The Jacobsons: Californ-I-A

So we went on a very last minute trip to California. By "we" i mean the kids and i. my mom and sister audrey and emma, dave and terence and my aunt Di met in southern california for 8 days. it was great. the weather was pretty good, a little rain but for the most part we had sunshine. i even came back with a tan. on my arms and face:) on the way there we had a direct flight, on the way back we had a layover in phoenix. which abby slept THRU completely, i was so thankful. she fell asleep at the end of the first flight to phoenix, as did andrew and myself. then after everyone had deplaned we got off, i held abby as i also put the stroller together and had our belongings from the plane, not sure how i pulled that off, but she stayed asleep!!! and slept, until we boarded the plane to salt lake city. andrew was so excited when we got off the plane in phoenix, he said "Is there going to be another plane and then we will see daddy?! i am SO EXCITED to see daddy. i CAN'T WAIT to see daddy!!" and he told everyone who talked to him he was going to see his daddy. anyways, so for the trip:
Monday the 14th- flew to long beach. our flight was 2 hrs late. luckily dan was able to walk us to the gate and stayed in the play area til we were ready to board. we got into long beach about 5:15, my scheduled van didn't watch my flight status like they said they did, and didnt pick me up until 6. i was so not happy to be sitting there with no clue where they were, all our bags, a couple of very hyper children and pregnant myself. it ended it tears. for me. we were also holding up the shuttle to the pirate dinner my sister and mom had scheduled and payed a lot of $ for... because we were going with them. so i was very frustrated and upset. and that ends in tears for me. andrew was SOOO sweet. he gently put his arm around me in the van and said in the sweetest most encouraging voice: "mom, it's going to be alright, i know we'll make it! i just know it!" he knew i was worried we were not going to make dinner, and i was so hungry, and i wanted to go with everybody... he was sooo incredibly sweet to me. it totally made me happy. and then of course, he tried to say he was having a hard day ...haha not sure why he thought he should get a little sympathy too? its okay, i thought he deserved a little back. so then we went over the pirate dinner, which was not in andrews taste. his words "they are mean, and they say AHOY!!". heaven forbid they should say AHOY ! haha i thought that was funny. most of the show he was very scared and wanting to leave... they were fighting the whole time, and he would not have understood it was all fake. so perhaps we would have been better off to miss it..but abby sure loved it. she was pounding the table, dancing and cheering. she thought it was a great party!
Tuesday the 15 and Wednesday the 16- We went to Disneyland. probably the only time my kids will go to disneyland twice in a year! its fun, but exhausting! so basically that says it all, we did disneyland and california adventures. i had forgotten how much i loved the "Soarin Over California" ride. it is so neat. who ever created that was genius! what a brilliant idea. i'm just sad andy was an inch too short to ride.
Thursday the 17th- Knotts Berry Farm. i was very impressed. hardly any crowds at all, almost no lines for anything (a stark contrast to the disney parks) and really quite impressive rides for all ages.
Friday the 18th (EMMA's 12 Birthday), Saturday the 19th, Sunday the 20th- loaded up and headed down to Laguna Beach. We stayed at the Pacific Edge Hotel right on the beach. the weather was somewhat deceiving. it would be forecast for rain, but not rain, and then rain later, it was kind of hard to plan when to do what. but we had a good time. sunday was quite rainy and was spent indoors, but thats ok.
Monday the 21st: my mom and I headed down to Newport, to Fashion Island to look around. andrew found great fun in the coy pond. (sp?) he got soaked pretty much from the waist down. it was ok with me though, he was having a blast, abby was nappy well in the stroller, my mom and I sat at a little table and chairs chatting as he played in the sunshine. a perfect afternoon really. Then i saw something for the Balboa peninsula park, with ferris wheel, and kiddie rides, like a little carnival. We started to go but realized andy was going to freeze. so we stopped at childrens place where he got new shoes, pants and socks...We decided to go down to the Balboa park and try that out, so we took the bus- but got off at Balboa Island instead of peninsula. We walked an hour to finally get to the peninsula. then we found everything closed. it looked like it wasn't open at all like for the season, though when i checked on my phone it said hours were open til 8....so that was kind of sad, but we found a little pizza place that was pretty good, made fresh to order. thats always nice. then we were able to catch a bus home. the bus rides were interesting. SOOO glad i don't usually have to rely on public transportation... such weird people. people i wouldn't want to normally surround myself and my kids with ya know... but hey it was cheap! that was nice.
Tuesday the 22nd- time to go home. got up, showered and bathed the kiddos, grabbed some yogurt and loaded up our bags. our shuttle was early. i wasn't thrilled with that, just because our flight left at 12:45 and they showed up at 9:35. i was probably a 45 minute drive to the airport, but yah we got there very early, and my flight was an hour late. so we sat there we three, with nothing to do... luckily i had my stroller, which earned nothing but my affection during this trip. i was able to lay both kids down completely, have them face me or away, it was so nice. when i didnt need the second seat i was able to remove it easily, and it pushed really really well even COMPLETELY loaded to capacity. we put all our jackets, food, drinks, diaper bag, blanket for abby, and kids in the stroller. it was totally full and still pushed well. the hoods were awesome, even midday no sun was in our kids eyes. when they slept it didnt matter which direction the stroller faced, no sun reached their face when they were laying down. which is priceless to me. i saw so many poor babies with such idiot parents who didn't even employ what small hoods their little strollers had for their babies. and so many parents who didnt even TRY to keep their kids out of the sun when they were sleeping, or recline the seat for them. UGH. pet peeve. i was SOOO close to doing it myself when i saw that. and saying "help your poor kid out! (DUH)..." anyways, that is a trip we won't forget:) we had a really good time. i was so happy to see my family so unexpectedly, and we all had fun. On to the photos- which are many of course!

on our way to disneyland, andy was very excited

dancing to the music

taking a nice little nap

making funny faces, pretending to be asleep

it can get pretty crazy on the ladybug tea cup ride!

at the world of color show. they didnt really last thru that...

abby was VERY scared of snoopy.

andy LOVED this ride. he didn't want to get off. i think he rode it a couple times in a row.

terence and dave

I think this was Abbys favorite ride at Knotts Berry Farms.

riding the ferris wheel

such a strange roller coaster, the back came up and you rode the ride as you would a horse...

he was worn out! he came home and fell asleep at like 6 oclock...

he was very proud of his beach wood, he buried it to keep it safe and then was sad he couldn't find it again..

she wasn't happy about sand on her finger...

i do with this view a little more...

abby did not leave the towel. she hated the sand!

the beach walkers...

at Laguna beach, kids asleep again...

they WOULD not cooperate. they were SOO grumpy til they got a little food, then both were quite pleasant...this pic just makes me laugh a little. they were being soo horrible until our food came...it was ridiculous.