After 12 hours total in the car with an overnight stay in St. George we were so relieved to arrive "home" in Southern California at Grampa and Grammie's house Saturday evening. Sunday we got to visit Shane's old Ward that he grew up in and had dinner at Uncle Joel and Aunt Sandy's house. Jeff came by too and it was fun for the cousins to visit. 
Monday, Grampa and Grammie took us out to dinner at Ruby's Diner on the end of HB pier. We always love to visit this spot when we are in California. (Thank you Dad and Mom.)
Tuesday, we went to Disneyland. Rain was in the forecast but that didn't scare us away. We actually didn't see the rain until late evening but the park was relatively empty. Our longest line was for Space mountain at 30 min. but everything else was no longer than a 15 min. line without the fast pass. It was a great day to be there.
Disneyland was all decorated up and ready for the Christmas season.
The girls couldn't resist the Princess Castle.
Dumbo...Lindsay ran into his ear before we got on the ride so it took a bit for her to get excited about the ride. ( You can see the fresh red mark on her forehead.) She also had a hard time with the concept of waiting in line for her turn.
Lindsay and Emma enjoyed the merry go round the best. Hum... could have gone to South Coast Plaza for that.
Emma's favorite all time ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode on all the kiddy rides in the morning with the intention of taking Lindsay back to Grammie and Grampa's at her afternoon nap time. We were going to go back and introduce Emma to the fast rides, but she protested and asked if she could stay with Lindsay at Grammie's and Grampa's. We tried to convince her to come back with us to no avail. So, Bradley, Shane and I all went back and had a blast riding all the fast rides that made Shane and I feel like kids again. We were able to go on everything at least 2-3 times. We had SOOO much fun. Emma and Lindsay were happy to be with Grammie and Grampa. ( Big thanks to Grammie and Grampa for watching them and helping them be happy.)
The Castle looked amazing at night, the girls would have loved it. We stayed until about 10:30pm although Brad and I would have stayed until midnight. The rain had turned into a down poor and Shane threw the towel in. All in all it was a great visit to Disneyland.
On Black Friday we stayed as far as we could get from the early morning shopping scene. We slept in and then went to the Discovery Science Center in the afternoon. Here the girls are destroying a tornado.
Brad and Emma are making clouds.
Emma and Lindsay playing in the aqueduct tables. Sand and water, always a fun combo.
Brad is lying on a bed of nails. Pretty cool.
On the way out, the girls wanted to try to launch a tennis ball with the suctioning of a bowling ball. It was a fun experiment.
Saturday the Girls helped Shane wash the car. Not something we can do in Nov. in Utah.
Then on to Huntington Beach. It was sunny and about 70 degrees. Too cold to swim in the frigid water but perfect for playing.
Lindsay wasn't too sure at first.
Shane and Brad dug for sand crabs... Looks like he found one.
Once she was comfortable in the sand Lindsay just dug and dug and ran and ran. She chased birds and waves. We had to pry her away from the Beach.
Emma has always loved the Beach. She collected shells all day. Here she is posing with the HB pier in the background.
Brad with the sand castle he and Shane built.
The Leavitt's posing in front of the sand castle.
Monday, Grampa and Grammie took us out to dinner at Ruby's Diner on the end of HB pier. We always love to visit this spot when we are in California. (Thank you Dad and Mom.)
Tuesday, we went to Disneyland. Rain was in the forecast but that didn't scare us away. We actually didn't see the rain until late evening but the park was relatively empty. Our longest line was for Space mountain at 30 min. but everything else was no longer than a 15 min. line without the fast pass. It was a great day to be there.
Disneyland was all decorated up and ready for the Christmas season.
The girls couldn't resist the Princess Castle.
Dumbo...Lindsay ran into his ear before we got on the ride so it took a bit for her to get excited about the ride. ( You can see the fresh red mark on her forehead.) She also had a hard time with the concept of waiting in line for her turn.
Lindsay and Emma enjoyed the merry go round the best. Hum... could have gone to South Coast Plaza for that.
Emma's favorite all time ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode on all the kiddy rides in the morning with the intention of taking Lindsay back to Grammie and Grampa's at her afternoon nap time. We were going to go back and introduce Emma to the fast rides, but she protested and asked if she could stay with Lindsay at Grammie's and Grampa's. We tried to convince her to come back with us to no avail. So, Bradley, Shane and I all went back and had a blast riding all the fast rides that made Shane and I feel like kids again. We were able to go on everything at least 2-3 times. We had SOOO much fun. Emma and Lindsay were happy to be with Grammie and Grampa. ( Big thanks to Grammie and Grampa for watching them and helping them be happy.)
The Castle looked amazing at night, the girls would have loved it. We stayed until about 10:30pm although Brad and I would have stayed until midnight. The rain had turned into a down poor and Shane threw the towel in. All in all it was a great visit to Disneyland.Wednesday we spent relaxing and recovering from our long day at Disneyland. Thursday was a great Turkey day. Good food, good visiting with the family.
On Black Friday we stayed as far as we could get from the early morning shopping scene. We slept in and then went to the Discovery Science Center in the afternoon. Here the girls are destroying a tornado.
Brad and Emma are making clouds.
Emma and Lindsay playing in the aqueduct tables. Sand and water, always a fun combo.
Brad is lying on a bed of nails. Pretty cool.
On the way out, the girls wanted to try to launch a tennis ball with the suctioning of a bowling ball. It was a fun experiment.
Saturday the Girls helped Shane wash the car. Not something we can do in Nov. in Utah.
Then on to Huntington Beach. It was sunny and about 70 degrees. Too cold to swim in the frigid water but perfect for playing.
Lindsay wasn't too sure at first.
Shane and Brad dug for sand crabs... Looks like he found one.
Once she was comfortable in the sand Lindsay just dug and dug and ran and ran. She chased birds and waves. We had to pry her away from the Beach.
Emma has always loved the Beach. She collected shells all day. Here she is posing with the HB pier in the background.
Brad with the sand castle he and Shane built.
The Leavitt's posing in front of the sand castle.After HB we went home and got all cleaned up to go to Little Corona to have Aunt Jill take pictures on the beach for our Christmas card. She did a good job. (See top picture of post.)
Sunday, we went to the Ward I went to growing up and saw Uncle Dave and Aunt Jill's baby Olivia be blessed. Afterwards we had a great dinner to celebrate her blessing day. Then we had to prepare for our return trip. It was a great vacation and we truly enjoyed our time in between the outings just visiting with Grampa, Grammie, and GG (Grandma Hovik.) Thanks again for the great stay.
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