What A Trip!

I have been back for a week now and I have been overwhelmed with a bunch of stuff - therefore I have not had time to blog. I really wanted to blog the journey, but as it turned out by the time we were ever back at the hotel room it was past night-night time. We would, more or less, drag ourselves into our room and walk from the door to the bed and crash for the night. It was a vacation filled with early mornings, late nights and "what not to do again" lessons. We had fun - don't get me wrong. It was just too much stress and crap that happened that was a massive killjoy for us. I will not focus on the negative, but on the positive things that we did while in sunny Los Angeles - don't worry I will go into the crap - but not right now. This blog is going to be full of pictures and then a little caption to go along. Although, if you know me, you won't be surprised if some of the picture captions get a bit long - for I love to talk! It was ten days of pretty eventful events - so I have a lot to report. This is the waterfall we stop and check out every time we head towards Placerville. Depending on the time of year and the precipitation the waterfall can be roaring or trickling down. I love it when it's roaring! At the Twin Peaks in San Francisico we took a few minutes to admire the awesome view of the city below. We made a few stops in San Francisico for a few different photo ops. My niece, Keirra, (on the left above) was born in the San Francisico General Hospital, and so we got a picture of her in front of the hospital. Then we drove by the apartment where my brother used to live and then up to the Twin Peaks. We traveled across the Golden Gate on the way into the crowded city - it's all about the experence. We made a pit stop in Salinas, California for the night before completing the drive into Southern California. (side note: if you ever stop in Salinas do not spend the night at the Good Nite Inn.) The morning of Friday April 14th we left early, and headed west to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and then south towards Los Angeles. The drive was awesome and breathtaking as the ocean was our tour guide most of the way. Friday night we met up with some old friends I grew up with at the Cheesecake Factory. It was in Woodland Hills, CA - that's the town we spent 3 nights at in the Valley. On the left side of the table and from from the back to the front: my niece, Keirra; Marie, my mother's best friend growing up and our neighbor for most of the 18 years of my life living in Southern Cal.; Sheila, Marie's daughter who is 6 years older than me and was my baby-sitter and my friend. On the right side of the table: Scott; Sammy; ME; and Jonathan, Marie's son who was born when I was 12 years old and I baby-sat him. Saturday was loaded with fun and a little stress as Sammy became really sick of riding in the car for hours at a time and then having very little exercise. We went to Santa Paula, California to visit with a friend of mine, Lita. We met in the second grade and had not seen each other in like 15 years! Lita's family moved from Encino, California up to Oregon! I was 16 when they made that move and I was devastated - I lost my bestest friend in the whole world! We were the best buddies ever! Then after (I think) a year Lita's mother didn't like the rain anymore and wanted to move back to Southern California - so they moved back, but to Ventura, California - which was like an hour north from the Valley. So, even though she lived close enough, we never saw each other. Then a few years ago she found me online and gave me a call - I was so happy to hear from her! I was beside myself with the joy of seeing her finally after so much time! Lita still had our fourth-grade class picture - and even though it shows what a nerd I was, I wanted to share because it's cute! I know it's kinda hard to see - I will not make you guess which kid is me. In the front row from left to right there is a boy, Lita and then ME! I really liked that teacher (Mrs. Dempsey) and the school was Encino Elementary. I changed schools in the fifth grade due to the fact that they changed grades around and sixth grade went up to Junior High School. So, I changed schools in order to stay at the elementary level one more year - and my fifth-grade teacher hated me and was forever yelling at me and throwing me out of the classroom. I changed schools and even though the teachers were nicer and I was able to hang back for one more year - none of the kids there ever warmed up to me... Yeah, it was sad. When I entered seventh grade - Lita and I were reunited! Then she changed schools - but this time we stuck together - talking on the phone every night and hanging out whenever possible. I hope now that we have been reunited once again - it will last forever! Happy Easter! We had plans, but they fell through at the last second, so we spent Easter just the four of us. We drove around the Valley checking out a few areas from my past. Then we went into Hollywood and saw the new Disney movie, The Wild. We saw it at the El Capitan Theater across the street from the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. Disney owns the El Capitan and they put on a show before the movie (usually). I think it's only for opening weekend, but I'm not 100% on that. The live show before The Wild was a bird show - Sammy loved that! He sat through most of the movie, had to leave once and then came back to catch the ending. He's still a little fella and we have to respect that he doesn't have the attention span for a full movie. We then came back to the hotel and hung out in our room for a bit before walking across the street to PF Changs for the yummiest dinner! When we returned to the hotel the kids wanted to go to the heated indoor pool - we were there until 10:00pm! It was good because we all were having a blast. One of the places we went to see Easter Sunday was this ugly building - I called it home for 17 years of my life. I had a lot of good times there - and a lot of bad ones as well. Because of this ugly building I would never want to live in an apartment again. Although when we move up to the Seattle area we'll probably do the apartment scene until we find a house. The difference will be it will be a nice apartment building - nothing ugly. and only for a short time - not 17 years! Although this was home, it was safe and warm and I will never forget it. Monday, April 17th, we left our hotel in the Valley (good bye wonderful Marriott - we'll miss you...) and went back to Hollywood Boulevard to meet up with Scott's parents, his brother (Tom), and Tom's friend (Susan). We met up at Hamburger Hamlet - which just happens to be next door to the El Capitan theater. That's some seriously yummy food! After, we walked around Grauman's Chinese Theater for a bit and then split from the rest of the family to head down into Anaheim and check in to our third and final hotel. (again, side note: when in Anaheim do not stay at the Good Nite Inn in Buna Park). After checking into a real-life version of the Tower of Terror (that's a ride at California Adventure where the elevator speeds up and down. Our real hotel was slightly less thrilling...the elevator doors just wouldn't close all the way), we headed over to Downtown Disney for some dinner, walking around and shopping. We went to the Rainforest Cafe and checked in - it was an hour and fourty-five minute wait! Trust me the food is worth it! So, we went walking around during the wait. Keirra went to the Build-A-Bear Workshop and stuffed a cute little doggie, then she washed it, dressed it and adopted it. It's truly an awesome place to go - a little costly, but worth the smile on your little girl's (or boy's) face. Keirra named her puppy "Miss Woof". We also hit the World of Disney store where I got a sweatshirt and Scott got a book and Keirra wanted this little thing that when you put it in water it expands into a normal sized washcloth. We finally ate dinner and made a stop at the hair wrapping stand before leaving - Keirra got a pretty cool hair wrap. We left and went to Scott's grandmother's house for a quick hello and an Easter egg hunt. It was late to bed and early to rise... 5am came quickly the next morning, Tuesday - Disneyland/California Adventure day one. We were going to meet Scott's family (parents, Tom, Susan and grandma) at 7:30am. The park opened at 8am and closed at 12am. You better believe we were there a half hour early and left about a half hour later! (about 17 hours) I made sure to find the local Starbucks to stop at on our way to Disneyland - it just is better with nice warm cup of caffeine-loaded joe in my tummy! The rest of the family arrived and we went into the park. It was a stress-filled day - I will go into that in a different post - but we had fun, saw a lot and went on a few rides. This is the picture they take of you on the California Adventure ride Tower of Terror. It's an awesome ride - it drops you as fast as it pulls you up. You can see our clan in the back there - ME, Keirra and Scott. Then right in front of ME is Tom and holding onto his glasses is Scott's father (John). Still at California Adventure we took Sammy on the carousel - yep I went on one of the fish too! It was fun - and a nice restful ride. Scott, Keirra and I had just been on California Screamin' - the roller coaster - it was so much fun! I think Keirra was a little freaked out, but she wouldn't say it. While Scott's parents and grandmother went into the 3-D Muppets show at California Adventure, we went into this art place where they show you original drawings of some of the characters from the Disney movies. It was actually pretty groovy! And as you can see Scott was getting the vibe from Tinker Bell... We headed back to Disneyland and watched the awesome Fantasmic water show at 11:30pm. The park closed after the show was over and we walked down Main Street and collected our things out of the locker and left. We were so beaten down by the day's events (stress and just walking between the two parks) that by the time we got back to the hotel we crashed! 5am came faster this time! We thought ahead and had Sammy half-dressed the night before so that we wouldn't have to wake him to dress him. He slept until we parked in the parking lot. We, of course, made the morning stop at Starbucks and made it to Disneyland in time for the gates to open. We had some fruit while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive and slopped on the sunscreen. (Both days were really warm and sunny - it was the most important thing to protect our skin first!) The family arrived and wanted to start off the day running around again - I had to say no to this (again, another post), so we went onto It's A Small World - twice! The first time grandpa (above with Sammy) didn't get the seat he wanted, so we did it again (line was short) and this time grandpa got to hold Sammy! It was cool, Sammy really enjoyed the ride. On the first day at Disneyland Sammy and Keirra got these laser guns after the Buzz Lightyear ride - we brought them back for day two. Sammy became a pro marksman while taking out great grandma at the bench outside the bathroom. We had some friends from home who were also at Disneyland that same day - and we got to meet up with them for a small amount of time. They were so kind and took Keirra with them for the rest of the day - they have a daughter the same age as Keirra (7). I knew she would have a better time with them then hanging out with all us adults. We went back to Disneyland after dropping off Keirra - and Sammy got to go on a bunch of rides. There were a few rides we never got to go on - but that's okay, we'll hit them next time. We left the second day and the pain of the two days was so bad. That night was hard because of the pain, but we got well-deserved rest. Thursday, April 20th, was the day after... The alarm went off, but I had to shut it off - probably one of the biggest mistakes I made on the entire trip (another post). We met up with Scott's family for a day at the beach - or an afternoon anyhow. It was awesome - we went to Laguna Beach, California. The day was sunny and warm - a typical California day. We went and played chase with the waves, fell down a few times and had a blast. It was nice to forget about all the stress from the past two days and that morning - to just sit back, relax and enjoy the beach. The beach is my favorite part of Southern California - I want to live on the beach - I hope that dream comes true someday up in Washington State - although nothing will compare to the awesome beaches of Southern California! I will forever go back to visit the beach! After the beach we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory, where I had the worst migraine! I couldn't even eat my pasta and by the time we got back to the hotel I thought I was going to lose my cookies! I went to sleep and recovered... Friday, April 21st, we went over to Scott's grandmother's apartment - This is a shot of poor little Sammy who was (more or less) kicked out of the apartment. His Uncle Tom made him feel very unwanted - so sad because Sammy loves his Uncle Tom... We brought lunch in and mid-afternoon we headed out to Scott's Uncle Jim's house in Irvine, California. We met up with Scott's Uncle Ben and Aunt Linda and their son Brady. (They lost a son, Jason, last year to cancer. He was 24...) It was so nice to see them and we all went out to dinner - it was nice to sit back, relax and enjoy the company. We tried to take a group shot, but it didn't turn out too well. Aunt Linda brought a birthday cake for Scott's father and Uncle Ben - from Costco... yummm! Sammy was enjoying his cake - especally the blue balloon! Silly little guy - but it was damn good cake! You can never go wrong with Costco cakes - never! Saturday, April 22nd, was the trip down to Universal City to see The Wiggles Live! We were so excited and everything seemed to be going well, until we were at the exit on the freeway - that's when Scott remembered where the tickets for the show were! They were in his suitcase back at the hotel in Buena Park (over an hour away)! Everything seemed to slow down as I could feel my heart pounding in my throat! I was more pissed off than I had been the enitre trip - and trust me, I had reason to be angry this trip! I called the box office and inquired about seats still available. They had a few and they were nothing to write home about - but I didn't care. Damnit we got my son all excited about seeing The Wiggles - he was going to see The Wiggles! I have to say that Scott is just damn lucky we were able to buy tickets for the later show - I just might have left him over this mistake. We had gotten tickets for the second show and so we had a little time to go eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Universal City Walk - it was hella good food! The Wiggles were wonderful! Sammy was dancing and singing along with them and he got so excited when they came on stage - the nightmare that once was, was not gone, but had diminished a lot. Sammy was so happy and that makes me happy. The show was 70 minutes long and Sammy was done by that time, he was ready to say, "Good-bye Wiggles." We went back to Anaheim and stopped by Scott's grandmother's apartment to say good-bye. We tried not to stay too long as Uncle Tom might have freaked out again. Scott's father was brought to tears as we left - don't worry Greempa, we'll see you again soon! Sunday, April 23rd, ten days after we started we were headed home. It was a long drive, but I think we were all ready to go home that no one complained the entire drive. It was a fun trip - with a few massive glitches. That's okay, we know what not to do for the next time we go on vacation. Thanks for hopping on for the ride of this giant-sized blog! Keep watching for the next posting - of what happened, to clear all the "another post" statements I made throughout this blog. This is the end, but for a few of my favorite pictures (88) you can go check out the gallery on Flickr.