Rollercoasters!

Rollercoasters are supposed to be so thrilling. The high speeds, fast twists, super highs with sudden lows are meant to thrill, scare and entertain. Our California trip was full of fun rides. We went to every amusement park that we could find in that large state!

We loved our trip. We spent the first night in Mesquite in the lovely Casa Blanca resort. Nasty places those casinos! Those people have no idea how to find happiness as they sit there hour after hour. We left the next day and celebrated Jonathan's birthday on the road. We did ride the Desperado rollercoaster at the state line. Our first of many rides.

We got to our condo and we were thrilled to find we were 1 block from the beach! It was a great temporary home. The kids and Dave, Mitch and Haley took off to the beach while Tricia and I shopped for groceries. We had quite a shock when we got home. Tricia thought some strange gut was about to attack her! It turned out to be our Uncle Clifford. Of all the places in all the world he was just a few minutes from where we were staying. He came and gave us great advice on fun things to do and even better he brought us some yummy Thrifty ice cream. That was fun to see him. The kids came home completely soaked so we cleaned them up and got ready for bed.

Sunday we went to church there in Oceanside. There were 17 families whose homes had burned down during the fires. The ward talked about the help they were needing. It really brought home the devastating fires in this state. We then drove to the San Diego Temple and saw the beautiful temple and grounds. Then we went to the bay to see the seals. We met Jenn and her parents there and again let the kids get wet at the beach!

The next day we met Andrew and Sam at Universal Studios where the Jurassic Park ride and the Indiana Jones ride were the favorite rides of the day. It was the perfect day to go there! There were absolutely no lines! We could walk on any ride, get off and go get on again!

Tuesday we all met at Sea World! Again there were no lines. This was the water day! Every ride we got wetter and wetter. When we went to the dolphin, seal and Shamu show we got wet! The boys and the boy/men were saoked! We loved the shows! Those animals are truly amazing. We will never forget the cute grandma behind us that was one of those really loud talkers who thought that Shamu was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She was yelling at her granddaughter to get the picture!! Jenn, Haley, Tricia and I were laughing so hard. I love that place. My little Alex learned a new trick of putting his hands together and bow down like an Orca tail all the while chanting Sham-U, Sham-U! It is kind of creepy.

The big day! Disneyland here we come! So exciting. We thought that the lines would be worse here but the luck held out! We also had the stroller pal thing that they do! The best loved ride was Space Mountain. I really liked the Finding Nemo ride also. The day was a little bit of a roller coaster because we were all worried about Dad and his surgery. We will get to that later.

The next day was our more restful day. We all (except Mitch and Haley who studied for the LSAT and rested) went to the San Diego Zoo for a few hours in the morning. The most amazing animal we saw was the Panda bear. It was hanging on a branch right over our heads. Beautiful animal. We then went home and the kids went to the beach with Mitch, Andrew and Dave. Haley, Tricia and I went and did much needed laundry for a few hours. That night Andrew, Jenn, Tricia, Mitch, Haley and I went to our much needed crab dinner. Dave was very nice and he stayed home with all the tired kids and watched a movie. He hates seafood so it really wasn't a huge sacrifice.

Friday we went to California Adventure with everyone except Jenn. The lines were a bit longer that day but srill nothing more than 15 minutes. We had the best of luck! This park is much smaller than Disneyland and we were able to ride everything pretty quick. The favorite rides were the Tower of Terror and I really liked the California Soarin ride. I especially loved watching the RiverRafting ride. Tricia got The parks were opened later so we also ran over to Disneyland for one last ride on Space Mountain. We left that night and went to dinner at IHOP. We were all so tired and very ready to come home!

The best part of the trip was doing all of these fun things with family. We loved being with Tricia, Mitch & Haley, Andrew & Jenn, Jacob, Kass, Conner, Sam, Lauren and little Claire! I was amazed at how well we all got along! I kept waiting for the "we have spent way too much time together" feelings to set in. I love my siblings which includes all 3 of my "added later" sisters.