A Wonderful Trip

Our 15 day California trip was about as perfect as it could have been. In all we traveled 2,572 miles, drove through 6 states, and stopped at 9 temples. We saw lots of animals, went on a bunch of awesome rides, met lots of characters, and took over 500 pictures.
We left on February 9th and drove 12 1/2 hours. We left early and the kids slept off and on while we drove through the corner of Oregon and into Nevada. We stopped at the Reno temple, then the Sacramento temple (picture at left), then crashed at the hotel in Fresno.

The next day, we went to church in Fresno at the ward where Stephen served his mission and then wandered around the Fresno temple before driving to the LA temple (below) and on down to San Diego. We stopped at the beach, but it was dark and scary.



Monday was Sea World where we saw the dolphin show, Shamu (the killer whales), and petted lots of ocean animals, like dolphins and rays, and starfish. We also tried to feed the flamingos, but the ducks were faster and stole most the food. The weather was beautiful most of the time we were there-- from high 60's to 70's. A really nice change from the Idaho snow.






Tuesday we went to the San Diego zoo where we watched a baby panda playing and climbing a tree, polar bears playing, and grizzly bears wrestling, hippos, monkeys, tapirs, and along with lots of other animals. The weather was cool enough that they were out and active. My new favorite animal is the okapi (below). It's related to the giraffe, but has zebra stripes and just looks like you took a bunch of other African animals and shook them up together.

The kids loved posing with all of the fun boards that let them look like someone else.

Wednesday we went to the Wild Animal Park which was AMAZING. The park has 1800 acres, so the animals are in big enough spaces that they can run and play. Did you know baby elephants wrestle with each other? My favorites were the 7 lion cubs and 4 African elephant babies. You ride on a tour bus out "Into Africa" and get the see all of the animals living in a mixed species environment, lots of different antelope species, rhinos, giraffes, gazelles, etc. just roaming across the plains. (some, like the lions and elephants have their own exhibits).

They also have a petting zoo area where you can pet deer and gazelles and antelope, which the kids enjoyed. It was fun to be that close to wild animals--well, tamed wild animals.








Thursday we went to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum and saw dinosaurs and fossils and enjoyed a slower pace day. We spent the evening walking along the beach collecting shells and testing the waves. What better Valentines Day than a sunset walk along the beach, right?j

Friday we visited the San Diego temple, then went over to the La Jolla Childrens Pool, and area of beach that was made for kids to play protected from the hardest waves, but has been taken over by the seals. We watched a mother seal teaching her new baby (3 hours old) about the ocean. It was AWESOME. She would shove him out into the ocean, then swim out past him and shove him back onto the beach. They are in the center of the photo, touching noses.

The boys were more intrigued with the waves than the seals, and A just slept through it, but J thought it was fun!

That night we drove to Anaheim and went to Medieval Times where the boys watched "real" knights and sword fighting. What was I thinking???? They don't need any encouragement. :) But they absolutely loved it and both chose swords as their souvenir at the end of the trip.

Saturday was our first day at Disneyland. We avoided most of the crowds and rode a lot of rides and met a lot of characters. At first J was a little nervous, but once she realized we always get off at the end, she started to enjoy them. One of the favorite rides was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, which is like riding through a video game. You have a gun and you are trying to defeat Zorg by shooting "Z's." You get points for how many you hit. The boys enjoyed trying to beat mom-- I was easier to beat than dad-- especially since I was usually holding a baby. J liked the gun, but also liked the little lever that let her spin the car around in circles. Try hitting a target when you're spinning randomly every little bit. :)

That night (and Monday) we watched the Electrical Parade, which was amazing!!!! There were hundreds of thousands of lights on the floats and the dancers. J's eyes would light up with every princess who passed, and of course, they were all waving and blowing kisses straight at her!

Sunday we went to the Newport Beach Temple where the kids loved the fountain. Then we went to the Santa Anna Children's Museum where they met Clifford and tried a bunch of science experiments.

Monday we went to the other Disney Park, California Adventure, that has some bigger rides and roller coasters and a fun area dedicated to Bugs Life. The 3D show was lots of fun and the kids, and Stephen, really liked their bug glasses. J liked the carousel and the fact that she could ride "no hands" like the boys.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we spent time in both Disney parks. We collected lots of character autographs and it was interesting to see who J would approach and who she was afraid of. She loved JoJo and ran right up to give her a hug, but she was scared of Clifford. She liked any of the princesses or anyone in a frilly dress.

At one point, we were able to get pictures with characters from Star Wars. I think Stephen's grin was bigger than any of the kids as he met Jedi Knights and Darth Vader and Darth Maul. J was a okay with the Jedi's, but almost cried when she met Darth Maul and told Stephen, "he is a bad, bad man."


Mr. Incredible was another character who brought out the kid in Stephen. Look at that grin!




Another one of my favorite things was going to see the play Aladdin at Disneyland. It was the best play that I have ever seen. The sets and acting and stunt work were incredible!!!! There were 11 genies for the scene where they are all dancing, and a "real" flying carpet, and a huge snake, that burst to have the Genie Jafar inside. It was so good we went to see it twice!!!


I was impressed with how many rides A was able to go on and how much he enjoyed them. He did get a little tired of the stroller at times, but overall he was a great sport. Having 5 days at Disneyland made it easier to take a break in the afternoons and go back to the hotel for a little while some days.



And here we are with Mickey Mouse on our last day at Disneyland. We left Anaheim about 6 and drove to Las Vegas, getting in around midnight. The next day we drove to Clinton, stopping at the St. George temple and Visitors Center. We stayed the night with family in Clinton, then drove on home the next day. It was a long time, but it was so fun, I'm so glad we were able to go!!!!!

Disneyland/CA Trip Budget

I've had several people ask me about the deals I found for our trip. We had 6 people, 2 adults, 4 kids (7, 5, 2, and 11 months). Going just before J turned 3 saved quite a bit because we didn't have to buy her a ticket for everything. We drove 2,572 miles.

GRAND TOTAL: $2,702.76 for 15 days

Here is a breakdown of our expenses, which includes the things I bought before the trip to go.

Hotels: $765.57
$71.67 Fresno-- Roadway Inn, 1 night
319.60 San Diego-- Days Inn, 5 nights I got lucky and got a suite through Hotels.com
$345.00 Anaheim-- Super 8 on Katella, 6 nights, 2 blocks from Disneyland Entrance, about a 12 minute walk.
$29.30 Las Vegas-- Arizona Charlies- Boulder, 1 night, away from the strip, and separate from the casino. hotels.com

Gas: $364.40
Started out full. It took 8 1/2 tanks of gas for the entire trip.
$40.65 Lodi, NV
$47.78 Lovelock, CA
$47.25 Caustic, CA
$52.18 La Jolla, CA
$51.52 Barstow, CA
$44.42 St. George, UT
$31.86 Sanaquinn, UT
$27.54 Salt Lake, UT area
$42.39 Jerome, ID (had over 1/2 a tank left, so I'm only counting 1/2 $21.20)

Food: $294.21
$28.00
I bought several gift certificates through restaurants.com Usually they are $10 for a $25 gift Certificate, but I used a coupon code I found online and got them for $4 each. Some of the restaurants were awesome, only one was a flop (Indian food is WAY too spicy). One fun restaurant was called Azteca and it was a Mexican Restaurant, but every inch of wall and ceiling was covered with Elvis memorabilia. Elvis movies, Elvis jukebox. Quite interesting. You have to spend $35 at the restaurant, plus pay tax and tip, but we could get tons of food for the same amount we'd pay elsewhere. The restaurants were a couple miles from Disneyland, so we had to drive. I don't know that I would do it again, even though we got a ton of food for the money, other than the Azteca restaurant which was just fun. like a mexican Hard Rock Cafe.
$13.00 Samari Sams in Sacramento with gift cert.
$17.00 Rastal's-- real Indian food, very spicy
$30.19 Sals Bit of Italy-- one of the gift certificate places. The food was awesome, but he was offended that we used the certificate and overcharged us on things.
$19.07 Azteca Restaurant.
$19.00 Seafood Kingdom
$19.51 In-and-Out Burger in San Diego
$8.99 Subway-- 2 footlongs to share with coupon from home
$34.87 IHOP kids eat free, right across from Disneyland
$35.72 IHOP again, the kids favorite restaurant
$8.52 Suckers at Disneyland, 2 days
$6.00 Cotton Candy at Disneyland, 2 days
$5.00 Cotton Candy and a bucket at Sea World-- which was perfect for playing in the sand and collecting shells-
$4.27 tortillas in Disneyland. This is one of the best deals in the park. Bring in some jam or peanut butter and eat roll-ups. One
$4.71 McDonalds-- ice cream on the drive
$8.53 Jack in the Box-- breakfast in Las Vegas
$17.00 Subway in Utah driving home
$14.83 Pizza Hut, Twin Falls, ID used Book its and Coupons from home


Attractions: $1019.10
$172.80 Sea World-- Used Code BOEING for 2 days for the price of 1 with a 20% discount (you can also get the 20% off using Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards card, which is free.) We didn't use the 2nd day, but it is valid until next Jan, so who knows. . .
$10.00 Sea World Parking

$119.00 Zoo and Wild Animal Park. It was cheaper to buy a diamond membership for Stephen and I which is valid for 1 year, it comes with 2 free guest tickets to each park which we used for the boys, and the little ones were free. It also includes free parking at the wild animal park and our tour ride.
$12.00 for the boys tour ride tickets. You can use them over and over, and it was VERY worth it. I think we rode 3 times.

$105.30 Medieval Times-- they were offering a promo 1 free kid with a paying adult, and the two little ones sat on our laps. It is a bit tricky to eat with your hands with a baby on your lap, but they were really good and gave us extra bread and stuff for them.

$600.00 Disneyland-- promo of buy a three day park hopper get two days free. Best deal was through arestravel.com. Look for deals on www.mousesavers.com That is where I found most of the Disneyland deals.

All the Museums were free because we have a annual pass to the Discovery Center in Boise. It was $60 and all of the Museums are reciprocal members.


Miscellaneous: $259.48
$164.05 at Walmart before we left buying snack foods, microwave dinner foods, rain ponchos, toys and treats for in the car, games, and misc trip stuff.
$7.00 tip at Medieval Times
$29.71 Souvenirs-- t-shirts and surprises for all the kids and our autograph book-- we went to the Character Warehouse in the Orangefair Mall about 4 miles from Disneyland, stuff was way cheaper there-- about 1/3 of the Disneyland price for the same stuff. Selection was limited though.
$28.55 Swords for the boys
$12.93 Princess figures for J--Great grandma sent each kid $10 and we gave them $5 more
$17.24 Plate and Ice Cubes-- my souvenir. I've wanted a "special" plate that we can use to celebrate someone doing something, so I bought a Mickey one. And mickey shaped reuseable ice cubes.

First steps and a family trip

My little baby took his first steps on Monday. It was during family home evening and everyone got so excited and the kids were clapping for him, that he kept trying over and over. It was so cute! Then Tuesday he would go into the living room and stand up by the couch and start walking to the loveseat. He sat down in the middle of the room and looked around like "Where is my audience?" And then when he didn't see anyone, he started clapping for himself. He'd crawl back to the couch and do it again and again.



Then that night S and I were talking about how much fun it would be sometime to just "waste" part of our tax return instead of putting it in an IRA and being "responsible." We started talking about family vacations, (last summer we spent 10 days going to Yellowstone-- and sleeping in a tent). I said I wanted to take the kids to Disneyland sometime. S has never been to Disneyland, but told me to look into how much it would cost and see if we could do it for the amount of the extra refund they are talking about, which for us would be around $2400. We sent in our regular taxes a couple weeks ago and we'll be getting back about $5000. Yeah kids!!!! Anyway, that was all it took!

I started researching and realized that once J turns 3 the end of March, she counts as a person for everything from admissions, to limit of people in the hotel room, bumping us up to a suite instead of a regular room. About another $500. So. . . .. we're going now while she's free, but will still enjoy it a ton, and A is old enough he isn't nursing constantly and I'm not pregnant, so I can go on everything. Basically, we realized the timing is perfect and all the stars probably wouldn't line up again for several years!!!! So we're robbing the savings account until the tax return gets here, and then we're going to "waste" part of it making memories that we can enjoy when we get old.

I got some awesome deals, so if anyone wants to go to California. . . .

We are leaving Feb 9, early and driving to Fresno through Sacramento. (It's the same distance for us to go to San Diego via Fresno as via Salt Lake and S served his mission is Fresno. Then we will drive down to San Diego. and spend Mon at Sea World, Tues the zoo, Wed Sea World (using the coupon code BOEING you can get 25% off tickets and a free 2nd day). Thurs, maybe a sea lion cruise or whale watching cruise and time at the beach then Friday the Wild Animal Park then drive to LA. We got a suite at the Days Inn Seaworld/Airport through hotels.com for $56 a night. Also hotels.com has a rebate up to $100, so for our 5 days, I'll get back $30. For the Zoo and wild animal park, you can buy a membership for $129 (right now there is a $10 off promo) and it gives you a annual pass for two adults and 2 tickets to each park, which we'll use for the boys, J and A are free to everything.

Then in Anaheim, we are doing the 5 day park hopper for the price of at 3 day. The best price I've found it is http://reservations.welcometosocal.com/893_attraction-tickets_a18.html or arestravel.com $164 for adults, $134 kids for the 5 days. This way we can take our time and spread it out. We're planning to do Disneyland on Sat, then take Sunday off, and do California Adventure Monday when I expect it to be more crowded, then hit rides again Tues and Wed and Thurs. when it shouldn't be crowded.

Our hotel here is a Super 8 two blocks from the park, that I got through their website for $49 a night. Then we will drive to Vegas where we are staying at Arizona's Charlie's Boulder for $26, (hotels.com) before driving to Ogden and spending one night at my in-laws before driving home.

For food, the hotels all have breakfasts, and we will bring instant oatmeal. We'll carry snacks and apples and lunch stuff that I'll buy here before we go, then for dinners most nights in San Diego, we'll eat "traveling" meals since the suite has a microwave and fridge and most things there close at 5, so we'll be back earlier and have time to go swimming.

Traveling meals are things I can make with just boiling water or a microwave. Two of the kids favs are instant rice and black beans rolled in a tortilla with a little taco seasoning sprinkled on and Zippy Chicken Chowder which is one can each: corn, pork and beans, diced tomatoes with chilies, condensed cream of chicken soup, and condensed chicken noodle soup. Add water if needed, usually I just rinse the cans a little, microwave until hot and serve with chips and cheese if available. Sometimes I'll add a can of chicken chunks too. Easy Mac is another one they like. Add applesauce and a peanut butter sandwich and they are happy. Also, we like to take the shelf stable milk. They love the flavored "milkshake" ones and I can get them for less than 50 cents each and they don't have to stay cold.

Then for Anaheim I got gift certificates through www.restaurants.com that we'll use for dinner. You can get a $25 restaurant coupon for $10, but with the code EASY, I was able to get them for $4 each. Most restaurants require you to spend $35 to use the gift certificate, but it means we'll be able to eat for $14 plus tax and tip for the whole family. (I only picked inexpensive restaurants where most entrees were under $10.) I wish they had restaurants that took these in Boise.

All together with attractions, hotels, gas, souvenirs, and the food we will have to buy, we're planning on about $2600 for 15 days for all 6 of us, less than $30 per person per day!

I'm super excited. Only 9 more days until we leave!!!