California Vacation 2014, part 1

On April 25th we had to wake up at 3:30 am! We drove our car to Tony's work (Con-Way) which is very close to the airport, then took a taxi from there.

We got to Salt Lake Airport, through security, and to our gate by 5:00 for our 6:30 flight. 

With as many employees and few flights out of Salt Lake that JetBlue has, I was worried that we might not make it on our flight. I had upgraded our status with some super passes (we get four each year and put you on the standby list above employees with regular tickets) and it did the trick! 

We were so excited because we even got assigned seats an hour before the flight.

I had prepared the kids for the possibility that we may not get to sit together, but we all got to sit in the same row (3BC,EF) with just one person in between Tony & I and the kids!

It was the kids' first airplane flight, and Tony's and my first time on JetBlue. We loved our flight and it was one of the highlights of the trip!

Part of my responsibility for flying free is to help clean the airplane after the flight. I had to take a picture of my blue gloves because they reminded me of "Two by two, hands of blue" from Firefly ;)

"Woo hoo, we love mom's job!"

We picked up our rental car--a white Kia, then checked into our hotel. We called that morning because we didn't have hotel reservations since we didn't know if we would get to California Friday or Saturday. They not only gave us an amazing deal for the night, they let is check in super early!

Next we ate breakfast at Denny's.  Tony had the Philly cheesesteak omelet; I had eggs over easy, sausage and tons of bacon which I shared with the kids; and Faith & Christian shared sticky bun pancakes and a blueberry muffin popper sundae. 

Christian asked why California had better everything than Utah, especially the food. Do we deprive our kids of going out to eat so badly that they're in awe of Denny's food? It was really good, though :)

We walked the very short distance from our motel (which is basically right across the street), then waited in a long line and finally got into Disneyland!!

We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, a The Haunted Mansion and our family favorite, Splash Mountain.

We then did Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. We were hungry by then and bought a turkey leg and giant chimichanga to share for lunch.

That afternoon we went to California Adventure and went on Soaring Over California, saw a trailer for Maleficant in the Bug's Life theater (not cool that the 4D movie was on hiatus) and saw the Muppets.

That evening we went shopping at WalMart and picked up sandwich fixings, snacks, and a cooler for lunch the rest of the week. We grabbed nuggets from Chic-fil-A for dinner.

We loved that there were fans and this elephant folded out of washcloths in our room :)

The next morning, April 26th, we loaded up on boiled eggs, fruit and mini muffins from the hotel's continental breakfast and drove to San Diego to visit Sea World.

It was cool weather and sprinkled for a tiny bit, but mostly the day was beautiful.

These cleaner fish eat tiny bits of dead skin off your hands and tickled so bad! We loved them so much that we had to make many visits back to them throughout the day.

We went to the Blue Horizons show which featured dolphins and other animals, high divers and aerialists. We snacked on Easter colored pull & peel licorice which Tony had gotten a few days before on 50% off clearance :)

We then went to the Pets Rule show which was a hoot. We loved watching all the talented dogs and cats, and I felt less guilty enjoying this show since it doesn't have wild animals forced to live as prisoners in captivity. Sorry, my conscience as an animal activist and non-practicing vegetarian sometimes comes out.

We ate lunch in our car, in the parking lot. The kids decided to eat laying in trunk with seats down so it was open to the front. We had sandwiches that I had made and packed that morning, baby carrots and little bags of chips.

We went around and looked at the exhibits,

and saw some orca's at play.

At the Shamu show, the kids wanted to sit just four rows up from the front, well within the "soak zone." And oh boy, did they get soaked! Tony and I managed to shield ourselves from the worst of it and only got a bit wet.

Faith and Buddy fed the sea lions,

petted the sting rays,

got squished penny souvenirs,

and held starfish.

We saw the Madagascar show which had character costumes & singing and dancing with a band, but it wasn't our favorite. 

We also went to the Sea Lions Live show. It was so funny! We also loved the guy who opened for the show who danced to (and like) dirty dancing and flashdance.

We enjoyed the different aquariums,

and bought some stuff at the gift shop. The kids got some money from Tammy and my mom, and were good budgeters this trip.

We thought salad sounded good for dinner, so we drove to Encinadas and went to a Souplantation. It was delicious and Christian managed to plow through 8, yes eight, ice cream cones for dessert! They were mini cones, but still! Here he is making a straw wrapper snake grow.

We stopped for cream sunscreen at CVS because our trial size spray sunscreen "for men" didn't do the job and we were all a bit burnt.

Called mom on the way home & heard that Skittles had been whining and barking. She wouldn't sleep with them because she wanted to watch for us from the front room window :(

We wore my little Buddy out so thoroughly that we had to wake him to get him out of the car. We watched the last part of Little Mermaid on t.v. and turned in for the night.

April 2014

I found this great pic of Skittles having a bad hair day on Christian's iPod.

April 4th was Busdy's first baseball practice this season. It's machine pitch instead of coach pitch, and he's having an even harder time hitting the ball, but at least he's having fun!

On the 5th, the kids wanted to ride bikes but we discovered that they had long outgrown their old ones. My mom and dad agreed to get them bikes as early birthday gifts so they could enjoy them all spring and summer!

April 6th was General Conference and I  made omelets, crepes (with cream cheese filling, blueberry pie filling & fresh sliced strawberries), tater tots, and bacon for breakfast with Buddy's help.

That afternoon we went visiting at both parents' and got to meet Jason's baby girl, Riley, for the first time.

 The kids had an Easter sleepover with Tammy and here they are the next day showing off the cute fuzzy Mohawk eggs they made with her.

April 19th brought our neighborhood egg hunt and pot luck breakfast.

Afterward, we went to Fresh market where the kids got to decorate sugar cookies before the candy scramble.

Both were fun, but I was kind of sad that Faith is now too old to get candy :(

That afternoon was the Braegger Easter hunt and dinner. So fun & delicious, and the kids got some cute outfits!

Easter morning, the 20th, the kids slept in till 9 (!!) and then checked out their baskets and found all the eggs.

After church, we went to Peterson's for dinner and Easter hunt. More great food & fun.

The kids got silly in the car on the way home!

  On the 23rd we stopped by Cal-Ranch after the kids' softball & baseball practices to see the chicks.

The evening of April 24th we dropped Skittles off at my mom and dad's so they could watch her while we were on vacation!

March 2014

March 1st was Sierra's baptism. She looked so beautiful and was so excited!

Unfortunately, only Christian and I could attend because Faith was at winter overnight Young Women's camp and Tony was at the hospital because Grandma Mitchell was dying and his dad had had a stroke early that morning and was just a few doors down.

The 3rd was Dr. Seuess day, so we made green (deviled) eggs to celebrate. Christian got quite carried away with the green food coloring and had a dinner of green salmon and green lemon angel hair pasta!

On the 5th the kids did something they had been wanting to try for awhile--weightless Wednesday at YogoTogo. They had gift cards that Tammy had given them for Valentine's, and this promotion is where you can have as much as you can fit for $5.

Buddy's started to tip, so it had to be dumped in a second cup!

 Grandma Mitchell ended up passing away, and Tony's work had this bouquet delivered.

Here is some artwork that Buddy did at school:

a log cabin for Presidents' Day,

and a story he wrote.

Here is Marcella's obituary and pictures from her funeral program .

Her services were on March 8th.

It was so cute when the kids and grand kids did a Coke toast because grandma loved her Coca-Cola!

After the funeral luncheon, we went to McKay Dee hospital to visit Larry. The kids each made him pictures to lift his spirits.

He is doing better, but the stroke left him with a lot of muscle weakness, some speech problems, and it made him much more emotional.

Around this time we found out that our new next door neighbor (on our south side) would be a Pittsburgh Steeler!!!!

He is now a free agent, but we are excited to root for him, even if he's picked up by another team ;) His girlfriend who will be living there full time is in reservations training for JetBlue. Small world!

For Pi Day on the 14th, we began the day with (crustless quiche) pie.

For dinner we had shepherd's pie and triple fruit pie for dessert.

On the evening of the 16th, Christian talked me into making green crepes for dinner. I even cut his into a shamrock.

He set up a leprechaun trap, but didn't manage to catch one this year, either!

March 17th, Faith wasn't feeling well, but Buddy did errand with me, all dressed up. We pretended that this was the Blarney Stone :)

Even though the sneaky leprechaun avoided the trap, he left some footprints behind and overturned the chairs.

Christian wanted a funny face picture with this lunch I made him. Just a tuna salad sandwich with cucumber and a cilantro leaf on top.

He still loves crafts, so I had him do a fruit loop rainbow. He even bought a piece of liccorice caramel at the store to make the pot!

Our traditional St. Patty's meal of corned beef, cabbage, roasted vegetables, and this year did Irish soda bread, shamrock shaped garlic breadsticks, and grasshopper Oreo cheesecake pie!

My calendar got mixed up and I thought March 22 was Earth Day instead of April 22. Oh well, we had some great earth pancakes, anyway.

  The 29th was opening day at Lagoon so we got our passes and rode some rides.