California Dreamin'

***Warning*** VERY LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICS.

The first swim of the year






This was Niamhs first encounter with the pool. She absolutely loved it. She was splashing like crazy and kept trying to get out of my arms to swim. I'm sure the fact that it was an indoor, heated pool had a lot to do with it. My kids are little water babies. We loved the hotel pool and swam there at least three times.

The San Diego Zoo

1. We went to the Zoo on Monday. Got there when it opened. Went straight to the Pandas. There were two chewing on Bamboo. They were beautiful.
2. Saw some Orangutans; they were funny to watch. We saw two wrestling like brothers, reminded me of Tyrone & Gavin.
3. Next came the Hippos, Bears, Monkeys Lions, Koala Bears & Flamingos. We saw lots of birds and deer. Needless to say, the Pandas were the favorite. The Elephant exhibit was closed,sadly.
4. We went up in the sky tram and looked out over the whole zoo. The view is spectacular, but I wouldn't know I was clinging for dear life to the boys incase we fell out.
5. We left after two hours, satisfied that we saw all the animals we wanted to. We also probably all walked 2 miles.







"The Happiest Place on Earth"

1. Our first day at Disneyland, we were there from 10am-10pm. We got on so many rides, I can't even remember the order. The second day we went for a few hours, ate churros, bread bowls and huddled together. It was a little chilly.
2. Buzz Lightyear, was the boys favorite.
3. They were terrified of Pirates of the Carribeann and The Haunted Mansion. Go figure :)
4. We waited 30 minutes for The Nemo Submarine ride. It was pretty entertaining.
5. We watched a parade celebrating all the birthdays. Lucas turned to me and said "So this is what its like to be in the middle of a musical." The boys & Niamh loved it.
6. The fireworks were fantastic, it was worth waiting until 9:30pm.
7. It's not very fun dealing with three, exhausted, grumpy kids leaving Disneyland at 10pm.
8. It was worth it all.













Last but not least, some things that we did not plan on doing on our trip to California.

I decided to cut my hair.

We drove by the San Diego Temple. What a magnificant sight.

We got in a little fender bender, the day before we left for Las Vegas. Nothing major, we nicked the back side of a Dodge Van. Luckily no damage to their vehicle but the right side of our bumper is smashed in. They make them cheap these days. I didn't get any pics of the bumper, its ugly.

We had a wonderful time in California and cannot wait until our next trip.