Getting there: My mom and I drove down together and spent the night in Vegas! We saw the Disney Broadway of Lion King and I LOVED it! It made me want to get up and dance. I know, silly, but true. The next day we drove to Long Beach where we picked dad up from the airport (lucky duck) and then headed on to San Diego to meet up with everyone.
The first official day we were there we went to Sea World… not kidding, my dad went running and skipping into the park with all the grandkids. I think it was half him being a good grandpa but the other half was his true and pure excitement to be in a park with knowledge and animals.
The day we went to Disneyland and when we were first walking in I got so excited and I grabbed my little niece and picked her up and said, “We’re in Disneyland! Look! This is place where your imagination can come alive and where your dreams…” and then I saw this guy looking at me like I was some psycho and I realized I had gotten a bit over-excited… oh well!
I went on cars with one niece… I pushed the pedal while she drove; except her version of driving consisted of bouncing the car back and forth on the median thing going through the tires. My nephew loved cars so much that he was mad he had to get off… he was mad at the end of a lot of rides until he understood the concept that there would be another ride to go on next and that we would come back.
I took my niece on her first roller coaster: Thunder Mountain Railroad! Pretty sure she didn’t know it was a roller coaster but I took her on it anyways. I MAY have asked her if she wanted to go on a train with me and explained it MAY go a little fast. Haha! She held her breath on every drop until I showed her how to scream… it was the cutest thing ever!
We also went on the Whinnie the Pooh ride twice and then we left my dad with all the scardy cat grandkids and we went on Splash Mountain while my dad continued to go on Whinnie the Pooh over and over again… haha… poor dad. We went on The Matterhorn for my brother Nate who was gone on his Mission and my niece requested it because she wanted to do it for Nate. She really was so excited and proud that she did it because she is terrified of that ride.
My parents and I went with my sister's family to the San Diego Zoo. Megan read somewhere that you could really laugh with hyenas if you got the right pitch so she was really excited to do it to them but she missed them when we walked by them. I’m kind of sad, I wanted to witness her screeching in public just to laugh with the hyenas.
The days we were at the beach we just sat and read while the kids played in the sand. One niece (the bird lover) of course collected bird feathers and seashells and decorated her sand castles with them. We found LONG strands of seaweed and played jump rope with them.
I think one of the neatest things of the trip though, was all the little kids getting to know each other that much more and bonding. I woke up every morning listening to Bryce and Addie playing on the stairs reciting each other’s names. Addie would say Bryce’s name really quick and short, “hiii Bryce!” and then Brcye would emphasize the double syllable and say, “hi Add-dee!”
It was such a fun trip and I loved being with my family!
