Day 5 - Universal Studios/Beach

We ended up going back to Universal Studios the next day so we could finish all the things that we didn't get to do on Tuesday. I rode the Jurassic Park ride with Gideon and Eden. Eden was so funny, I wasn't sure she was going to like it, but she did and she made dinosaur noises the whole time. It was hilarious. We did the Terminator Show which was totally awesome! Finally we did the Simpsons ride, which was Gideon's favorite ride at Universal. He liked how you felt like you were in the screen. I think this was the only ride that made me feel just a bit queasy, but it was still very fun. The kids liked being Maggie's pacifier.

After Universal Studios we went back to the beach and had a barbecue with the Martins and had more fun playing in the waves and sand and of course flying kites. We did walk down to the end of the Pier which was very windy, but fun. We passed a pelican, lots of fishermen, and we even got to see a seal over by the end of the pier.

Day 4 - Universal Studios

We look so awesome riding the Terminator Bike

Aaaaaahhhhhh........Shark! Poor Gideon

Matt and Doc Brown-one of the first things Matt and Gideon did when we got home was watch Back to The Future, which was spurred by Matt seeing Doc Brown. Gideon loved it.
This was one of the bad guys in the Water World Show which was very fun. He was on the Agent X episode of Chuck from the recent season. Matt and I checked it out when we got home. He had a 2 second scene where he is killed by Casey. Oh well, it was still fun to have our picture with him.
I really do Love Lucy!



Curious George was so cute. He was my favorite character at Universal. He was sweet and gave Rush a great big hug. Rush loved the attention.

Universal Studios was really cool. The hours were not as good but they had some pretty amazing rides and shows. We did the Studio Tour which included the King Kong ride and it was stinking cool. Eden did not like the King Kong part because again she thought were transported to a different world. The Shrek 4-D show was fun too. The kids really enjoyed the Curious George Ball room and park. The animal show was a lot of fun. The kids loved the dogs and monkeys and birds flying overhead. The Special Effects Show was probably my least favorite show but it was still fun. Gideon and Matt went on the Jurassic Park ride and the Mummy ride. I tried to make it to the Jurassic Park ride but they had closed the escalators. It was a fun day.

Day 3 - California Adventure

Waiting in line for Toy Story Mania with silly Eden and Larke.

Meeting Woody and Brother Bear

Being a Toy is so cool!

Showing off our Minnie Mouse hats. I know it is a ridiculous thing to spend money on but I really enjoyed wearing my ears. I may not have looked cute to anyone else but me and my family, but that's okay.

The kids were very excited to meet Minnie Mouse outside of California Soaring, which was very cool. Rush was acting pretty tired and would only let me hold him. Then he saw Minnie and he got very happy, very fast. It was so cute.This is us waiting for forever for World of Color, but man was it worth it. I know it's so dumb, but I practically cried though the whole thing. It was gorgeous. It was everything I love about Disney. So nostalgic of my childhood.

So we obviously did not take as many pictures this day. We really enjoyed Toy Story Mania, The Aladdin Show, California Screaming, Grizzly River Run and the swinging Ferris Wheel. Perhaps not so well enjoyed by some of us was the Tower of Terror. We took Eden and Larke on this ride with us and Larke surprisingly (or not) did better then Eden. She would not believe me after the ride was over that we were not longer in the Twilight Zone. She thought for sure that we were in a different world. A direct quote from her about the Tower of Terror "that ride was not wonderful!" The Aladdin show was however wonderful and the Genie was hilarious and the carpet flying right over my head was magical. A definite highlight to our day. We also started trading pins this day and that was a fun thing to do for the rest of the time.

Day 2 - The Beach

On Sunday we tried to choose a more relaxing activity so we went to Newport Beach. We brought a kite and were given 2 more by the end of the evening. The beach is The Perfect place to fly a kite. You just hand it to the air and the air grabs it and sets it flying. Eden spent a lot of her time flying her kite although we all enjoyed playing in the waves, picnicing, finding shells. When we first got there it was overcast and not very warm, but it cleared up fast and got warm enough to play in the water. It was funny to hear Spencer yell at the ocean, about how it couldn't beat him.

California Vacation-Day 1

This was on the train at the airport. It was the 1st time for the kids to fly and the airport was very exciting. The best parts of the airport were of coarse the escalators and the train. They loved it. Larke had a little bit of a hard time mastering the escalators. She would get unbalanced by the movement and would have to sit down. She did finally master it though.

This was waiting to get off the plane. The kids were all very good on the flight.

Rush sat with me for the most part. He loved looking out the window, shutting the window, opening the window, pressing his face to the window, etc. There was a cute little boy that sat in front of us that kept peeking over and that kept him somewhat entertained as well. My sister LeAnn took him for a little while so that I could help Larke make some paper dolls. I really enjoyed playing with Rush and Larke on the plane.

We finally got settled in our hotel around 10pm California time. We really liked our hotel. We had a king bed for Matt and me, then sliding doors to separate us from the kids area. They had bunk beds for the girls, a pull-out bed for Gideon, and a crib for Rush. The kids used the little table a lot during the week.

We started bright and early the next morning. We got to Disneyland a little after 8am and played the day away.

This is the Jedi Training. Gideon wore his cape and brought a light-saber in hopes that they would choose him from the crowd. We were so excited when they didn't only choose Gideon, but Eden and Spencer also. We really enjoyed the show and watching the kids learn to be real Jedis.

Gideon and Eden got to try their skills on Darth Vader.Spencer fought off Darth Maul very valiantly!

Darth Vader tried to turn the kids to the dark side but they were all withstood all his persuasion and passed their Jedi Training, they even received diplomas.

Gideon was just a little excited by the experience. Spencer and Gideon were great friends the whole trip and even came up with a handshake they named the California Idiot.

Matt playing around in Gideon's cape while waiting in line for the Finding Nemo Submarine ride.

Enjoying all the Classics. Eden's favorite was the Peter Pan ride which is very magical.

Even though Star Tours was supposed to be closed while we were there they we doing some research on line flow so we were all very excited to try it out. Gideon loved that he was chosen as the rebel spy. LeAnn closed her eyes the whole time and I have to say that it the ride that almost put me out of my seat. I loved it.

Our first character meeting as we left the park to go get some dinner.

We came back after dinner but did not take any more pictures. The other rides we did that day were the Indiana Jones ride, Space Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, and almost everything in Fantasy Land. We also really enjoyed the Fantasmic Show and the fireworks at night. It was a great tiring day.