CALIFORNIA 2010

part 1

Keeping up with a blog is much harder than I thought it would be. One of these days I will get better at it.

About 5 yrs ago my family decided to go to Disneyland together~ all of us~ 14 adults and 21 kids,(ranging in age from 14-1 yr old). It didn't seem like a crazy idea at the time. In fact, most of the adults were in Disneyland when we decided to go again (three were missing). The family really wanted to have a real special trip together, just like we had when we were growing up. So we've spent the last 5 yrs saving & planning the ultimate family reunion. After much stress and negotiations, it all came together. It was a fabulous trip!

Our family set out on our trip on Thursday the 23rd of September. Ches and I did not want to drive straight thru to California. The idea of 15 hrs in the van with our kids did not sound like a fun way to start a vacation. We left town after Ches got off work. We headed to SL to sleep at my parents and then got an early start the next day. We drove to St. George UT, and stayed at a hotel. The kids were so excited. It was Kimmie's first time staying in a hotel (that she could remember) and she could hardly stand it. When we got into town, Ches and I wanted to go shopping at the Outlet Mall in St. George. (We love outlet shopping :) After the third store Rickie tells me that shopping was the worst thing ever to do on a vacation and begged to go back to the hotel. We made them keep going and bought them fudge at the chocolate store to appease them. We did go back to the hotel and had a fun time swimming while Ches finished up some homework.

Saturday morning we got up early and enjoyed the hotels buffet and then hit the road - on to California.

Happy Travelers

Everyone had their own MP3 player or Ipod to take on the trip. Before we left, I took all the music out of the van so we could download the music. Unfortunately, I forgot to put any music back, so for most of the trip we were all plugged in to our own musical world. So weird.

This is the giant bear at the chocolate store in St. George



The drive thru the canyons in northern Arizona is so beautiful.

We made really good time. The kids were so great, they wanted to get to Anaheim just as quick as Ches and I. We arrived in Anaheim around 2pm and check in wasn't until 3 so we went out for ice cream till we could check in. Then we did a bit of shopping for food and hit the Disney Outlet store. Rickie liked shopping here. After dinner we decided to go to California Adventure to see the World of Color show and ride some rides.

Waiting in line for the tram to take us to California Adventure

We went and looked around at the World of Disney store ~ Kimmie was in heaven with all the fun toys. She had a hard time picking what to spend her money on.

Once we got to the park we headed to Bugsland to ride some rides. Since it was sort of Kimmie's first time we let her pick the first rides.

Then we went to the Pier to get a place to watch the show. Kimmie and I snuck in a ride on the carousel while we waited.

Rob and Lee waiting for the show to start

The World of Color is an amazing show. We all loved the music and dancing water. My picture is not that great (stupid camera) but the show was the perfect way to start off our Disneyland Adventure.

This is the backyard of the house we stayed in.

I wanted to include some pictures of the house we stayed at. All the families decided to rent three houses in Anaheim, that are in the same neighborhood. It was such a great idea. We all had plenty of space. The kids had space to play and we were able to save money on food and laundry expenses. We shared the house with Cassie and Steve and their three kids. The house was perfect for us. Our back yard had a pool, a hot tub, and a tiki grill.

The garage was converted into a giant toy room. We had a hard time keeping the kids out of here. It was nice to have a place for them to be.

This is the Flippen House we spent the week in.