What a Trip! (Part 2)

On Thursday morning the kids were up bright and early. My sister took her four girls out of school so that they could spend Thursday and Friday with us at the Disney theme parks. We had two day passes so that we could go to both Disneyland and California Adventure.
We opted to go to California Adventure on Thursday. This was our first time there and the kids were excited to try out all of the "new" rides. Of course, they wanted to head straight to the Tower of Terror first. The rest of the family had been on the Tower when we were in Orlando several years ago but, if I remember correctly, I had a headache that day and didn't feel up to it. Well, I wasn't going to miss out on any of the fun this time and my kids all made sure that I went on every ride with them. I think that the favorite ride this time was the California Screamin' rollercoaster. What a blast!!! The weather was wonderful and we all had a great time. It was hard to get a lot of good pictures because we were all spread throughout the park and besides that, most of the rides went too fast to get pictures. The picture above includes all of our kids, plus two of my nieces.

Now, if we had only had such wonderful weather when we went to Disneyland on Friday. We woke up and it was raining, but we were not deterred. We simply went across the street to Target and purchased rain ponchos for everyone. [Note to self: DD2 no longer fits into youth sizes. She's now a young woman, as tall as me.]It was wet and soggy all morning long. By lunchtime we were all ready to head back to the hotel to dry off. Thank goodness for clothes dryers in the hotel! We were not the only ones who had jeans and tennis shoes in the machines. After drying out we headed back to the park and, for the most part, there was little rain the rest of the day. Again, we didn't get many pictures since we were all spread out.All the girls happen to meet up in the evening and managed to all squeeze into a oversized tea cup. That's me and my sister in the back with all of our girls in front. (Nope, we don't look anything alike. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, I have dark hair and brown eyes.) The two lone men were at the Angels baseball game that night.

By the time that the fireworks were over, the girls slipped in one more go around on the Buzz Lightyear ride and then we headed back to the hotel for the night. My sister still had quite a drive home to Newbury Park.

Saturday was the icing on the cake! We met up with our closest friends, who were also in southern California for spring break, and headed down to Laguna Beach.This is a picture of me and my three best friends. They're the greatest friends anyone could hope for. We do everything together, including carpooling, crafting and meeting twice a week at Einstein Bro. Bagels for breakfast and "group therapy". From left to right: Laurel, Susie, me, and Robin.

Robin was raised in Tustin and has fond memories of growing up near the beach. She wanted to take us all to The Bead Shop in Laguna to make earrings and bracelets. Between the four of us we have seven daughters who were with us on the trip. You can bet that we gave the lady at the bead shop a run for her money. LOL! Actually, she was very pleasant and helpful and she even let us stay in the shop's covered parking while we spent the afternoon on the beach.
These are pictures of the girls playing the the water. The older girls spent the day boogey boarding in the frigid water. That's DD2 on the boogey board. Remember what I said yesterday about the thick skinned Utahn's? All of the local were wearing full wet suits while our girls frolicked in their swim suits. Brrr!!! Thanks goodness for clear, sunny skies! The two youngest, DD3 and her friend, "B", were happy to play in the sand and collect shells.
Here's one last family shot that we took before packing up for the day. (DS was off spending the day with a friend so he didn't make it to the beach with us.)

All in all, we had a great vacation. Next time, though, I vote for more time on the beach and less time at the amusements parks. Although they provide a lot of fun and help create good memories, I can do without the crowds and the lines.

P.S. Susan (Desertsky Quilting) asked how I enjoyed Wicked, the musical. I have to say that it exceded, our expectations. We have had the CD soundtrack for six or eight months and have all of the songs memorized. The script is extremely witty but leave you much to ponder; the cast was exceptional. My friend, Laurel, who saw Wicked in New York last fall said that the Glinda character wasn't quite as strong in Los Angeles, but since I don't have anyone to compare her with, I thought she was delightful and very entertaining! Even DS, who wasn't as excited to see it as the rest of us laughed and smiled the whole way though. We have also taken our two oldest children to Les Miserables, Joseph and Phatom. Les Miz will alway remain DS's favorite (we have tickets for June)!