California Vacation Day 5 - Tyrell's 18th Birthday

Tuesday, June 30th: 

It's Tyrell's 18th birthday today! Wow, where does the time go? Candi and I wondered what we should do with the van. Get it towed or have a hotel person jump start it? We figured we'd ask for a jump start. After breakfast I went to the front reception about 8:30am. She said the maintenance people won't jump start the car, don't know why but must be a policy they follow. I was frustrated. I figured I'd go try the van anyway and it started up. I was so relieved. Candi said later that she prayed that it would start in the morning. I can always count on my wife's faith more than mine. We found an auto repair shop on google last night about 5 miles out that opens at 8:30am so I went straight there. A nice man diagnosed a weak battery and showed me his instrument that measures the power. He said he'll replace it and had one on hand. I was so fortunate. It cost $65 to diagnose plus cost of battery with total of $205. He said "God bless you" when I left and that's exactly what happened, He heard our prayers even though I may have displayed some impatience during that trial. I went back to the hotel and we packed the van and left around 9:45am to go to Universal Studios.

By the time we got into the park at around 11am it was already very crowded and hot. We had no fast passes this time so had to wait in line for everything. We went straight to the lower level and waited in line for the Jurassic Park ride. It was a long wait. The ride was fun. Erana closed her eyes during the inside dark part where the t-rex bites at you before you drop. When we splashed at the end we all got soaked but it cooled us off and felt nice. Then we went to the Mummy ride. Candi got a child switch pass and I went into the single rider line to go faster. The other kids waited together. The wait was still a bit long but got out and switched with Candi so she could ride. It's a coaster ride in the dark with the Mummy movie theme going on. It was fun. We next waited in the Transformers ride line for about an hour. That was a 3d ride and made me sick during it. I looked neat and all but I couldn't really enjoy it. The kids did though. We went back up to the top level and waited in the studio tour line which as about another 70 minutes. I enjoyed the tour. Still had some same stuff from when I took it over 30 years ago like the shark, flash flood and Back to Future set. The newer stuff like the King Kong 3d and Fast and Furious 3d parts were awesome. The Fast and Furious part just opened about a week ago. We went and watched the Water World stunt show which was fun. We skipped the Minion ride because the wait was long and Tyrell said it wasn't worth the wait. They did the Simpson ride. My feet were tired and I didn't want to wait again so I sat down and waited for them to get out. We went straight to the Animal actor show after. By that time it was getting late so we looked in some stores, got a pin and we left about 8:45pm. We walked through the Universal City center mall on the way to our car which had lots of lights and stuff. Stopped at a couple stores. Then we drove about 45 min to our next hotel in Buena Park, right close to Knotts Berry Farm. We checked around 10pm. We went through the Burger King drive through right close to the hotel for some food for the kids. We stayed up a little late. This hotel had a separate room with a queen bed so Candi and I took that one and had quality time together.

California Vacation Day 4

Monday, June 29th: 

We got up and went to free breakfast. They cooked omelets to order and we had french toast and fruit, juice, bacon, sausages, etc. We ate a lot then went to Magic Mountain around 9:45am. It opened at 10:30am. Candi spent the day with Erana and I went with the other kids. We went straight to the X2 which was a fun ride. Leila had to wait, she couldn't go on the 54" rides but could on all the 48" ones. We went back to get our flash passes after which allows us to go to the front of the line. It cost way more but was quite worth it at the end of the day. The lines were long on many rides but it allowed us to get on all 18 or so rides that it covered at least once. Without it we could have been on less than half cause of the waiting in line. It didn't cover the X2 that's why we went there first. After the first few roller coasters I got a headache and felt sick. It was also so hot, in the mid 90's or more. I skipped a few rides to feel better. I would go on another and get sick again. Some of the roller coasters are way extreme. My favs were X2, Tatsu, Twisted Colossus, Full throttle and Superman. Tyrell got a bit sick too. We got a $15 dollar cup that gave us free refills all day and we got heaps of refills. We ran into Martin Palmer. We chatted a few times. He gave me a pain pill. He was getting the same thing, sick and stuff. He just moved to Bakersfield to do a dental residency the day before. Was nice to catch up with him. We watched a show with a variety of acts and dancing that was fun at about 5:30pm. We called up Candi and told her to go to the 7pm show and we'll meet her there. The kids wanted to see it again. After the show we went on the Lex Luther drop ride then went to the store before leaving. The van acted funny when starting then after we went to Wendy's for dinner it wouldn't start. It just made a clicking sound. We prayed in the car and got an impression to ask in Wendys for a jump even I thought it wasn't a jump that would fix it. A nice worker came out to help and it started up. I drove it around for a bit but didn't turn it off when I picked them up and went back to the hotel. After turning it off there it wouldn't start up again. Did the same clicking. We just left it to worry about in the morning. I had a feeling before the vacation the something was going to happen to the van, it didn't feel like danger so I kinda blew it off and hoped I was imagining it. I think the still small voice was whispering to be ready.

California Vacation Day 3

Sunday, June 28th: 

We woke up and went to a 9am church not far from our hotel. The Mar Vista ward. The ward didn't have many people in it. I enjoyed the talks, one was about family history. After sacrament we left and got changed at the hotel and checked out then drove to the Page Museum at the La Brea tar pits. We spent the whole afternoon walking around. We watched a 3D movie, a presentation with a life size sabre tooth cat puppet with someone walking in the suit. It's head was stuck to one side and the presenter had to tuck some chords back in it through it's bum hole. The kids thought that was funny. We also took the tour around the place. It's interesting to see what kind of animals have been found in the asphalt. All the ice age type animals, mammoths, mastodons, sabre tooths, horses, bison, giant sloths, camels, dire wolves, giant jaguars and many kinds of birds. We ate lunch from food we brought with us in our cooler and from home. We sat on grass outside the museum. Then we drove the 45 minute or so trip to our next hotel in Valencia close to Magic Mountain. It is an Embassy suites hotel and is very nice. Has a living room and bedroom. The 3 younger ones slept on a sofa bed. We relaxed a while then the kids went swimming while Candi and I went and got dinner from Panda Express and Walmart.

California Vacation Day 2

Saturday, June 27th: 

We went to the gas station next to the hotel which had a big store and we filled up gas and bought ourselves breakfast we could eat in the car. I had doughnuts mmm. We stopped in Barstow at the train store. Candi bought a ty beanie boo for Leila's collection. We didn't stay long. We got to our hotel named the Paradise Inn and Suites in Culver City around 4pm. It's a nice place and the room had a sectional couch the younger kids slept on. Candi and Jaxon were freaked out by the mold growing on the ceiling of the bathroom. We drove to Santa Monica town and parked then walked to the pier and beach. The town was crowded az with people. It's a hot spot for Saturdays. The temps were only in the 70's with a breeze blowing but it felt cold after being in the hot desert. We walked to the end of the pier and looked around. Got myself a couple pins in gift stores. We walked down to the beach for a bit. Leila and Erana had their togs on and got a bit wet. They like the beach. Mina took photos and videos and stuff with her ipod. We left around 8pm. We went to a Panda Express and ate dinner then got stuff from a grocery store named Ralph's. They forgot toothbrushes and had to buy more. Went back to hotel and went to sleep. It's my Dad's birthday today. He would have turned 75.

California Vacation Day 1

Friday, June 26th: 

We left the home about 10:25am. We let Mina drive to Nephi. Big mistake, she almost drove into another car while switching lanes on I-15. So scary, we were all screaming. She stayed on the line in between the lanes for a little bit before I gently guided the steering wheel back. Candi did not enjoy that first hour. We stopped and got an ice cream at the Beaver cheese factory. Then we texted back and forth with Heather and met up with them in Cedar City at the East canyon park for a bit of a snack. They were on the way back from Las Vegas. There was a stream that was shallow and had a swimming hole that kids were in. Erana fell in and got wet so Candi changed her. We drove on and reached our hotel in Primm around 5 or 6pm pst. It was hot az like an oven in Primm. We stayed at Whiskey Pete's which renamed Whiskey Poots because of the tutae smells in the hall way on the 8th floor. The hall was also so hot. We went out to the outlet mall and walked around and got some cajun food that looked like chinese food but was good. Tyrell and Mina stayed in the room. We brought them back a gyro from Mad greek and a coconut shake. We went to sleep at a reasonable time so we can leave early enough. We brought 2 blow up twin mattresses for the younger kids.