My Life in Pictures and Words: August 2014

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've posted a blog just about myself and my family and it's been very, very long overdue! I think sometimes that we take pictures and never do anything with them (I'm really good at this, photography aside). I would like to think that eventually I'll either print them and scrapbook them or I'll print them in a book form and have them for life, but alas that's not always the case. Quite honestly, I could easily upload them to Facebook, but really who are these for? Not necessarily the friends who will begrudgingly look through them, they're for us. That's why this blog is here, it's so that not only can I show the world my photography, but my life if anyone cares to know it.

At least I can always come back to it!

Anyway. For the past year we have been saving as a family to go on a trip to California. Dave has never been, my mom's boyfriend Mike hasn't been since he was about 7, and we (my mom, sis, and I) hadn't been back in a couple years. We missed it! Unfortunately, Katie wasn't able to join us as her life has taken her in a new direction.

At first we'd just planned to go to Anaheim for a week and do Disneyland and the beaches. Then we added a day to the beginning to spend in San Diego (we had wanted to go to the Zoo, and rather than back track to San Diego, why not start there). We then thought about it and added a day to the end of our trip to go to San Francisco, turning our week long trip into a 10 day trip.

We ended up driving my car because it saved us quite a bit of money on rental and gets pretty good gas mileage. We left home around 6:30 on Saturday night, because we figured we'd arrive in about 12 hours making it 6 am, then hopefully check in to our condo early and hit the Zoo running! Needless to say, we arrived sooo much earlier. Try 4:30 am. No one was awake and our condo did not have any open rooms available. We decided why not head to the beach and asked where the best beach to see the ocean from was. We were told Sunset Cliffs. We all hopped back into the car and drove there. It was beautiful! So we pulled off and got out. As we were standing there Dave noticed something dark and big moving. As we were looking closer more of the big, black things were congregating! Turns out they were rats....HUGE rats! I tend to exaggerate, but I'm not. These things were easily a foot long and massive! We all jumped back into the car and headed to another look out point, determined to stay in the car until it was lighter (and hopefully the rats went back to bed). As the light came up it was beautiful!

What the beach looks like at 4:30 am.

Waiting for the rats to go away so we can get out, it's about 5 am now.

The beach is finally safe from rats!

Not really "beaches" we were hoping for, but the ocean nonetheless!

After, we all decided to get breakfast and then head back to the condo. We stopped at an IHOP, which had luckily just opened. At this point we were all a little delerious! Upon returning to the condos, things were still not open! We ended up showering in the pool showers and crashing and falling asleep in the gaming room. We had planned to go to the Zoo and decided that they probably wouldn't have a room for us until 4 pm when our normal check in was. So we all got dressed and headed to the San Diego Zoo. Apparently I've been before, but I have no recollection of it! It is massive and pretty amazing! We rode the trolley through the whole park before deciding to go out on our own. We still got pretty lost, but had an amazing time!

All the bushes outside the Zoo were carved into different animals!

The best picture we could get of the Red Panda. Can you spot him?

This is a baby panda! Isn't he cuuuute??

This is the first ever panda I've ever seen! She was just super lazy though lol.

Anytime it's flowers...it's me lol I love taking pictures of fauna.

Dave and I really do have our silly side,
and this is part of it! If you went a few more pictures into our camera you'd see his crazy face lol. This is what happens on no sleep!

Through the glass, and under water!

An overhead view of the gorillas.

I haven't seen these since Australia in 2008!

Same with these cute guys!

Birds were hard to get pictures of with all the wire.

The beautiful church we saw from the gondola ride!

Ready to go back to the condos....definitely tired!

Oh boy...have I ever mentioned how much I hate trying to put pictures into my blogs...it's really hard to arrange them, and they don't ever go where I want them! Grrr!

Anyway, we eventually got into our room, and then went shopping for some necessities (milk and cereal and for some reason, we were really craving peanut m&m, caramel, chocolate, whipped cream covered cookie dough ice cream). We went to dinner right next door at Benihana's. Definitely not quite what we had expected and we didn't want to wait for the "maybe" of getting to eat at the grills. We were just worn out by that time.

The next day we got an early rise so that we could repack everything and start our trip up to Anaheim. But not before stopping by the famous USS Midway. Mike is a retired Navy guy and therefore this was super special for him. He served on the USS Enterprise which was just recently retired from duty (I sure hope I'm getting my facts right here!). Mike was a green shirt and helped with the planes on the flight deck. He actually got injured doing so, when a plane chain (strap, I'm not sure what it's called, it's what grabs the plane to slow it down when it's landing on deck) snapped and wrapped itself around his leg, rendering him in need of amputation. You'd never know that Mike has lost his leg - and in fact people constantly didn't believe us when they'd run into him by accident (mainly in Disneyland) and he'd tell them he didn't feel a thing!

The USS Midway is a pretty awesome museum. Permanently anchored at dock in San Diego, it's got a wonderful view of the bay and surrounding areas, including Coronado Island. We had a blast climbing through everything!

Oh...don't mind my awful hair!

How anyone does this for real...I don't know! It would SUCK. God Bless the Navy (and any other military branch that has to spend any time aboard a ship)!

Stuck in the Brig.

I'm not positive why I have sooo many pics of this plane...could it be that the symbol reminded my husband of something??

If we had gotten them enough notice we could've actually gotten aboard this ship, it's an active duty ship! How cool would that have been??

Awww!

It took a lot of convincing to get him to go out on this runway!

I think Dave liked this because it looks like the Scottish flag...I think it is also pretty cool that it stands for M :)

This is what Mike would look like if he served now :)

That little thing at the bottom left corner? That's what snapped and grabbed Mike's leg!

After our stop at the Midway we did our real shopping at the Naval Base Commissary. The beauty of Mike being retired military! The only issue was we were quickly running out of room in our car to carry everything!!

Our drive to Anaheim wasn't actually too bad and we arrived around probably 8. Our condo was on the 12th floor of 14. We were lucky enough to face the courtyard which was also the way to look right onto Disneyland! We got to watch fireworks every night (even those we weren't in Disney for)! We unpacked and then went to bed as early as we could revving up for our first of three days at Disneyland (and my birthday!).

We were up at 6:45 the next morning in order to get to Disneyland right at 8 so that we could beat the crowds. This first thing we did was stop in to get pins. I don't know about you, but knowing about pins is relatively new to me! You can get pins for just about anything, just by visiting the City Hall in Main Street. I got one for my birthday and Dave got one for his 1st Time at Disneyland. My mom and Mike also got ones that said they were celebrating (so if anyone asked they could tell them about my birthday lol, how conceited that sounds!). Because we were so early the characters were in the heart of Main Street USA and the lines were ridiculously short! We hurried over to see Donald Duck because he is Dave's favorite. Then we went and got in line for Mickey because Mike NEEDED a picture with Mickey. While we were getting our pins we found out about a very special program that we lovingly nicknamed the Mikey Pass (Mikey NOT Mickey).

If you don't know about Mikey Passes and your family has someone with a disability, you are missing out! Because of Mike's fake leg, it makes it hard for him to stand in long lines for very long. We looked into wheelchairs but they were definitely pricey and after seeing people with them during the later part of the day, we were glad we didn't invest in them. Basically what it does, is you choose a ride you want to go on and you have an information booth sign it. They look up the wait time and write it down - so if for instance, you want to go on Space Mountain and the wait time is 45 minutes they'll sign your pass with the time 45 minutes from the current time and you can show up any time from that 45 minutes on. You go to the FastPass lane and once they've crossed it off you can sign up for another ride. In the meantime you can also FastPass things and go on other rides. It works really nicely!

We went on all the requisite rides - Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, etc. Dave loved everything - even if I had to convince him to go on them a few times ;) Mike was loving every bit of it as well as so much was new from when he was last there. My mom, being the adrenaline junky she is, was always willing to go on anything and I was just happy to be at Disneyland! We left around 1ish to go back to our condo and eat lunch and then we came back later in the afternoon for dinner at the Blue Bayou (my absolute favorite restaurant - it's all about atmosphere I'm telling you!) and stayed until the fireworks show. They were doing a special for the next couple of days for the 4th of July and the fireworks were amazing :) I'm hoping I can get a video loaded on here, it's of us all on the Teacups and it's pretty epic!

Us just saluting with Donald Duck :)

The Disney Innoventions room was doing a special on Marvel. We didn't have time the first day to stay, but Dave was in Ironman heaven!

You always have to take pictures of the pictures because they're too expensive to buy them all!

The super yummy, uber deliciously rich, dessert I got for my birthday!

Our special pins :)

We decided to keep the ball rolling....we were beginning to feel exhaustion, but figured we'd put in one more day before taking a break for some beach time :) we again got up and hit California Adventures right around 8 am. It was our first time to be back in California Adventures since they put in Cars Land. We were definitely excited to check it out, but first had to go to Tower of Terror. This took some major convincing for both Dave and Mike to get on, it's one of my absolute favorite rides, but I always have to talk myself up to it. Massive thrill! We then made our way over to Cars Land and Mikey Passed some of the rides there. While we were waiting we went on California Screaming (again, another ride with some convincing) which I just absolutely love! I love the boardwalk area in California Adventures, it just feels so classically old style California. We hopped back to the Cars Land ride Radiator Springs Racer and the line was MASSIVE, thank heaven for Mikey's Special Pass! We were able to go right almost to the front of the line.

You know how there are people who dress up as characters over in Disneyland? Well in Cars Land they actually have the cars! We couldn't decide if they were remote controlled or if people were actually driving them around, but it was pretty awesome!

After that we got on the Ferris Wheel and had both Mike and Dave scared to death when it would slide out, the only problem was the wait to get on and then the wait to get off really. We finished up with Soarin' Over California and went back to the condo. It was really that we were worn out by this time - four days on not a full night's sleep - was catching up on us. We had planned to go back for World of Color.The nice thing was, when we got in for World of Color we were able to sit in the special disabled section and because it didn't fill up we got to sit on benches rather than have to stand!

World of Color fascinates me every time, I love how creative it is and it is just beautiful!

We got on this quite a bit, just because it was a nice way to beat the crowds, rest your feet, and hear some pretty neat facts :)

We're on the back row, which is where I prefer to be on this ride! I hattte the front with a passion!

The last time my mom and sis and I were here, they were building Cars Land.

Waiting for World Of Color!

Click here if you'd like to watch our World of Color video, apparently it's not going to upload (I'm very obviously not the techy here) :(

The next day, the 3rd of July, we decided to go to the beach. We debated Huntington Beach, but after asking one of the hosts, they suggested Laguna. Any other day might of been OK at Laguna, but the day before the 4th of July?

Laguna is a cute little beach town, however, quite rich. Plus the beaches were almost non-existent. We ended up sitting on a hillock by the showers because we couldn't find a single place for us to sit on the actual beach. I was hoping to get a sunset, but after about 5 hours I was tired and miserable and there were still no places to be on the actual beach. We all decided it had been kind of a bust day and headed back to the condos.

I felt super beachy in this outfit, and love this picture of the two of us :)

They're such a good pair :)

The next day we sort of slept in, at least later than we had previously. As many times as we have been to California, we've never actually stopped in Hollywood. We just never had an interest! But Dave, he was like we HAVE to go, it's the touristy thing to do! Originally we had planned to go to Disneyland, but then decided that the idea of crowds upon crowds was not our idea of fun. So we packed it back up in the car and headed north to Los Angeles and Hollywood! We found parking and wandered around checking out stores and Hollywood and Highland Mall. We ate lunch at the Hollywood Hard Rock Cafe and checked out the Chinese Theater.

Afterwards we headed up to the Griffith Observatory to check out the Hollywood sign. I won't lie, it was a little of a letdown honestly! But other than that it was actually a pretty relaxed day and we were able to go back to the condo and relax. We had steak for dinner and chilled in the hot tub and watched the fireworks from our balcony. A very nice day :)

I'll give you three guesses as to who took this picture :)

Saturday was the last day before we checked out of our current condo to head up north to San Francisco. We decided to make one last trip of Disneyland and California Adventure. We revisited the rides we wanted to go on again and ended up staying through lunch, so Dave and I had our favorite treat from the week - the Firehouse Dalmatian Sundae from the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Store on Main Street USA in Disney. After we finished we went into the Innoventions exhibit to go meet Thor and Captain America (David's absolute favorite super hero). We waited in line for what seemed like forever for Thor, but it was well worth the wait. You felt like you were transported to Odin's throne room and got a photo op with Thor himself. We were told to pose like members of the Avengers - I got to be The Black Widow (yeah nothing like her at all lol). After we headed to Captain America, and as per usual, he didn't really live up to what Dave had envisioned (I knew unlike other characters, he wouldn't). Still, a photo op is a photo op!

The little theater inside Disney was also doing a special on Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, if you know Dave, you know that ever since they announced it coming out, we've seen every single trailer, poster, etc for it! It was in 4D with the moving chairs, smells, wind, etc coming at you! Pretty neat :) we had meant to stay for the fireworks (because they'd be different) and yet we were all so tired that we didn't want to go back that night. I'm still kinda disappointed that we didn't, but even my body was screaming it's weariness.

That kid looks like he's picking Mike's nose.....

The line to see Lightning McQueen was RIDICULOUS! We snapped this pic as we were walking by. Obviously they were doing their little switch with Mater and Lightning McQueen (like I said...remote control or real drivers?).

Thor himself (personally, was it really a stretch to hope that Chris Hemsworth would really be there!).

I'm not sure why the look on my face...

Yup....not my forte lol posing.

Props for telling me Happy Birthday, but otherwise...

Waiting for our sneak peek to start :)

For those of you who are still with me, thank you! You are troopers! You wouldn't believe how many people have told me that this is too long (2 if you were wondering).

We checked out on Sunday and decided that it was worth the longer drive to get to San Francisco to take Highway 1. Our first stop off was at Ventura Beach. I love Ventura Beach and it's been a couple years since I've been there (actually since college!). The beaches stretch forever and are very clean, we had to run and just say one last goodbye to the ocean.

We stayed on the road going back and forth between Highway 1 and Highway 101. Until all of a sudden we realized we were not on the route to Highway 1...hadn't been for a long time and all we were seeing was desert. We were ridiculously far away from where we needed to be, and we all agreed the only reason for this route and not I-5 was to see the ocean! So I Google dropped a pin on our map and we started following a route up through the mountains. It was hot. like 110 degrees hot. And we were going through the middle of nowhere. All of a sudden I notice what looks like elk. Except that they're tiny. But they have to be elk. So we pull over and start snapping pictures and sure enough they're elk! Lots of them!