (some were kind of hard, too!).


Tuesday: Disneyland. First - it is $72.00/adult ticket and $62.00/child's ticket. Good God! It's over $250 for a family of 4 just to enter the park. This doesn't even include parking, food and any souvenirs. Sheesh!!

We had tons of fun at Disney. Both boys rode all the rides (with the exception of Splash Mountain - it had a wait time of 1 hr 40 min). Colin didn't care for Space Mountain because it was entirely in the dark, but, he loved the Matterhorn and Thunder Mountain. We rode the Matterhorn 4 times! Jackson's favorite ride was Space Mountain. He had a moment of panic because the ride closed down while they were in line to ride it the second time, but, he eventually got to ride it twice.

The only picture at Disneyland that I took. We were our 3rd or 4th time on the Matterhorn.


Wednesday: the beach. We zipped down to Santa Monica beach for a few hours to enjoy the sun and sand. Really, besides children, who enjoys the sand? It gets EVERYWHERE.

Colin and Jackson loved the ocean. Kris was freaked that they would get towed out to sea, but, they managed to stay on their feet (for the most part).

Jackson wanted to be buried in the sand...really just his legs.

Colin kicked the ocean because it took one of his toys. He was so mad!

Kris and I helped them make sandcastles which they then took joy in destroying before we could get pictures. All our hard work and nothing to show!


Thursday: Catalina Island & SeaWorld. Kris, Dwane, and the boys headed to SeaWorld and Tomas and I went to Catalina. I remember vaguely going to Catalina when I was young but all I could remember was riding around on golf carts. Well, after going again...there isn't much there. Pretty scenery and a short route that you can ride a golf cart around to view the scenery. A few shops and a small beach. It was cute place but I don't think I will be going back.

Beautiful scenery

Our usual self portrait....

We did get some yummy ice cream cones.

Tiniest Fed Ex truck ever!!! We were cracking up at this one.

Wrigley Memorial - this was one of the sites on the golf cart route. We were kind of confused as to the point of it. It's in a protected area where they grow a bunch of endangered plants. Not really my thing...but we walked up to to the top. It has 100 stairs! Worked off our ice cream!

We heard all about the "Casino". Um, here it is. We thought "Casino? Can you gamble on Catalina? Sweet!". No. It's a building where they have a ballroom and show movies. At the time we were there.....the new Karate Kid movie.

This is one of a series of ramps to get to the top of the Casino building. We got all the way up there and some douche bag said "Oh, we're closed for a private event. You have to go back down." I almost smacked his face.

Friday: Hollywood. Tomas and I headed Hollywood Blvd for a few hours to do some sightseeing. Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee were big draws for tourists. We could barely get around them to get into the Kodak Theater/Grauman's Chinese Theater.

We did have a celebrity sighting! Look, it's Samuel L. Jackson!!!

We also saw "Get Him To The Greek". Eh. Definitely not up to par with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, SuperBad, or Knocked Up.

That night, we all took dad out for Father's Day. Delicious food and tasty beverages at BJ's. We had our usual fun time of laughing and making fun of one another. Tomas got to hear some funny stories about me and saw some unflattering photos from my youth.

Thanks Dad, Teresa, and Tiffany for dealing with all of us for an entire week. We are a rowdy bunch!

My final photo: for dad. He loves to see how long he can drives his vehicles. We passed 206,000 miles on the Expedition while out and about this past week. It's not his record though - that's still the Camry at 248,000. You have to be impressed that a Ford has gone that long though.