Vacation In Cali

FINALLY! We have been in desperate need of vacation. Our family getaways in the past year and half have consisted of 3 -- 1 day trips. One to the mountains and one to St. George and one to Tom's family reunion.

Tom and I are both physically, emotionally and mentally worn out this year and we really needed a vacation. So UEA weekend came and I was determined to go on vacation. Tom was so tired he said," I don't know, it seems like a lot of work." I told him I was going right that minute to book hotels. We were going on vacation and we were getting out of the state.

We decided to go to San Diego and Orange for 5 days. It turned out great. We had a fun time as a family and for a week our brains were basically empty except for "where should we eat dinner and what should we do next." It was great.

In San Diego we visited the bay one day. We decided to go to the Midway museum. As soon as my kids saw this huge ship sitting in the harbor they asked if we could go see it.  It was a lot of walking up and down stairs but it was also fascinating.

 Becca in the ship's brig.

 Lia tries out one of the helicopters. It was amazing how huge this ship was. 

Isaac and Becca did the flight simulator. This is them getting off after a 10 minute ride. You should have heard Becca screaming. "What are you doing?" As soon as Isaac saw the flight simulator he started jumping up and down like he was a little boy again. It may have been the highlight of the trip for him.

Day 2 we went to the San Diego zoo. Rebecca has been begging to go to this zoo. She loves animals. I swear she took a picture of every animal. She got a camera for her birthday. I was actually a little under impressed. I was expecting something more but it was still a nice zoo. We had a few terrible moments when Lia's lactose intolerance attacked and she puked all over herself. Lia and I were resting by ourselves and Tom and the kids were off somewhere else in the zoo when it happened. We also happened to be far away from any bathrooms. It was awesome. Fortunately, she felt better as soon as she threw up and we were able to enjoy the rest of the zoo, especially the pandas, which is why Becca wanted to go to the zoo in the first place.

Day 3 we went to Orange. But no Disneyland this trip. We decided to do Knottsberry Farm and I am grateful we did. This was a fun park for the older kids. There are a lot of great rollercoasters and they are closer together than in Disneyland. Plus the lines were shorter. There were boring moments for Lia and me because Lia won't go on a lot of rides and she was too small for lots of rides. It was not until the end of the day that we found most of the kiddie rides. Although Lia really liked the water rides. At least she was brave enough to go on this ride. But that is a her "I am a little bit scared face."

One time when I wanted to go on the 300 foot high swing set, Isaac opted out and offered to go on the carousel with Lia. Poor Isaac -- he regretted it.
Somewhere there is a picture of him riding the carousel. I can't find it but it makes for a good threat.

The Boomerang roller coaster that had us walking sideways for about 10 minutes. I actually went on this roller coaster. But my favorite ride if you ever go to Knottsberry Farm was the Pony Express. Tom and the kids loved the Xcellerator that went from 0-80 miles per hour in 2 seconds. I would not go on that ride it seriously freaked me out just looking at it.

A few other great stops on our vacation included the San Diego Temple.

 

And Watson's - One of Tom's favorite places to eat out as a kid growing up. He of course had a chocolate malt with his burger. Lia had her favorite kids meal of the trip. That car went straight home to the barbies.

Becca turned double digits yesterday. We had a pretty laid back birthday. It was a non party year. She had a few requests and if you know Rebecca you know they revolved around food. For breakfast she asked for orange sweet rolls. For Dinner she asked for Ninja restaurant

But the really fun part was making her cake together. Rebecca is really into being artistic. She decided she wanted to help decorate her own cake. We decided to do a monster face. She wanted a Halloween theme cake. She asked for white cake with raspberry filling. I used my new raspberry pie filling for the center. It turned out delicious. I think the cake turned out great and it's fun that we did it together.

We also did a little shopping. She lives for shopping. 
We also went to the apple festival where we listened to a new musician called Lyndy Butler who had promised Becca a cd as a birthday present.

That night we went to Ninja restaurant. Becca loves the New York Steak. Then we came home and opened presents and had our monster cake. Becca then watched Harry Potter 5. Rebecca wants to be Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter for Halloween. She was doing some research.

Overall it was  a fun day and not overly stressful.

I love my Becca. It is fun to watch her grow up. I can't believe she is 10.

10 Things I love about Becca.

1. She has an amazing inner self confidence. It makes her beautiful.
2. She always says what she thinks. (and it always is a surprise to me)
3. She is witty. She has me in stitches at least once a day.
4. She has the best giggle. I dare you not to laugh too when she starts giggling.
5. She has an organized brain. She alphabetized my spice drawer once for fun.
6. She has a style all her own and always looks her best.
7. She loves to paint, draw, sculpt and create.
8. I truly believe she is one of the most capable people I have ever met. She can be anything she wants.
9. I heart her freckles.
10. She is so helpful. There are days I literally thank my Heavenly Father for sending her to me. I am not sure how I would survive without her.