May 2015 Part 2 - California

We got to California Sunday afternoon and the Tates flew in about an hour later.  We rented a minivan for the drive out so that Craig and Chelsea could go with us.  Monday was spent grilling and swimming, although Tyler missed most of the fun because of his 3 hour nap.  The Haskins came over and we played lots of games, including the mandatory game of Risk (world domination).  Alexa and Chelsea got to share a room and Chelsea said she woke up Monday morning to Alexa singing to herself in bed.  What a diva.

I'm so glad we were able to go out at the same time as the Tates.  It's been too long since I've seen them and it was so fun to meet adorable baby Ellie.

We hit up the outlets on Tuesday and had more pool time.  Wednesday was the big fun day.  We tried to hit Disneyland when it opened, so we were on the road bright and early.  The kids did really well and we left the park to head home around 6:30pm.  We made great use of the rider switch passes to go back and forth between kid watching and riding, and it was really nice to have Emily and Jered to run around with.  The kids loved seeing all of the characters in the parade.  Alexa says her favorite part was seeing the princesses and riding the Rocket Ship ride.  Tyler says his favorite was Dumbo.  My only regret was that we didn't get to take them on Splash Mountain--it was closed for maintenance and then the wait was painfully long.  Oh, and that we didn't walk through the inside of the castle with Alexa.  Next time.

On Thursday we toured San Diego.  We stopped in Vista on the way down to see Craig and Kyle's old stomping grounds.  Then we met up with Emily at Balboa Park to play tag.  Tyler only face-planted into the cobblestone path once.  I love, love, love the architecture at Balboa Park and would be happy to visit every time we come out to California.  It's where Kyle and I took our engagement photos back in the day.

After Balboa Park we hit up Seaport Village and then met up for dinner at the one and only Slater's 50/50.  Their hamburgers are made with half ground beef, half bacon.  A place where dreams come true.

Friday was our beach day.  We were deceived by the clouds and didn't reapply sunscreen much to our later regret.  It was really overcast and windy--I had a hoodie on most of the time--but sadly, most of us were sunburned by the time we left.  Rookie mistake.

That night we went to the San Diego Temple to do family sealings.  We were in the same sealing room that Kyle and I were married in, so it was really neat to relive that experience just a few weeks after our anniversary.  It was also wonderful to go into the beautiful San Diego Celestial Room afterwards as a family.  It reminded me of when I received my endowments in the Nauvoo Temple the night before Ben and Jenny were married.  I still remember walking into the Celestial Room to be greeted by so much family all in white, smiling and hugging each other.  It was like a little piece of heaven.

We hit the road to head home on Saturday, but not before stopping at Rosa's Tortilla Factory on the way out of town.  It was the restaurant that Kyle worked at in high school, so it was fun to see it in person.