a california adventure ...

so we have survived a week of nearly non stop fun. and here is what i have to report. its mostly based on the things you see in public, i saw so many things i did not capture in time that i would have liked to share. the vast array of souls out there provide me many smiles. i started our vacay feeling quiet ill and angry that i felt that way. luckily i wasnt to sick to enjoy things a little and no other soul in my immediate proximity joined me in this venture.

the drive was a bit comical considering our alternative sources of transportation.we shopped for a few weeks for a studio stems/travel van for better accomidations for both. we shopped to no avail. so we had to come up with another alternative to go on vacation for an entire week with 5 peeps, a wheelchair, golf clubs, medical supplies, clothes, and basic needs. so we purchased a roof rack and bag for our little scion. well nates clothes arrived in california rain soaked. fun times.

first we hit ..

where else but the most magical place on earth. it was raining and raining hard that day but it was nice ... not too hot and we were prepared thanks to my craftiness and creative packing. there was little to no lines (not that we wait in lines anyhow but it was till nice to not fight crowds!) we were so excited that saylor has finally reached the height of a regular 3 or 4 year old (you do realize she is 6 and if you didnt you do now) ... 40 inches yahoooo. this means more rides. we hit space mountain of all things first. and for the current season it aint called space mountain. it was her first time ...

she did well and was a really great sport. but professed to not go on it again .. even though she did later. we were constantly thanking saylor that we didnt have to wait in lines and for so much special treatment. how spoiled we are and have become.

we ate at ariels grotto. talk about sticker shock. before we left for the day we were getting our tickets and cash together etc.. trying to decide how much to take. i told nate we should take at least $150 for lunch. and he was like nooooo. it will be expensive but not that expensive. so we took $150 of course cause thats what i said we should take. Last time we went there not only did we get princess visits but we got a menu and a really great meal (perhaps the best that trip) but things have changed there for the worse on menu items, quality, and certainly value. while the changes have decreased elsewhere the prices have increased and dinner was more like $200 for the 5 of us. but saylor not eating her dinner at all to stare in amazement at the cess's was priceless.





snow white came equiped with a very annoying voice. sorry picture quality all throughout is so poor. i only took the mediocre point and shoot. and it was wet as well. not good.

aurora took a special interest in saylor and was very sweet. at the end they did bring out a chest of fun stuff for saylor.

california adventure was hard, there wasnt much saylor could go on but she really enjoyed soaring! it felt so real to her ... its why i love that ride myself. but to a child who doesnt feel what we do when it comes to movement i am guessing this sensation is exagerated. the other kids really wanted to ride the raft ride so while they went and did that saylor and i took some california adventure pictures ...



you can see how wet my pants are from the rain and wet ground in the car pic. saylor is really into creating bunny ears for herself in pics. its strange but ok whatev. she loved the san fran bridge ... and why wouldnt she?

so then there was splash mt. and this great face stock made ...


Day 2 was another day at disney. but much sunnier. saw lots and lots of utahns and finished up the ride fix. its also when it suddenly occured to me that i should be documenting all the peeps that brought a smile and laughter to my soul. too bad that i didnt think of this sooner and to bad its hard to discretely take pictures of strangers ... but here is 2 from day 2.


hot pink damaged frizzy hair IS cool! and where can i get me some of these?
at the end of day 2 we drove thanks to our yahoo map on 3 freeways to go see my great aunt becky for dinner. we met my dad, glen, randy (beckys daughter), and becky. it was well worth the old people food we had at pollys to see becky cry with a smile. oh how i love her. turns out that yahoo maps sucks because my aunt becky lives on katella just 6 miles down the street from disney. no freeways needed. took us 20 min to get there and 5 to get back. silly yahoo.

day 3 we woke up and drove to san diego. gorgeous drive and SD is my new fav place. we ventured over to sea world to visit my beloved beluga whales. the kids and visited this world of the sea once before but this was nates first trip. i had to beg him to go. he had some weird idea of what it would be. of course he loved it!!! i couldnt get him away from the dolphins and he loved the shamu show.

my own terrible picture hardly does the beauty of these animals justice!
we had a great time and i really appreciate the child disability discount that this great park has to offer. and for your entertainment ... the best find of the day ..

the only way i could discretely snag this was when she walked away but the front was so much better then the back cause that shirt was holy and see through! doesnt get better then that!

nate and i both aquired mind numbing headaches by the end of this fun day and it was nice that the park closed early evening so we went back to our hotel and crashed for a few hours while kids watched TV and eventually fell asleep themselves. that evening brought pei wei for dinner ... consistent and good. it also brought a sign near our hotel elevators that read

"only 6 players on the elevator at one time please"

this is when we realized that there was some type of team staying at our hotel. and because we also were in SD for the BYU vs SD game we got excited. well it was SD football team. we got to ride the elevators with them ironically enough. and they actually liked our team spirit and enjoyed stocktons Y hawk. nice guys. but big!!!

Day 4 started with a little bit of a sleep in .. it was delightful. we packed up and headed to the temple. along with every other family visiting SD from utah.



then we ventured to la jolla and the beach. this would be the bel air of SD. but a family like bel air. i didnt want to leave. either did nate. darn ....

then onto the game. it was hooooot. and turns out the tickets we had were assigned to seats that did not really even exist in the stadium. good thing its a huge stadium and no where near sold out! a nice manager showed us to a section that would work for us and saylor. it was a good game. SD played well, better then anyone expected i think. then we drove out to palm springs and got there kind of late.

palm springs was nice and relaxing i love visiting my dad and glen and spending quiet good old family time away from the chaos of our regular life. saylor was doing well and we had no hiccups with her health, cathing, or treatments. my illness was still lingering and my ears had been full of fluid the entire trip and it was beginning to wear on me. i spent much of my time in PS resting and reading a great book. kids played with grandparents, watched the nightmare before xmas over and over, and swam swam swam. nate golfed. if i wasnt sick it would have been much harder to come home because it was already hard. i love california.

home brings reality of much that needs to be done around the house. much that needs to be done with studio stems. school, groceries, laundry and just over all catching up. work work work. and i dont even think i wrote everything i planned to ... are you as exhausted as me?