California day 8

 We started our 8th day of vacation just the way Shilo would have it~ by eating breakfast and heading straight to the pool!

 It was warm and they had a blast!

 True was done, so he just snuggled up in the sun next to his daddy.

 My grandmother gave us a gift card to Tony Romas in '06, and since there is no Tony Romas in Wa any more, we were able to use it right across from Disneyland!! Glad we remembered it!

Lunch was good.

{Jordan stayed back at the pool to lay in the sun. A true teenager:) }

 And this is where Shilo found she had a love affair with ribs. And decided that she wanted to eat here for her birthday~ to bad it is in California! 

 After Tony Romas we headed to Downtown Disney to walk around and take in the sights. We checked out the lego store first. The kids loved that place!

 All built out of Legos! So cool and inspiring! And what a job! To build with Legos all day...Chastin would love that!

 Amazing detail.

 They have  a 'build your own' Lego race car set up there. The kids built and raced  over and over again. They wanted to stay there all day!

Custom build tables at the Lego store were so much fun for True, he wanted one at home he said!

 Again~ another fun job:)

 Cool caramel apples decorated Disney style.

 Chastin and John decided to build a custom remote control car as Chastins souvenir. They had fun with that! 

Then we ended our day 'Shilo style' she's a fish I tell ya! Back to the pool for an after dinner swim.

Disneyland, Day 7

It was a Wednesday, mid week is always best for a visit to Disneyland! 

The game plan was to drop Chastin and Jordan off at Knotts berry farm and head to disney, but knotts opened later than disney so Shilo, True and I all got dropped off in front of Disney and John was to meet up with us in an hour or so.

 Trues first time to Disneyland!

 I remember that Shilo was so excited to push the stroller! Usually a bigger kid does this job, but since she was the bigger kids she got to do it! SO cute!

 We headed right to the saute of Walt and Mickey Mouse 

 It was fun to see Trues face when he went on his first ride!  Buzz lightyear astro blasters was our first ride, he was kinda apprehensive about the dark and the loud, but carried on . He is noise sensitive anyhow so he covered his ears, but quickly discovered how much fun it was to be on the ride, shooting a buzz light year gun! By the end he was screaming "lets do it again!" and later in the day we did and he loved it again! the only difference, was that he didn't cover his ears.

John took the kids on the tea cups while I watched in a "I won't get dizzy and be ill" place

 No one was dizzy, everyone thought it was the greatest fun!

 Here is True after the new Star tours ride. It's  a simulator that makes you feel like you are flying a ship though various Star wars scenes. In 3D! He loved this one too! The boy was meant to ride rides! We started him on the smaller stuff and worked up to the bigger rides. 

 We stopped for  a churro snack.

 They always want these at costco and I always say no~ I guess I wanted to pay 3x as much for one in Disneyland!!

 Gotta get a giant corn dog while in the park.

 True was chosen for the  Jedi training camp. It was so cute! I was soooo glad that I had the flip camera with me so I could record the whole thing! He was pretty worried about fighting Darth Vader, but the training leader  helped him out. he just kinda stood there looking at Vader wondering what on earth  he was supposed to do with this big guy in front of him. The leader was so funny, he told him to "activate his light saber, then cut right, cut left".All the while True just stood in awe. At the end, the Jedi trainer said" good job! Always add a dramatic pause!" then he helped True hit Vaders light saber. The crowd roared with laughter, and John, Shilo and I were all chearing him on! He was just so cute!

Here is True with his Jedi training certificate

 We met mini with her air plane

 Then we moseyed on over to Woody, who he wasn't really sure he liked. He tried to put his big hand on our shoulder but True wasn't having any of that. He just looked at woody like 'what are you thinking?'

 had to ride the merry go round while we waited for Shilo and daddy to be done on California screamin'

kinda lame, but strategically placed for parents who are waiting for people on the big rides. And True liked it, but he hopped off asking for a fun ride:) So we headed to Ariels grotto ride, pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

 Toy Story mania was a huge hit! Once again fun to watch the kids have fun. Shilo had been on this a year or so ago so she knew it was fun.

 Off to see mater

 Shilo LOVES to hula hoop, she saw some disney people with hula hoops and asked if she could show them all her stuff! She was able to keep going & going & going! They were impressed. She once won a hula hoop contest at school! She can move the hoop from the bottom of her little self all the way up to  her neck, then down her arms! She's so much fun!

 We loved this ride in cars town. You get to ride tractors!

 If you look really close you can see Daddy and Shilo on California screamin'

It was her first time and she loved it!!!

 Had to get a picture with lightning mcqueen {twice}

Tower of terror~ not Trues most favorite, but he did it a few times for us:)

He still talks about not really liking the elevator that drops you up and down as he says.

There was hardly anyone at the parks this day. It was really the most enjoyable day I have ever spent in Disneyland. You could just walk right up to the ride, hardly a wait, walk around with no one in front of you, it was fantastic!

Down the coast, Day 6

 The night before we left for Anaheim, we ate at a FABULOUS hole in the wall Mexican place!

And ever since then, we talk highly of the local grub. The food was HUGE! and really cheap. The owner was working and he was a super sweet older man. The place had a drive through and was open 24 hrs! That's crazy! And that's how good it was! Shilo ordered a chimichanga that was to die for good! Home made refried beans...mmmm

We hit Aliso beach on our drive.

 I don't know if you can tell, but these were some serious waves. John is a fantastic swimmer and he was a little nervous about the size of these. Chastin and Jordan couldn't wait to get slammed around for a while! One of the really nice things about  California beaches is that there are life guards on every beach, every so many feet. it was fun to watch, and really hard to keep the two little ones out of the water.

This was more of a rocky beach, but boy was it beautiful!

Some of the houses were crazy! This one has an observatory hanging from the basement of it. Great views I would suppose.

It was peaceful and really warm and pretty. There were a few young men who were out skim boarding~that was fun to watch. When I picture vacation, this is the picture that comes to mind. Exactly how I would describe the perfect family vacation. Walking in the sun on a beautiful beach with  my family. Having a very peaceful time. Actually relaxing. No agenda. No rush. No schedule. 

Perfect.

We made it to our condo by night fall and headed right to bed for an early morning wake up time for Disneyland!!!

This was our master, really pretty design, we were right by one of the pools so Shilo spent A LOT of time standing on the lani  wishing she could be swimming. Pretty much every spare moment. Which really there weren't a ton of because this was the busy leg of our trip.

John's checking out the local tour guide.