California Vacation Day 6

We slept in today. The longest sleep of the vacation. Woke up around 10:15am. We missed the free breakfast. We got ready to go to Huntington beach and got there around 12pm'ish. We stopped at Burger king for some food first. It was a bit of an overcast day with temps cooler in the 70's I think. Beach wasn't too crowded but had a lot of people. The kids played in the sand and surf. They found lots of sand crabs which don't look like usual crabs. They don't have pincers. Mina and Jaxon got used to the cold water and body surfed and made a friend named Amber.  Jaxon said he saw her bum when the wave pulled her togs down lol. Mina saw a sting ray. Candi and I walked down the beach a bit then I had a little nap on the beach towel. We only stayed until 4:30pm. We had to go back and get ready for our Pirate Dinner Adventure. On the way home we saw a little dachshund dog running through our traffic lanes and the cars ahead stopped. I looked away to keep driving and also knowing it was going to get hit. Candi kept watching and saw it get run over. I heard the thump. Now Candi has a traumatic image in her head and I don't. I asked why she kept looking? I knew it was going to get hit. The kids didn't know where we were going for dinner. It was just across the street from our Hotel. It is for Tyrell's b-day dinner. He got some beads, flag and bandanna, and velvet cake piece for his b-day. We looked around and had snacks they brought around on trays as we waited to get seated. We sat in the green section. Dinner was a chicken leg with thigh attached, steak and veges on a skewer, mashed potatoes, ice cream and brownie. It filled me up. Tyrell's velvet cake slice had a candle in it. The show was good and had some funny parts in it. The kids enjoyed themselves. We went back to the hotel and watched tv until bed time.

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.