We drove down to Vegas last Saturday and stayed the night there. We had originally planned on finding a buffet on the strip for dinner and then walking around and showing the kids some of the strip. When we got to our hotel room, though, we were tired and ordering pizza and watching a movie kind of sounded like a better idea, so that's what we did! The weather down there was amazing! We were pretty excited about our hotel room, too. I booked the cheapest non-smoking room I could find, so we weren't expecting much, but we even had a kitchen (and the bedroom was in it's own separate room)!
Asher enjoying some breakfast:
The next day, we drove the rest of the way to LA and entered the rain. We were looking forward to warm, sunny California weather, but it POURED on us the entire time we were there!
The first thing we did was meet up for lunch with some photographer friends of mine. I've "known" these girls online for years now, so it was really fun to finally meet them in person!
After lunch, we headed out to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. I remember going to this aquarium when I was a kid, so it was fun to take my boys there. All three of them loved it. :)
Jelly Fish
They had a touch pool where you could touch star fish and sea urchins and stuff. I couldn't believe it when neither of the boys wanted to reach in there and touch anything! It made both of them nervous. (You can see how wet we were from the rain!)
They were both super nervous about standing too close to this giant lobster, too.
Brittle sea stars
And of course.... the "I'm being eaten by a shark!" pictures:
After the aquarium, it stopped raining just long enough for us to walk along the beach as it got dark. It was the first time either of the boys had seen the ocean. Then my parents got into town, so we ate some dinner and visited with them for a little bit before heading to bed.
We got up bright and early the next morning (although not as early as we had meant to.... our hotel clock turned out to be an hour behind!) to head to Disneyland! The Christmas decorations were pretty awesome.
The boys, anxious to ride some rides:
The rain was only a very slight sprinkle when we got there, so I was able to take a few pictures right off the bat. Here is everyone going on Splash Mountain without me (doctor's orders). *sniff, sniff* (The pics are a bit fuzzy because I had to zoom in so far.)
In the first log we had (from front to back) my brother Thomas, my dad, my sister-in-law Angela, and my brother Sam.
In the next log was Angela's brother Gage, my sister Jenna, Evan and Ben.
Jenna's face is priceless in this one. :)
(I think the Ben was the only thing keeping Evan's head attached to his shoulders here. lol)
After splash mountain, it started to POUR and didn't let up for the rest of the day, so I had to put the camera away. Despite our ponchos, we were absolutely SOAKED by the end of the day. I don't think I've ever been so wet in my life! We stuck it out, though, and had fun riding the rides despite how soggy we were. The boys loved it, which is the most important thing. Evan was even tall enough to go on all the roller coasters (which made me jealous), and (despite his face in the above picture) he absolutely LOVED them!
I did pull the camera out for this one last picture as we were leaving. How could I resist? So gorgeous.
After a good night's sleep, we spent Tuesday driving home. It was a quick little trip, but it was sure fun and we are grateful for my parents giving us the opportunity to go!
