Huntington Beach

Thursday: We were very excited to load up the cars and head to Huntington Beach.  The weather wasn't that warm while we were in California, only in the 70s, so it wasn't that warm at the beach.  But oh I love the ocean.  It was fun to get to see the boys experience the ocean for the first time.  But first things first, are these kids not the cutest kids ever?   I love these pictures of Jack with his favorite cousins - all born within a year of each other!  They were very excited to go to the beach or swimming or anything together! :)    

Mylee, Jack, Wesley, and Brock (and Drew)

Though it was pretty cold outside, the ocean was absolutely beautiful and the waves were amazing.  The first wave of daring people got in the water and went wave jumping.  I did not go at that time.  I was cold!  I enjoyed instead watching my boys play!  Jack loved running away from the water, Zander loved crawling into the water, even though he was shivering! And both boys loved playing in the sand, including putting it all over in their hair!  

 So my nieces and nephews discovered that there are these NASTY things in the sand called sand crabs. Some were very little and some were big like this beast!  It kinda creeped me out to know things like this were burrowed in the sand just beneath my feet!  

 Here is a great pic of Zander chasing sea gulls!  

We had a great time just watching the ocean, having a picnic, playing in sand, Dustin and Jack threw a football, and just enjoying the company of family.  It was nice to have a day where we could just enjoy each other because that was hard to do with everything to see and do at Disneyland!  Isn't that a great picture of Mylee, Wesley, and Jack!?

 I knew I would be mad at myself if I didn't actually get in the ocean, so I finally went in!  And though it was freezing, it was amazing!  Lisa and I had a lot of fun crashing into the waves and trying to body surf.  I seriously love the ocean and waves are amazing to me!  

 We had a very nice time at the beach!  Here are some of my favorite pics from the day of our little family!  

 The day with family continued when we got home.  The kids were excited to go swim in something a little warmer than the ocean so they went swimming in the pool!  Jack was in heaven and was Mr. Independent with his floaties on in the pool.   

 So we attempted to get a couple shots of the whole family (minus Brad, Holly's husband who couldn't make it).  

The Hansen clan - There were 13 adults and 18 grandkids ranging from age 13 to 1!  I sure do love this family of mine!   

What a great day with family!  

Friday: Our final day at Disneyland and California Adventure - Blog coming soon! :)  

Day 3: Disneyland and California Adventure!

Wednesday:  We headed back for another fun filled day at Disneyland and California Adventure.  I was not going to miss out on the fun even though my eye was red, puffy, and very sore.  It was also very sensitive to light, so I couldn't just wear my glasses because I would need my sunglasses on all day.  Therefore, we created an eye patch for me (gauze taped over my eye).  I put my contact in my other eye (along with some makeup on that eye...) and wore my sunglasses.  I looked a little crazy, but I didn't miss the fun! 

 

Unfortunately, we forgot to charge our camera, so on this day we had to depend on Lisa to let us use her camera.  In the morning we tried to hit all of the places in Disneyland that we hadn't been able to do on the first day.  We had a great time doing it all.  Some of the faves - Tower of Terror, A Bug's Life, and the parade was absolutely amazing.  It was so energetic, bright, and fun to watch!   

Some of Jack's favorite rides on this day were the carousel and the swings.  We also finally got to see Mickey Mouse himself and get our picture with him!  

Here are some other character's we were able to meet!  

We did head back for a short afternoon break, then headed back to the park at night with just Jack. (Thanks, mom!)  We were able to see a couple of other neat shows.  One was actually Monday, but I forgot to describe it.   They did a show by/on the It's A Small World ride.  It was called "The Magic, The Memories, And You."  It turned the ride into a canvas to put up pictures of park guests, and it had really neat lights and colors.  You can see a preview of it here.  

After a few rides at Disneyland with Jack, we quickly went over to California Adventure for the "World of Colors" show with Stacy, Amy, and some of the kiddos.  On the way over we stopped to snap a couple of pictures, and I absolutely love this one of Jack and Dustin.  

The "World of Colors" show was amazing!  It was like the Bellagio fountain show in Vegas on steroids!  There was lots of water, movement, fire, colors, and music.  Disney scenes were projected up onto the water.  It was pretty neat.  Another late, late night! :)  

And to end the blog about this day, I am just going to include some shots that I am not sure what day they were actually on, but I have to include them.  Jack was in absolute heaven with so many cousins around!  He absolutely loved spending time with his cousins and is lucky to have several right around his age.  Him and Brock were especially funny one night telling Knock, Knock jokes and cracking each other up!  Aubrey was the best little baby helper and was always willing to play with Zander and Raegan.  Oh it was so wonderful to be around family!  

Coming up - Thursday:  A day at the beach.

Seaworld!

Tuesday:   On Tuesday some of the family (Mom, Dad, Clint, Alex and kids, Holly and kids, Lisa, Lily, and our little fam) headed to San Diego to go to Seaworld.  It was awesome!  They have a lot of fun stuff there: shows, rides, a big kid play area, etc.

We first saw a funny little sea lion show.  Those little characters can do tricks and act.  Pretty fun!  

  Then of course you can't go to Seaworld without seeing the Shamu show!  It was called "One Ocean" and it didn't disappoint!  It was pretty amazing, and my favorite part was watching others and my own family get splashed when the whales jumped! :)    

We also went to a dolphin show.  It was called "Blue Horizons" and it was also awesome.  It was a theatrical presentation with the dolphins, a story, villains, cool costumes, etc!  Here we are before the show began!  

Raegan and Z have major oreo faces in one of those pics.  And I love the picture of my sisters and me! (Like this one of me and Lisa with our babies staring so intently at the show!)

"Blue Horizons" 

 

Our family enjoying Seaworld!  (If you look closely in the family picture, you can see my eye beginning to look a little rough....it continued to get worse...).

 Stopping to pose for some pictures.  1)  Jack with his cousins, Brock and Lily 2)  Holly with her 5 kiddos! 3) Lisa and Z 4) Cousins! 5)  Lisa and Lily

Jack was in heaven at a place like this!  Rides, cool stuff, and his fun cousins to play with!  

Climbing fences and showing muscles!  

 Seeing the sharks and turtles!  (Love that pic of Lisa!)

Seaworld also had something there this time that I don't remember from my childhood visit.  They have a huge Sesame Street themed kid's play area with little rides.  There are also adult rides that were super fun like "Shipwreck Rapids" and "Journey to Atlantis."Here is Jack, Braden, and Dustin on one of the kid rides.  (I think it was Zoe's Tea Cups or something!) 

 

Here I am in line with my Dad, Carly, and Lu before we went on the "Wild Arctic Ride."  It was like a simulation of a helicopter ride over the arctic. 

 

We had a great time at Seaworld!  Next up to blog about: Wednesday - another fun-filled day at Disneyland!