California LOVE!

A couple days after Christmas we headed out for a fabulous family vacation to CALIFORNIA! It was the longest vaca we have ever been on so I was little nervous. 11 days in sunny Cali. It was WONDERFUL!!! I think if we wouldn't be so far from family and friends and it wasn't so expensive to live there, I would highly consider the move. The first day we drove to Vegas, stayed the night and then continued on our ways to Oceanside, CA. Our condo was huge so there was plenty of room for our family and the family that invited us, the Brewers. It was in walking distance from the beach and you could see the beautiful ocean from the balcony. A little bit like heaven for an ocean lover like me. While in Oceanside (about 30min from San Diego) we went to Sea World, The San Diego Zoo, The San Diego Temple and had a couple beach days. So fun and so relaxing.

Brooky with her new favorite face "CHEEEEESE!" We were in the big tower at Sea World. It's like a big elevator and takes you up and you can see all around. Pretty cool.

Here we are, Cannon looking as thrilled as ever, at the Shamu tank. This was really cool because the whales were swimming around and come right up to the window. Cannon was in awe. I had a really good picture on my phone but it isn't showing up very good on the blog. :(

SHAMU
The Dolphin show was pretty cool. But Clyde and Seamore were the best. I didn't take any pics of that. Sea World was kind of dissapointing. The Shamu show especially. If you have been to Sea World Florida I would pass on Sew World San Diego. Florida is way better!

A day at the Zoo...

The zoo was really cool. We started off on a double decker bus tour around the zoo. It is HUGE! But they have some really cool animals like this gigantic tortoise....

koala's,
panda bears,Cannon Ball's,

Flamingos and Brooky Cookies.

The first of many churros. My kids love them and I just thought this was so cute. A rare moment of honest to goodness sharing.

THE BEACH...

Our beach days were probably my favorite. The kids loved them too.

I love this picture!

Cannon liked to play this game he called "the wave game." Rules: Run from the waves. He was having a blast. Don't be fooled though. The water was FREEZING cold but he didn't care!

Me and my littles.

This is a weird angle I know, but I love the look on her face. She seems so happy looking out at the ocean.

I LOVE TO SEE THE....

We spent Sunday exploring the San Diego temple grounds. Such a beautiful Temple.

They had these popeyes all over the grounds. One my favorite flowers. They were so gorgeous!

This is Cannon's mad photographer skills at work. The kid is seriously good.

I guess he learned some hand signals in Cali, not sure what he's doing here but he is cute!

Brooky looking at Moroni.

On a side note, I found Cannon peeing in the bushes in front of the car ON THE TEMPLE grounds! Not my proudest moment. I asked him why he did that rather than tell Brandon or I he had to go to the bathroom. His response..."I really had to go and I didn't see any bathrooms so I just decided to pee by the car." Nice!!! I guess it's a memory. He did get in trouble so I don't know if it will be fond memory for him.

We celebrated New Years in Oceanside. I didn't even see 9pm let alone the New Year. It was fabulous.

L.A.....

The following Monday we packed up and headed to L.A. We hit Universal Studios. We did the back lot tour. It is super cool. They take you behind the scenes of how they make movies. Probably the coolest part of Universal. Not super "kid" friendly. I did make Cannon go on Jurasic Park. He was not happy by the end. I may have ruined him. On a positive note, we waited all day to see Scooby Doo and just as we were getting ready to leave he showed up in his

Time Machine!

After Universal we made our way to the Anaheim condo. This condo, again thanks to the Brewers, was within walking distance of Disneyland. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we roamed the streets of the Magic Kingdom while enjoying Disneyland and California Adventure. This was probably Cannons favorite part of the trip. Rest assured he directed us with his hand dandy map. He had been looking forward to it the entire time but by the time we got there he was gassed. Poor kid. On the last day all he wanted to do was watch the shows they put on and ride the slow rides with no lines. The ALADDIN production is AMAZING!!! You should totally go see it if you can.

This is the best picture I could get of Boo from Monsters Inc. We think Brooky baby looks like Boo. What do you think? She is CUTE!

We did the Tea Cups, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Peter Pan, Snow White, all the old school ride. Pirates, Tom Sawyer and Thunder Mountain. We also spent a lot of time on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Both of my kids loved Buzz! We had an afternoon of fun in A Bugs Life, Toy Story, Goofy's Flight School and so much more. This may come as a big surprise but Cannon did not want to go on Tower of Terror. :)

We saw Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates,

Woody and Jesse.
We also saw Buzz, Mickey, Goofy and many more.
One night we had dinner at Ariels Grotto. It was right on the Pier in California Adventure. This was our yummy dessert. It was all chocolate and yummy stuff. The kids loved it. After the dinner we went to the World of Color. Seriously one of the most amazing shows at Dinseyland.Think Bellagio fountains only bigger and with a colored laser show on the water. AMAZING!

On Friday we packed up and headed to viva Las Vegas, stayed the night again then we were homeward bound. Cannon kept saying, I wish this car would go "soakin" (not sure what "soakin" means but leaning toward really fast, super fast etc) fast so that we could just be home. We were all ready to be back in our comfort zone by day 11.

Cannon was the ever amazing traveling child. Seriously, the kid is the BEST traveler EVER! I am not kidding. He rocks. His sister is a little less so. However I will give her huge props for being absolutely amazing compared to our last Cali trip. She slept through the night every single night, and her car screaming was far less. Kudos to Miss B. I think this comes in part because we let her walk a ton. I think she was just plain exhausted.

We had a great time with the Brewer family in a fabulous place! Thanks for inviting us!!!