Spring break happened on April 1 to the 7th this year. We had kept secret our plans for this year from the grandkids. The weather was still warm then cold and snow and back again. These pictures of the yard show how things looked on the morning of the 1st.
We went to both Payton and Connor's game. At the end of Connor's we announced to them that they were going home and changing close and then we were off to California and to the beaches for spring break. Cindy had told Payton that maybe we would have a sleep over one night and maybe do something else one day but that was all that was said about spring break. You can see Payton's excitement about the news. Connor took a little longer to realize what we were going to do.
On the way we stopped at Scipio to get gas and to see the little zoo they had at the gas station.
We continued on and stayed in Las Vegas the first night. We asked the hotel desk about some reasonable priced family place to eat and was directed to a pizza place in a mall. It was a great suggestions and the grandkids had fun there. It was one of those places with the light, noise and tickets to claim things were preparing kids for the adult version of Las Vegas.
The next day was on the road again to Los Angles. We got there in time to go to our room and then change and go to the beach since it was pleasant there and not cold like it was at home. We looked at the weather forecast at home and appreciated where we were.
Everyone had fun with the waves. Cameron still runs away from them like he did when he was Connors age.
The next morning we announced our next surprise, Disneyland. Everyone was really excited about that. We started off with Indian Jones which was probably not the best first ride for the kids but once we explained on the other rides what would happen they had fun.
Connor and Payton used the map to help plan our next ride and to show us where we were at in the park. And if they could not find it there was Walt pointing us in the right direction.
There were parades in the day.
Then there was the electric light parade in the evening.
We went on Thunder Mountain near the end of the day and they started fire works while we were on the ride and it was amazing to come around a corner and then there were fireworks in the sky. it was the end to a great day.
The next day was a beach day again and we went to Cyrstal Cove State Park which was south of Newport. We walked down the cliffs to the beach and had it to ourselves.
We set up our canopy and then played on the beach and in the water.
When it was time to leave we packed our belongs to head back up the cliff
Once we got to the top we looked out at the ocean and to our surprise we saw some whales and then a pod of dolphins came close to the beach following a school of fish. We watched for a good 15 minutes.
After that we changes clothes and went into Newport Beach to the Joe's Crabshack for dinner and watching the sunset.
The next day was off to California Adventures. Nic, Shannon and their kids and Cameron and Cecelia went and stood in line for Cars while Cindy, Maddie, Aubrey and I did other rides waiting for them so we could then do cars with the stroller pass. They were three hours in line waiting so we did some different rides. We saw Minnie Mouse which Aubrey pointed out. We then went and had lunch while we waited for them.
The rest of the day went well and we did everything we wanted to. While we waited in line at Soar'n we started to play hand games to pass the time.
That evening we watched the fountain show in the lagoon.
The next day was a day to go see some other things. We thought we would go into LA and take the kids to see the La Brea Tar pits. For a 20 mile drive we were an hour and a half to get there.
From there we went to have lunch at the Farmers Market.
We thought we better leave early to get back to the hotel because we promised Connor and Payton that they could swim in the pool. It took us almost two hours on the return trip but they did get to swim and we had a barbecue at the pool for our last day in California.
