Cali Trip Day 5: Sightseeing and Huntington Beach

We drove over to Huntington Beach on day 5.  Luke had been asking for a long time to go to the beach and we had a fun time playing in the sand and wading in the water.  Jake isn't a huge fan of the beach/sand/messy days so it was nice of him to go along with us!  Thanks Jake :)  It was overcast and pretty chilly with all the wind so we stayed warm in our regular clothes!  I brought our suits but never took them out of our suitcase this trip.  At first Ella didn't like the feel of walking on sand, but she had a good time once she got used to it.

Luke didn't want to leave.

Every time the water would come up on the sand, Ella would scream "TOOOOOold (cold) wata!!!!"  ha ha

Cute sandy piggies...

Found some cool shells...

Here's a nice butt shot of Jake.  Haha.  Actually, he took most pictures on the beach, so this is pretty much the only one of him there...

Luke and I made a sand turtle.  Our castle was a little too close to the water and washed away.

The kids were screaming and having fun in the water.  Then a big wave came and Ella tripped in the "toooold wata."  She wasn't too happy the rest of our time at the beach.

After the beach, we drove around sightseeing.  Had some Jamba Juice and Togos sandwiches.  First time in a couple of days I dared eat anything, and it tasted super good!  We drove by the house Jake's dad grew up in in Garden Grove and around the LA area before heading back to the hotel.   Fun, relaxing day.

Cali Trip Day 4: Jake's Table Clinic Presentation and Barfing

      Day 4 was the day Jake had to compete with his presentation.  His topic was "Surgical Isolation Techniques for Restoring Subgingival Lesions."  Yeah, I know... it sounds so very exciting.  Ha.  He did well, and so did the rest in his AEGD group.  Karen took first place and Kim went home with 2nd.  Jake said it was fun seeing some of his friends from dental school there, along with a few dental school instructors.  

          The plan was for Jake to be done around two or three, and then he would meet us at Disneyland to play for the rest of the day.  Ella had thrown up a little the day before and I had figured it was just from going on rides and no big deal.  I guess it was a nasty bug though because she passed it onto me, and eventually Luke got it too.  So, early Saturday morning I was a puking sick-0.  Ended up being really sick all Saturday.  So, the kids ran wild in the hotel room eating rice krispey treats and random snacks in our room that day while I tried to sleep it off.  Oh, I must mention the rice krispey treats.  I don't know if all Disney hotels give them to their guests or just Paradise Pier, but they were sOoooo good.  Huge mickey mouse shaped and gooey soft.  They dip the ears in chocolate.  They would also leave chocolate coins on our beds every night with different Disney characters on them.  Kind of fun!  Anyway, when Jake got back, he took Luke and Ella with him to get some dinner and ice cream.  I think they had a good time!  By the next morning I was feeling much better and was ready for some sightseeing and the beach. 

Here's Jake and the 5 other residents at the table clinic with Dr. Chartier, the visiting General, and some other guy I don't know.  :) 

Cali Trip Day 3: More Disney and My Cute Jedi

The guys were at the convention again on Friday so Angela and I played with the kids at Disneyland and California Adventure.  We rode rides and the kids met lots of characters.  Minnie Mouse was standing there all alone when we walked in the park so I thought we'd go see her.  Ella was not a fan.  She liked her a lot from far away, but she was super scared when we got close.  Must seem like such a huge mouse when you're one!     

Fun on rides... (Sorry Ella!  If 15 years from now you are wondering why you aren't in a ton of pictures on this post, know that you were on my lap, in my arms, or hugging my side most of this trip and I'm not good at self portraits!) 

Last year when we went to Disneyland, the Pixar Play Parade was one of our favorite things.  It was a big hit this year too.  I love how excited the kids get!  Ella was waving to all the characters when they would walk by.  cutie. 

 

 

At the end of the day I took Luke and Ella back over to Disneyland for another try at Jedi training.  Luke was so anxious to do it.    When they had picked all but two kids to become Jedis this round, I was bracing for another super sad boy like the day before.  He was waving his arms and smiling at the Jedi instuctor... trying SO hard to be picked this time.  And, they picked him!  He was the smallest guy out there but learned some cool moves. He was so proud of himself.  I took tons of pictures since he was so excited about it.  Here's the little Jedi in action:

After the "training" the kids all took on either Darth Vader or Darth Maul.  Here's Luke and Vader going at it.  Just like the movies.  Ha ha... Go Luke!

He kept making sure I was still watching...

the Jedi Grad...

We did dinner at a nasty pizza restraunt without the husbands and stayed at the park pretty late.  Jake and Tann were entertaining some big General at a dinner. 

Anyhow, I think that pretty much wraps up day 3!

Cali Trip Day 2: Jake is 30!!! And 1st Day at Disneyland

Thursday was Jake's Birthday!  The big 30.  He had to be up and off early for the dental convention, so we waited until he and his buddies were done that night to celebrate.   

Angela and I took the kids to Disneyland while the guys were doing their dental thing.  We braced ourselves for a hectic day, but the kiddos ended up being happy campers and made things pretty easy for us.  I brought Mickey/Minnie Mouse backpacks for the Luke and Ella complete with detachable leashes tails on them that I could hold onto (NOT about to lose a kid at Disney!... ha ha) and Angela had similar things for her cuties.  Quite helpful when the kids wanted to be on their feet in the crowds!  They came in handy when one of us needed to watch all 5 of them (all 5 yrs old and under) when the other took a bathroom break too. 

Angela had a big schedule from her sister of everything to do at the park with kids under 7, and we impressed ourselves with how much we did!  It wasn't too busy so we finished everything on the day 1 list before 2:00 and had the rest of the day to do favorite rides over again.  The schedule she had was awesome. It's from some travel book and tells you when to go to what rides... plans the day out so that you hit popular areas of the park when they are least busy.  Whenever we needed a little break, we'd just hop on the train and chill until we were ready to tackle more stuff.  The train was a great place to eat the lunches we packed too.  Nobody was running away or bored when they were done eating.  

Ella really liked It's a Small World.  She couldn't take her eyes off of all the dolls and loved the boat ride.  Luke said that everything there was his favorite thing to do.  Well, except Pirates.  He freaked himself out a little.  He wouldn't believe me at first that the guns and cannons were fake and wanted a detailed explanation on how exactly the water splashes (when Pirates shoot each other) if there aren't really bullets and cannon balls coming out.  I think that cute boy has about 25 random questions like that for me to answer every day.  A few pictures from day 1 at Disney....

On the jungle cruise and train...

Hmm, didn't focus the camera, but I like this one anyway.

Samantha, Peyton, and Luke waiting for the parade to start!

The only meltdown we had was when Luke didn't get picked to do the Jedi training.  They pick around 25 kids out of the audience to go up and be trained as a Jedi.  Poor Luke was so disappointed that they didn't pick him.  He wouldn't stop sobbing so we left the show early to ride Nemo. 

(Luckily they picked him for Jedi Training when we tried again the next day!!  Pictures of my cute Jedi in the next post.)

First run-in with Micky.  Ella was too nervous to walk up to him, but Luke wanted to meet him.

When Jake and the guys were done with the convention, we met them for dinner at PCH Grill in the hotel.  We stayed at Paradise Pier.  Pretty fun to be so close to the park.  Some days of the week, you get into the park an hour earlier then opening time too.  The Olsons, Jones, and Dr Z. met us for the birthday dinner.   Tann and Angela watched the kids for us after so Jake and I could go out for a dessert date.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Couldn't decide what looked tastiest, so we got three to sample:  Key Lime Cheesecake, Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake, and a slice of their famous Carrot cake.  I liked the key lime best.  Jake loved the chocolate.  Those three slices were humongous, so everyone back at the hotel helped us finish them. 

Jake seems to be happy about the big 30...  life is good.  Just about done with school stuff once this AEGD residency is over!  Woo hoo!  He's got two cute kiddos at 30!   And, he's as cute and smart as ever. :)    

Happy 30 Jake.
Stay tuned for day 3 on our trip :)

Cali Trip Day 1: SaN DiEgO.

Jake's work took us to CA for the past week to play!  He had to attend the California Dental Association convention in Anaheim and gave a presentation one day.  Love it when work pays for travel!  We left Tuesday night since Jake was off work for a "travel day" the next day.  So, Wed. we hung out with the Jones fam in San Diego.  All active duty military and their families get into Seaworld parks for free (for a day) this year, so we thought we'd snatch up the opportunity to go again.  Jake and I were in San Diego last on our honeymoon.  Good to revisit!  We must have been in la la land when we were at Seaworld San Diego before, because I really don't remember much about the park from our first visit!  Ella was so little when we would go to Seaworld in TX... it was fun watching her enjoy it more now that she's older.  That little girl loves animals.  Here's some of what we did. 

This time we were more daring then we were at Seaworld in the past, and we all sat in the splash zone for the Shamu show.  Luke and I were on the end and got pretty wet, but everyone else managed to stay dry! 

The show was a lot different from the ones we've been to.  The trainers were never in the water with the whales.  I'm guessing it's because of that freak accident that happened in Florida recently?  So, the whales just jumped around and did their thing.



They had a super cool starfish pool.  The kids could take them out of the water and hold real ones.  I thought the sea turtle area of the park was pretty neat too.   

Ella was cracking me up laying there checking out the seals.

I think the kids found some nasty old fish someone else hadn't fed the seals yet. 

(L to R from behind:  Peyton, Samantha, Landon, Ella, and Luke.) 

Jake and Tann using their awesome ring toss skillz...

Jake kept trying to lift the rays out of the water when they'd swim by.  One of them slapped him pretty good on the arm!  I think they got a little annoyed with him.   

Peyton and Luke ran around trying to whip birds with long grass they picked.  Ella got pooped on by a bird too.  It was so gross- down her hair, onto her shoulder and down her shirt.   Aaaa!!   

Funky fun mirrors...

I went with the guys on a roller coaster and the kids had fun in Sesame Street area of the park.

  We hit up Fudruckers on the way back to Anaheim that night.  Tasty!   

 That was pretty much day 1.  Checking out San Diego and Seaworld with good friends.  Fun day!
Up next: Day 1 at Disneyland.     

After eight months of lessons, the boy became a fish.

Spring session of swimming ended on Wednesday.  This little guy has worked hard and improved so much!  Its been fun watching his progress.  Back in September he didn't even like getting in the pool with his teacher.  Now, he loves swimming.   

He says his favorite things to do at lessons are arrows and diving for rings. He's getting to be a great little freestyler and just started pop-up breathing. We're excited for all the summer swimming coming up!