Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Back from the warm California Sun...

Well, our nine days are up already and I miss it! Holy crap we had such a great time and a million memories were made! We left on Friday, Nov. 21st and went to St. George to stay with Joel and Kally. Kally had gotten us girlies tickets to "Twilight" and can I just say I LIKED IT?! There is so much discussion to be had on the movie, both good and bad but that will just have to wait for another day.
Anyway, Allie Beckett (my sister, Tracy's daughter) saved up her money all summer long and bought her theme park entrance passes and was able to join us on our fun trip! This has been very hard in deciding which pictures to post because I took over 600... whoopsie! This first picture is just outside the theatre in St. George right after we saw the movie. Kally and I talked all the way home about the parts we liked, disliked and what parts they should have expanded more on. We totally dissected the movie bit by bit...it was a blast!

Our first day in Cali we visited the San Diego Zoo. I must admit that it was not the greatest thing in the world, to me. I was actually kind of bummed out that it was so boorish. So I was mostly glad we didn't save this park for our last day of vacation.



Maddie wanted to get her caricature done. They guy who drew her was amazing! Her favorite part of the drawing is her braces because the guy put dollar signs where the brackets are.

Jaden was so excited to get his face painted. He walked around the park all day will cool attitude.


After the zoo we drove to Laguna Beach just as the sun was setting. Don't even get me started on our bad luck trying to find a place to park in that teensy town and all of the claustrophobic little streets! But the kids had fun splashing in the ocean so it was totally worth it.


Our next day was spent at Universal Studios, which we absolutely loved! Maddie and Allie are about to be swallowed by jaws...

I want to be barbie!



Next was Sea World where the prices for cotton candy exceeded Disneyland! Grrr. Anyway, Jaden loved the place where we (I shouldn't say "we"....the kids and Matt) were brave and touched disgusting creatures. Below is Jaden holding a starfish.


Maddie and Allie were quite scared touching the sting rays. They are actually called bat rays because the actual stinger had been cut off, luckily. The girls were WAY braver than I was, but still were a tad leary of them. They said they felt slimy-ish and jello-like.



We finally got to spend three whole days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure Park. By far, those were the highlights of our trip! If anyone know's Jaden, they know he LOVES Star Wars and especially Darth Maul. So WO WAS HE when he was chosen from the crowd to participate in a Jedi Training Camp. And lucky him, got to have hand to hand lightsaber combat with Darth Maul himself.




Me and Allie seriously almost cried when we first saw the castle. Keep in mind here, this was my FIRST trip to Disneyland. The only other castle I had seen was in DisneyWorld in Orlando. I can't even count how many times I've been to those parks because I lived there for a few years. Well, upon seeing this castle, I just about was disappointed. It is miniscule in comparison with Cinderella's castle in Florida! But really, how can you be disappointed in any way shape or form if you're in Disneyland? So the shock was short-lived and me and Allie soon grew to love it...especially at night when all the pretty lights came on.



This was how our first day at Disneyland ended. It began to rain about 7pm and the park didn't close until midnight. I literally felt soaked through. My toes were so soggy it was gross! But we decided to brave the rain and continue going on every ride we could. We actually were happy because when I checked the weather before heading down to Cali, it was supposed to rain for four days straight. And this was all we got the entire time we were there. LUCKY!




Here is Maddie in line to see Minnie. She was lucky because they cut the long line off just after her!


Look how pretty all the lights are on "Small World". I don't think I will ever get sick of this cute attraction...even though it's just a simple boat ride!




You can't go to Disneyland without riding in the teacups!



Happy Thanksgiving to us! My favorite thing in the world....the $7 turkey leg! Yep, we spent Thanksgiving day at Disneyland and enjoyed every last second of it.



Last but not least, our favorite, FAVORITE ride, "The Tower of Terror!". I bet we went on this more than ten times! It was a great trip and as usual, we are glad to be home, but sad we had to leave. Long live Disneyland!!!!



 

22 comments:

Allison Claire said...

Looks like such a fun time! I didn't know they had $7 turkey legs! Jaden's dragon looks awesome!

Briana said...

WOw! You guys had an awesome time! YOu went to soooo many awesome places! Those lights are way pretty on the small world ride thing! That is good that it didn't rain as much as it was suppose to! Hooray! I think the castle looks really pretty! THat pickle is HUGE! How did you eat it?! I Love how Jaden got picked to fight Darth Maul, go Jaden! I don't think I would be able to touch those FIsh things or whatever they were! I LOve all those awesome barbies! :) Look like you guys had an awesome time! Did you really take 600 pictures?!

Karmen said...

Deb-t! You get the award for longest-post-of-the-week! Way to go! Looks like you guys had a blast...and you look like a model in the pictures (seriously...look at picture #11 if you think I'm lying! Fabulous!) Now, why don't you plan a 9-day trip to Idaho?! I might be able to find a tower of terror around here...

Allie said...

Deb- way to blog it! I am seriously dreading the blog I will do about it because it will probably be like 10000 words long!

The Edwards Family said...

How fun...
I am loving that Turkey leg, that's so funny.
So glad you guys had a ball.

Traci said...

What a fun trip for sure!!! Anything warmer than what we have! Can't wait to take my tykes to Disney!!! Adored all your photos too! Loved the Barbie one!

The Walch Family said...

Glad that you had a wonderful time and that you are back to ... um.. yeah... real life !!! What a fun Thanksgiving !!!

k8shoe said...

I'm so jealous! I LOVE Disneyland! Looks like you guys had a blast. I need to try the turkey legs cuz I've heard from others that they are delish!

Brett and Marianne said...

How fun! What a way to spend Thanksgiving!

Tracy Beckett said...

I loved to read about your fun trip! Can't wait until we get together for family night to see all 600 pictures. tee hee...that cracks me up. Anyway, you are a sweetheart for taking Allie along--she loved it. Welcome back to normal life!

Katrina said...

Debbie, The trip looks like so much fun! And I'm glad you were able to enjoy some turkey on Thanksgiving too. I love all the pictures. Thanks for sharing. Your family is adorable.

Christian and Karen Robinson said...

This makes me so jealous!! Especially this morning when I had to run (run?!) from my car into work because it's so freezing!! I'm so glad you had fun! Can't wait for next girls night to hear more.
The story at Sea World is hilarious! I can totally see you - yelling at the guy. It's so stupid - really, some woman by herself is going to lie and say her family is sitting in there, just so she can get in. RAGE!!

erika said...

I am so glad you went.You know me I love Disney!!!
It reminds me when we went to see you at Disneyworld.Eating Turkey legs,The rain!
So are you going to scrapbook all 600 pictures?
I am so wish I could see twilight!!

The Joseph and Crystal Albrecht Family said...

Looks and sounds like you had a blast ! Hopefully you have fully recovered. Now you need to get it all scrapbooked :)!

Brenda Campbell Hansen said...

yeah, I'm with Karmen on taking a 9 day trip to Idaho! I have one more Toilet of Terror left, that might be a scary attraction (see my post for clarification on that...) Coolest that Jaden got picked! Yahoo! I LOVE the teacups, Small World, and Tower of Terror, too, I guess I shoulda come...mmmm....I want a bight of that turkey leg...and I can't believe (gasp! gasp!) you wouldn't touch anything at Sea World...all those things FEEL SO COOL!!!!!

Camille said...

Your vaca looks like you had a blast! You deserved it girl! I haven't been to Disney Land since I was a young kid, I'm jealous! I guess now I'll have to wait until my kiddo is older! I think that turkey leg is bigger then you!

Kally said...

Debbie Im so glad you guys had fun and we got to see you on the way! The funny thing is the other day Joel looked at your blog and thought Debbie is totally barbie, then a day later I was looking at your blog and said Debbie is totally barbie and Joel was like thats funny thats what I thought the other day, Funny huh? You are the cutest barbie I ever did see. Anyways I love all the pictures, the ones of you and Matt are cute. Love the Chicken leg, for seven bucks you got a big leg! Maddie and Jaden and Allie are cute, glad you guys had fun! Hope to see you soon!

Kitty said...

Now THAT sounded fun. I wish I could've gone with you. I know thsi might make you mad Debbie but I HATE the Tower of Terror! I've never been on it and I never will go on it! Sorry!

Kitty said...

It's True!

val said...

What a fun post, Sis.. I wouldn't have touched any of those sea creatures either..no thanks! And I'm glad your Mama-bearness came out to get you in with your family! (I love how you told this story!) We loved seeing you all on the way home too. And I got to see all 600 of your pics on my TV and computer! Hurray for me! I win!

Ruuddudes said...

I'm fixated on that turkey leg. Everything you wrote after that huge hunk of meat got lost in my head. All I could do was keep looking back at thing and wondering #1, how you could even EAT something so meaty (carnivors!) and #2 where the heck your cute little bod put it!

Glad you are back and take me with you next time!

Brielle said...

That turkey leg looked REALLY gross! I think I'm gonna puke

The Edward sign looked SO COOL! You'll have to go check out the slideshow on my blog!!! I have a Breaking Dawn blog with an Edward slideshow! WooWee!

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