Southern California

Last year we took our kids to Southern California for a week of fun...We had such a wonderful time out there that we decided to take Shane's parents along with us this year!

To say we had a blast is a complete understatement. We had the time of our lives.

Our trip started with us flying into San Diego, California on Friday where we drove our rental car for a four day stay at the Hyatt Regency in Lake Forrest which is a little community nestled next to Irvine, California. Irvine is about 30 to 40 miles south of Los Angeles and about 15 miles east of Laguna Beach.

Saturday, we took our family to the Santa Monica pier where we enjoyed the Pacific Park. The famous amusement park on the pier. We rode the Ferris Wheel and I got a little scared :)! Meme had to console me :)

Popee and Meme got to stick their feet in the ice cold Pacific ocean for the first time ever. Even though it was chilly they loved the beach, view and just being there.

Later in the day we headed towards L.A.. We took the girls to the American Girls store...This was their second visit to this particular store. Last year we got them clothes for the dolls they brought. This year we bought them a doll.

After our trip to the American Girl store we drove through Beverly Hills, walked on Hollywood Blvd.

Then we met a few famous people Madame Tussuad's....

At the end of our first day of our Trip to Southern California we treated ourselves to a yummy dinner plus dessert a $30 ice cream that is like no other at the Disney Soda shoppe on Hollywood Blvd..

Sunday started out with an amazing 5 star brunch at our hotel. Then we headed out to explore Silverado, California which is a mountainous area filled with canyons and tons of horse ranches....It reminded me a lot of a western movie. On our way out there we passed Free Chapel O.C., Jentzen Franklin's church, The Saddleback church pastored by Rick Warren and The Crystal Cathedral. Our Afternoon was spent relaxing at the beach....Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach California. Then we came back to our hotel to enjoy some time by the pool and hot tub.

Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed ourselves at the Disney parks. We spent the entire day Monday in Disneyland and Tuesday we hopped between California Adventure and Disneyland. Although Disney's first theme park can't compare to the Magic Kingdom and the Disney World park in Florida in size and Sleeping Beauty's Castle isn't as gorgeous as Cinderella's. But still Disneyland is by far my favorite place to go! It's cooler, not as crowed and most of the rides and the attractions are done with more detail and care than that of Disney World. California Adventure is the home of rides and attractions that Disney World doesn't have plus it's a perfect combination of Disney Worlds other theme parks: Hollywood Studio's, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. What made going to Disneyland even more special than last year was being able to take Popee and Meme. Popee had dreamed of visiting Disneyland since Walt opened it's doors. So to see his childhood dream come true was so surreal and very precious... Disneyland is magic :)!

Tuesday night after spending a full day at Disneyland and California Adventure we drove back down to San Diego, California where Shane had booked us a room at a 4 star Hotel in downtown called the Westgate....It was elegant and beautiful. Meme, the girls and I loved it...He knows how to treat the ladies in his life :). We felt like royalty staying there.

This is a picture of the business room....It felt like we were in a castle!

Popee and Gracie on the Stairwell
One of the foyer area's

Wednesday we spent the day at the world famous San Diego zoo....I can honestly say that it is the biggest zoo in the world or at least our feet and legs thought so...It also has a lot of hills.

Polar Bear :) So Sweet!
The first Panda I have ever seen!
The biggest Elephant I've ever seen!
These two are best friends since birth! Yes that is a dog that you see and yes it is sitting next to a Cheetah who by the way wouldn't do anything without the dog doing it first! This was WEIRD and COOL!

On our last day on the west coast we had plans to visit Lego land California in San Diego, but We were exhausted from all of the theme parks and the zoo trip so we opted for a more relaxing day full of sight seeing....

Our Last Day started off at the Hard Rock in San Diego :)! We have tried our best to visit every Hard Rock in the towns we visit :)! So far I have been to 10 across America, but as a family we have been to 5 :)...

Our next stop took us to the border :)...We visited Cornado Beach and Imperial Beach Pier...We enjoyed walking on the beaches and took a stroll on the pier that is the last pier before you get to Mexico! We also enjoyed watching the surfers...

All in all we had an amazing time and we can't wait to go back to the West Coast for a visit....This was our second time out there, but it was even better than the first....Can't wait for the third and fourth visits to come....