California...part 1

So I have no idea how many "parts" there will be to this! It was a week long vacation and it was a much needed break from the everyday craziness. The kids were so excited and kept asking me "How many days until we leave?" so we made a countdown and every day they would take a mickey off. That was the end of that question 359 billion times a day! ;)

When the day FINALLY came, we loaded up and headed out on the LONG drive. Actually I can't complain. They were really good travelers. We stopped in Vegas for the night and the kids loved getting to have a sleepover with their cousins.

 The next morning we loaded back up and finished the drive. Two of my favorite highlights of the trip are hitting my favorite location...yup...Zzyzx Rd. Maybe I should build my dream home here before everyone else does?

 My absolute favorite part of the drive is the curve that turns you from the desert view (as shown in my Zzyzx Road) into these beautiful green mountains.

We had debated getting a hotel by the beach or just staying put in one hotel for the entire week. Josh had hotel points and we decided rather than load and unload a bajillion times we would just stay in one place. Looking back I am so glad we did. Our hotel was perfect.

We stayed here:

It is one mile down the road from Disneyland, right across the street from Target (yay!) and they feed hot breakfasts every single morning. They would stuff themselves silly and wouldn't be hungry until late afternoon. We would usually eat a late lunch/early dinner and they were good with snacks. They have a shuttle just for this hotel and it only took us minutes to get there. It was worth every single penny.

Little sidenote: the CHA (the crafty convention as we started calling it) had all sorts of vendors and bloggers staying there. Guess who I met...yup...Heidi Swapp.We used the same elevator ;) hahaha!

Anyway...back to the vacation stuff....

We decided to head to Universal Studios the first day. Their marketing team is some kind of crazy. For the same price as a day pass you can get an annual pass and come back as many times as you would like for the rest of the year. The very same price. ??? So we are now proud annual pass holders for all of those days we go to Universal Studios. Which is like every other weekend so we just saved ourselves a TON of money! :)

I am fully convinced that if H?%$ has a freeway running through it...it will be the I-5/101

Seriously. The Devil's Freeway.

California drivers...they are crazy, crazy people. I had at least 4 heart attacks on the way through LA. It was a fun mix of almost hitting cars and almost getting hit. Oh. My. Gosh. I should just ride blindfolded the next time. Josh kept telling me to not make any noise because I was freaking him out. I was looking through pictures and laughed because this photo doesn't look like it is bad at all. Looks can be deceiving people.

 We did arrive in one piece. I was never ever so happy to be off a freeway ever in my entire life. I should have kissed the ground.

Of course you have to get your picture taken in front of the spinny globe thingy...Hayden didn't get the memo though because he told me there was NO way he was going to stand there. He was on this trip though...promise!

Maddie loved the telephone booths in old England...

and we found the car from Mr. Bean's Holiday. We love us some Mr. Bean!

I wish this would cure the itch I have to go to England. Sadly, it did not. Good try though Universal. Good try.

We also took a scooter ride through Paris

and hung out with the "locals"

Josh even tried to feed the dinosaurs by the Jurassic Park ride...

They wouldn't eat a single one of them!

We made sure to hit the Backlot tour. They showed the soundstages for a ton of shows including CSI and Parenthood. I wanted to jump off the tram and go take a peek. Come on, wouldn't you?!

My good lookin' men:

Maddie is growing up. I told her to put the glasses on for a picture and she looked at me like I was crazy. They have to stop growing up. It is starting to kill me.

Josh and I decided we would have a "camera war" with the photos...(I hate/loathe that stupid point and shoot camera. It won't focus, it does crap exposures...I could go on and on but Josh loves it.

Mine:

Josh:

Maybe now he will at least think about getting a new one? There was a LOT of blurry ones from his little beauty but he did pull off a few good shots. :) I can say all of this because I am the one who writes this blog and he will probably never ever read this! hehe

HIS: (I am not surprised they are all of the cars from movies)

More of the tour:

They had characters all over the park and we asked Hayden which one he would like to meet the most. His answer was SpongeBob. We were walking down the road and who did we happen to run into? Yep. SpongeBob. Funny thing is that Hayden got so embarrased and nervous he hid behind Josh. Maddie met him for Hayden. Silly kid.

As we were heading out of the park there was a taxi from a show. We were looking at the map and Hayden was inspecting the lock on the car. A "policeman" snuck up behind him and told us to shhhh. He stood behind him until Hayden turned around. He about peed his pants when he saw the officer standing over him. He was such a nice guy that he posed for a picture for us. What I wish I would have gotten is a picture of the 12 Asians taking pictures of this too. They took pictures of Hayden and Grace all over the park. They couldn't get enough of the light skin and blonde hair combo.

It was a great day. The park wasn't overly crowded (even though you would think with all of the annual pass holders it would be), the weather was FANTASTIC and we had so much fun together.

Hayden must have thought so too because he reluctantly got in this picture. At least he is there! :)