California

This past September we took Ethan & Sophia to southern California. All in all it was a good to great trip. On our first day it was Ethan's 10th birthday. Everyone else was too.tired from the long drive, I'm cheap that way and would drive to Hawaii if it were an option. Anyway, Ethan and I went to.Disneyland - just the two of us. We had a great time and I.told Ethan before the trip, that within reason, his birthday he would not hear any "No's". He played.it.perfectly.and had the best b-day ever. He first wanted to go on Space Mountain. We got fast passes that were good in one your, so we decided to.wait.in lime for.20 minutes, them use our fast passes and.go on it again.immediately. He then wanted to do Thunder.Mountain Railroad. He was dragging.me all.over.the park until I gave him the idea of.staying.in one area for a while, then.move to.another area. This solution worked.out.much better.on my tired, out of shape legs. We ate breakfast in tomorrow land, and Ethan was trying to catch the little birds that flutter around eating whatever people drop. To my delight, it burned.off some of my nuclear kids energy. I also noticed that there are no.stones to throw in the entire park. Who knows, probably a union or OSHA thing. But whenever during the day he said something like "may I please have a popcorn, or a soda", all he heard from me was."yes". I figured that was a good present besides the trip. It was difficult for me at first, but I eventually.got.the hang of it and it was fun.for me as well to know I.was making his day. The next day we were going to go back.to.Disneyland too since we.had 2 day park.hopper tickets but I was too.sore to make the trip. Additional things we did.on the first day was go.over.to.California Adventure. We went on Grizzly Rapids until Ethan was certain I was soaked.clear to the bone. We also.split a.pizza and while.we were eating.it, a float came.by playing Bowling for Soup song that is the.theme song to.Phenius & Ferb. A Disney channel cartoon. Ethan loves Bowling for Soup and heard the song long before I did. We.followed the.float. munching on pizza and watched.some.of the .performance, then did.a few things more in Ca Adv. Then went back.over to the magic kingdom.

The next day we spent at the beach in Oceanside. We buried Ethan up to his neck in sand and he boogie boarded on the waves. Sophia on the other hand was fearless with
the mighty Pacific ocean. We would set her in dry loose sand and she would make a beeline for the water. We thought she would have a fear.of the water, but that was not the case. We all walked around the water looking for sand dollars and found a few, plus some interesting shells.

The next day we.took it slow and went to the San Diego.Zoo. that was fun and interesting to see animals that we don't have at the zoo back.here at home. The most interesting animal for most of us was seeing the giant Panda Bears. They are on loan to the U.S. from China. There were three of them there. One Took a poop while we were watching it and it looked like.digested yellow squash - I know, just what you wanted.to read. There are only 4 zoo's in the U.S.that have.Panda's. The other 3 are back east.

The following day we went back to Disneyland. It was Sophia's first visit. Talk about sensory overload. She was looking at everything and trying to comprehend it all. Her first ride was Peter Pan, then Dumbo. She went on several rides and had a huge grin on her face. Ethan Took turns going on thrill rides with Margaret and me. In the late afternoon she finally got to small world. She saved the biggest smile and sense of amazement for this ride. To her it was people her own size, all singing the same song. I have been on that ride so many times that I made up my own verse for the song. It goes like this: "Its a small world after all its a small small world. Though we're oceans apart, you can still smell my farty, its a small world after.all". I know - crude.

The rest of the trip was fun too, and we have many memories and pics to help us remember it all. Sorry for all the extra periods in this post. I had to enter it on my phone rather than my laptop.