CALIFORNIA!!

The first week in December we took a family trip with my parents and my siblings and their kids to California! We had all been waiting and waiting for the trip. Each family had a countdown chain. After what seemed like forever, the big day finally arrived! We left early Sunday morning and came home late Friday night. What a fun trip it was! We started off at Disneyland on Monday. The first ride we attempted was the rockets. Evan and Ben actually got off the ride before it even started because Evan was freaking out so much! Little did we know that this would be his reaction to EVERY single ride there!

The only rides he didn't cry on were the "Winnie the Pooh" ride and "Heimlich's Chew Chew Train." With all the other rides he would really freak out in line, but was usually okay on the ride. I think Dillon enjoyed the rides more than Evan did! He found the trip rather exhausting! The highlight of Evan's time at Disneyland was meeting Buzz Lightyear! He also got to meet Goofy and Pluto.

We didn't see a lot of the other characters there, maybe they were on Christmas break! We spent three days between Disneyland and California Adventure. Then we packed up and headed to San Diego and Sea World! Evan liked Sea World much better than Disneyland! We got to see some really fun shows with dolphins, seals, otters, sea lions, walruses and, of course, whales! We even got to eat lunch with Shamu! (Well, right next to his leisure pool anyway!) The kids were all amazed when he would poke his head up and snort water. He would even spit water at the birds surrounding his pool! The trainers had the whales do some really cool tricks and we got to see them right up close. We could almost smell their fish breath! We met O.P. Otter and Pete the Penguin. We fed the flamingos and the seals. We also got to pet the sting rays! They would swim right up to the side of the tide pool and stick their heads up out of the water to be petted! It was amazing! Evan says that they feel squishy and slimy. . .I would have to agree! But I still couldn't get enough of them! The weather while we were there was perfect. Short sleeves and jeans. Not too hot. Not cold at all! But, Friday we woke up to rain. In a way, it was better that way. At least we wouldn't be leaving behind beautiful sunshine! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL trip and we all made some fantastic memories! We were very sad to see it end, but hopefully we can do it again sometime! Thank you TONS and TONS to Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bryan for taking us on such a great vacation!