california trip part one

This is the non Disney part of our trip. We started out with quite a few stumbling blocks. first we got a 2+ hour late start, Then 2+ hours into the trip we realized that we forgot all of our tickets and hotel vouchers at home. So at the next Podunk town we stopped and called B.s wonderful parents to meet us half way so we wouldn't have so far to back track. (We still don't have cell phones) So instead of getting to the hotel with lots of time to swim and release some energy we got 3 tired (not sleeping in the car) kids to bed at 11:30pm. Well the next day was going to be our day at the beach. But time was cut short for that too as we arrived at the next hotel and were quickly unloading to find swimsuits and such I noticed that one of our tires were low. by the time we finished hauling in everything the tire was completely flat. So we went to a gas station just up the street to fill it with air. The air thing was out of order. We then found a no name tire guy just up the street. He would repair the tire for $10. But after he fixed the flat he showed us some other damage to the tire that made it unusable. He sold us a cheap used tire and we were on our way. The beach was well worth the wait. A. has never been to one and J. was only a toddler the last time so it was a blast. The weather was perfect and it was so clear that, according to a local, we got a treat of seeing a mountain range that they never get to see. The water was a bit cold but not as bad as I thought it would be. A. couldn't stay out of the water. J. was torn he wanted to build a sandcastle so bad but he was too enticed by the water and kept going back in. He never did finish his castle. D. kept talking about getting buried alive. So we granted his wish and buried him(except his head) and he was thrilled. He is also my daredevil. He kept pushing his limits with how far out he could go. Frightening a mother who barely let the water wash over her toes. After watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean and eating shakes from a little shake shack up the coast we headed home. On the way our car started making a horrible sound every time we braked. It was too late that night to get it in anywhere so we just went back to the hotel and looked mechanics on line. We found a Midas not too far away that opened pretty early. So our next excursion was to the auto repair shop. after 2 hours and many hundreds of $$ later we were off again.
Hanging out at Midas


It was too late to make it to legoland so we did some shifting of schedules and went touring in Hollywood. We didn't get out to walk along all the stars but we drove by them and pointed out the window to those not sleeping. Look those a stars in the sidewalk and they have famous peoples names on them oohhh aaahhh. We also visited the La Brea tar pits which was very interesting but smaller than I thought they would be. We then went to a transportation museum that focused mainly on trains. J. loved this. Anything with trains is a big treat. He still wants to be a "train driver" when he grows up. This museum was a bit of a disappointment but what can you expect from free. Our next stop this day was a, close to mad dash, stroll through the LA zoo. (look I was on this vacation--proof-- You can't see it but there is a koala behind us in the tree.)


We got to see some very fun things. there was a very active baby gorilla that was trying to get on her mom's nerves. But the mom was more patient than I am and the baby got a lot of laughs from us. We saw Koalas and Lions. The lions keeper was there chatting with visitors and the lions were all alseep. but they minute she left all the lions stood up at high attention and acted like they wanted to go with her. It was funny. Our next adventure happened on our way home. We had to get back to our hotel during LA rush hour. I recommend no one try this and appreciate loacal traffic back home. It took us 2 hours to get down the 23 miles of interstate we needed. Yes that is about 10 miles an hour. It was nearly 8 pm and we had promised the kids that there would be time for swimming. So we got in swim suits and ordered pizza delivered. (what a treat) and the kids swam and made new friends from a neighboring Utah town. After a short moon light swim and a belly full of yummmmmmy pizza. It was off to bed. Next day Legoland!!! It was really a fun place. There were several rides that I thought were unique and fun. They stayed open late for a "brick or treat event. So we stayed to participate. Now that we know how it works we will change many things about our visit there. Anyway it is divided into "lands" like Disneyland and when we got to the Brick or treat the line started at one end of a land and stretched all the way to the next land! So we were in line and a lady said if you want to know the truth you get 2 boxes of nerds and some fruit snacks. Well that clinched it for me we got out of line and went to implore and ride rides in that that area because we hadn't got to it yet. it was nice for awhile the lines were short because you guessed it others waited in that long line. Legoland was also fun because they had a playand they chose all 3 of our kids to be volunteer actors in it. Man they did a wonderful job. Of course D. being the ham that he is really ate it up.

This was spontaneous!!!!!!! J. initiated it while waiting for a show to start. They wanted to be in the splash zone we did not!!!

We got home so late that we decided to bathe the kids in the morning. Aaahh Sunday the day of rest. NOT! We rushed all the kids through a shower and got them ready for 9am church. We didn't want to buy food on Sunday so we brought food with us. We needed a microwave but didn't have access to one at the hotel so we thought we will just use the one at the church soooo we brought Lloyd's BBQ in the diaper bag. What luck we thought. The kitchen was open. but half way through church they locked the kitchen. Oh no we thought. Sacrament was last. D. fell asleep almost right away and J. and A. spent the first half in opposite halls in trouble. Tired really does equal cranky with these 3. anyway as we were walking back to the car the kitchen was open again-- hooray-- And it was filled with breads and rolls and cakes. What the heck?!? The members were just going in and taking them. It was wierd then we found out that a member owns a local bakery and brings in his surplus every other week. So we microwaved our BBQ and we scored some good rolls to go with it and a loaf of bread to use for PB&J for the rest of the week. Back to the hotel for lunch and then off to the temple. We printed off driving instructions ans maps before we left home. when we followed the driving directions to the destination the temple was not there. So we went in search of a phone book. We found one and the address listed for the temple seemed to be back where the driving instructions told us. So we tried again and as we got back to the location on the instructions we looked up the street and there kinda hidden by tall trees was the temple 3 blocks up the street. If we would have turned and went up the street instead of down we would have ran right into it. Hey what would be a day on this trip with out somesort of mishap. anyway we were excited to visit the visitors center but it was closed for remodeling. This happened that last vacation too. Well we wondered around the beautiful grounds and used the restrooms in the family history library and found books about Moody's and that was neat.
At the LA Temple grounds


Then we drove back to the hotel. It was very hard to keep the sabbath holy went you have a small room with thin walls and 3 rambunctious, loud tornadoes running around. Well we survived it and we look forward to our 5 day marathon of Disneyland starting today!