Christmas Break Part Two

We spent nearly a week in California.  Thanks to a friends' Marriott discount, we had great accommodations close to the beach and Disneyland. The weather there was SO perfect.  Back in Utah they were having below average temperatures, well below zero every night, but Cali was 70's and sunny.  Amazing.  We had so much fun at the beach.  We were told about a little beach called Crescent Beach on Laguna Beach.  It was so beautiful!  It's kind of hidden in a neighborhood, a very rich neighborhood of huge houses with the ocean in their backyard. It's crescent shaped and has tide pools on both of the outside edges.   

 The kids spent hours touching "enemies" and hermit crabs and star fish. 

We were the last ones on the beach as the sun set.  The waves were loud, the sunset was beautiful, it truly was amazing. 

We came back to Crescent Beach the next day.  Even though it was warm outside, the water is COLD!  But that didn't stop Ben and Weston from stripping down and playing in it. 

 The older boys and Jason had wet suits so they spent a lot more time in the water, snorkeling and boogie  boarding. Jason spent a lot of hours this trip on a different beach trying to surf.  The board he had wasn't a very good one for beginners and he had no one to teach him, but he loved it.  I was content to just sit in the sunshine and watch the kids.

Some photos from Little Germany.  I wish we would have gotten some photos from Little India.  We ate at an amazing Indian restaurant,  but we were THE only white people in the whole town.  We stood out just a little.

 The last 2 days we spent at Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was busy.  Is it ever NOT busy?  But Disneyland was worse.  Still, we made good use of the fast passes and got on almost everything we wanted to.  The kids loved it.  They were all the perfect age for a trip like this. 

We visited the new Cars Land.  Luckily, by getting to California Adventure early in the morning and waiting in a HUGE line (that moved surprisingly fast) to get a fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers, we were able to ride it after waiting for 15 minutes instead of THREE HOURS.  It was a cool ride, but I can't believe people wait that long to ride it.   

In the end, it was an awesome trip.  The bags I made for Christmas worked great.  They kept the kids occupied both to and from California without even bringing a DVD player.  They also used them during any down time at the hotel.  There were only a few quarters lost, and the kids got along so much better than I could have hoped. It was hard to come back home to the cold and the realities of life, but I'm so glad we went.