Let's go to the Beach

On our last full day in Cali, we head to the ocean.  

Ellie and her new little friend Oswald all set.

The first place we headed was to over near Long Beach to the USS Iowa.  This battleship from WWII was a ship that Great Grandpa Larson was on for several years during the war.  He was on this ship when it was anchored near the place where President Truman signed a treaty ending the war (I need to follow up and get the specific details about this).  When Grandpa Larson was down for Ellie's baptism he shared some of the stories of his times on this ship during the war.  A few years ago he was able to visit this ship, which is now a museum, and while touring one of the workers asked him what he thought.  He told them that it was a lot different than when he lived on it.  Well they were so excited to know that a veteran who served on this ship was there and he, Great Grandma Larson and those with them were treated to a special tour that not everyone who visits gets.  They were able to visit parts of the ships that are normally closed off to regular visitors.  As they came upon others who work there they already knew who he was and that he was veteran who had served on this naval ship. 

The kids were pretty impressed with the ship, but not enough to take the time to walk through the whole tour.  It was still fun to see it and learn a little more, some day we plan to go through the entire tour.

Navy Battleship Ammo (?)

That's a heavy anchor

Ellie kept asking, "Where the crow's nest?"  That is where great grandpa view the treaty signing from.

After visiting the battleship we headed down the coast along Pacific Highway to Huntington Beach where we wanted to spend the rest of the day at the beach.

Catching some rays, soaking up the sun for that nice Fall tan. 

We had a BLAST just playing in the water, body surfing and diving in the waves.  The weather turned unseasonably warm and was in the mid nineties this day which was PERFECT!!

If you look closely you'll notice that Ellie has her ears plugged.  It turned out that this was the day before (one of the first in many years) oceanside air show.  We were able to witness the Air Force Thunderbirds as they practiced for their air show performance.  We got some good video, but nothing captured the incredible sound and action we saw.  Dad was the most impressed by far.

When at the ocean you've gotta have a jump picture,

which sometimes takes one . . . 

or two

or three

or four tries 

until you get just the right one

My world. . . . .my everything

We spent hours playing in the sun and then checking out the Huntington Beach Pier.  

Definitely one of my favorite days of this trip.

The next day was going home day.  We decided to make the drive home in one day.  The highway was much clearer between Anaheim and Vegas.  It was a long desolate drive, but in a weird way still enjoyable.

Ellie ended up traveling in her pj's.  Even when we stopped in St. George for a few hours she remained in her nightgown.

Destination ------> Disneyland

We arrived on Sunday night with the next 3 days planned for Disneyland.  When talking to others about this place it seems like people either love it or they hate it.  Well I'm one of the lovers.  I love the make-believe and magic that the parks have.  I love love love watching my kids as they ride the rides, meet the characters and just soak up the magic.  We have learned that the best time to go is at the beginning of the week during an off season.   Well this week was fall break and Thursday & Friday is no school for the entire state of Utah so we knew to go early before the Utah crowd arrived.  It was such a great plan and worked perfectly.

The first morning was a cool rainy morning.  Our hotel was directly across the street from the entrance the parks which during past trips we always took the shuttle.  This was a great adjustment. 

Early morning run in the rain

The rain was not bad at all and let up late morning.  It made for some short lines which was awesome.

Our first character encounter was Captain Hook, which was great because Ellie is on a Pan kick right now.

Next stop one of Ellie's favorites: Dumbo

Ethan was a good sport and rode the "little kid" ride.

Ellie's absolute favorite is It's a Small World.

Astro Blaster with dad

Ready for a driving lesson

Can't remember if Dad was saying something that embarrassed Ellie, or if she was trying to get something out of her eye.

Ethan took me for a spin

He took driving this little car very seriously.  haha

Finished the course

Ethan always has a goal to keep a straight, serious kind of face on all of the roller coaster pictures.  He did a pretty good job on Space Mountain

Elisabeth still loves meeting up with all of the characters.  She is so cute.  When it is her turn she gets all shy and won't talk to them (not that they will talk back to her).  She added duplicate signatures to her autograph book.

Minnie in California Adventure

Monsters Inc. ride.  Last time we did not ride this and Ellie couldn't remember it from the time before.

Our last visit we missed some of the Cars Land Rides, not sure if we didn't see them or if the lines were just too long, but we were glad to get to try the out.

Another ride we hadn't been on---Luigi's dancing cars

Look out for Mater

We watched the World of Color show from the back side.  We could see everything, the only issue was that words were backwards.  Still a great show.  I am the only one in the family who loves this show so this was our only night watching it.  (Ellie normally wold love it, but she didn't like the fire)

Photo moment

Family SELFie

Best Parents Ever!!! haha

Early Magic Morning

The next day was another beautiful day!

  Mid to high 70s and SUNshine.

Ellie and I hit her favorite ride, AGAIN!
This time we were early, there was not line and were the only people in our boat.  Kelly has always said that this ride freaked him out.  On this day I realized what he meant.  I'm pretty sure that every doll in the ride was a relative of "Chucky".  My imagination ran wild and crazy making this the scariest ride I have ever ridden.  Seriously, this would make a great horror movie.  I couldn't help but look behind us every throughout the ride to be sure the dolls weren't coming after us.  

Ellie wasn't sure what to think of the Queen of Hearts, but she got her autograph anyway.

Ellie's new favorite character is Oswald.  First character we saw as we entered California Adventure.  I am putting in several of the pictures, because I think it's funny how it looks like he's about to attack her in them.

or maybe just try to scare her (?)

Then we ran into Mickey.  Apparently Ellie missed him a lot.

First up was the Cars Ride.  The day before we didn't ride this because the line was CaRAZY long!  This day we got fast passes.

Olaf was out enjoying the summer-like weather so we stopped, gave warm hugs, said hi and snapped some pictures.

We found Pluto

And FINALLY . . . .  Dale, but sadly Chip was nowhere to be found. 

California Screamin'

Later we headed back to Disneyland and Ellie somehow got Kelly to go on Small World with her.  

We've been to the D during a normal season, Christmas, and Halloween a couple of times.  They all have their special little twists and we love them all.

Mickey in Costume

Found Captain Hook again, but this time Peter Pan was there as well.  Ellie was surprised to see them getting along.

In Toon Town to visit Minnie's house.

sneaky girl looking for cookies

Tinkerbell.

Halloween Special Photo-op.  The Disneyland photographer's picture turned out much better, but not worth paying for.

Goofy in Costume

Mickey's SoundSational Parade

Ellie was so excited to see Oswald AGAIN.  She loves him and was able to bring her own little Oswald home with her.

Goofy and Company song and dance

Pixar Parade

California Adventure at Night.  So sad to leave this final night, but we know if we were able to go all of the time it wouldn't be as special or as magical.