California 2013......

We took a family vacation to California just to go to Disneyland and California Adventures.  We went in between Scott's work weeks.  It was one thing that Cameron wanted to do before he left on his mission.  

We drove down to St. George and stayed in the Anderson's (Mike and Carmie) home down there.  We got up early on Sunday morning and drove to Huntington Beach.  By leaving early from St. George, we were able to miss a lot of the weekend traffic from Las Vegas to LA.  We walked on the beach for about an hour.  We always enjoy walking on Huntington Beach.  

Then we headed to Anaheim, where we checked into the Fairfield Inn, which is right across the street from Disneyland.  We unpacked and walked around Downtown Disney. It is an area that is full of shops, keosks, and restaurants.  When we got back to the hotel, we were able to see the fireworks from Disneyland.  It was pretty awesome.  The hotel was great in that it had 2 queen beds, and a pull out from the couch for Cameron.  It was especially nice that it was right across the street from the resorts.

Monday we spent the day in California Adventures.  They were having a bit of a cold wave in Anaheim, as it reached 45 degrees that day and it was windy.  We all wore our coats and tried to stay warm.  Scott ran into a fellow employee from Kennecott while they were in line for the new  Radiator Springs ride.  I was getting fast-pass tickets to the World of Color and to California Soarin'. Our waiting times were only long for Radiator Springs and for Toy Story.  When we did Tower of Terror, California Screaming and the others we pretty much walked up to the ride.  When the sun went down, it got really chilly, so we decided to go watch a musical in a theatre - Aladdin.  It was really good, but it was also very cold in the bldg.  They must have had their air conditioning on. Cadie bought a couple hot chocolates for us while we watched World of Color.  Being there in January, was really nice as it wasn't as crowded as it is in the summer. After we left the temperatures went up to the 70's.

Tuesday we played in Disneyland.  We never had to wait more than 10 minutes on any ride, until the last couple.  Space Mountain broke down for about 20 minutes and we were pretty close, so we were able to watch as they moved carts and shuffled people off.  We rode Space Mountain about 7 times.  It was great.  Scott wasn't feeling very well, so he avoided Star Tours and of course, the tea cups.  It's a Small World was pretty cool as the Christmas decorations were still up.  On the ride, they played a mixture of Christmas songs along with It's a small world.  I really liked the variety.  Cameron was so disappointed at one point.  He saw Cinderella coming towards him and he said hello.  She turned the corner and didn't say a word.  So when the parade came, he was pretty excited when they all waved at him and smiled.  He really got into that part of the parade.

 We were so glad that we were staying across the street.  In the middle of the afternoon we had to come and take a very much needed nap.  

 

It was a quick trip, but we really enjoyed being with each other and spending time at Disneyland.  I was sad when we got home, as I knew that it was our last family vacation for at least 2 years.