Cali

We wanted to take one last little vacation with Andrew before he heads out to Korea for two years. We went to Southern California, one of our favorite places, for five days. We assumed since it was Labor Day weekend that Disneyland would be crazy busy. We were surprised that the Friday we went wasn't too crowded at all. The first hour and a half we were there we went on 5 rides. We never waited for more than about 15 minutes for any ride the entire day.

The longest we waited for anything all day was for the Dole Whips. But ahhh were they excellent!

After 15 hours at Disneyland/California Adventure we were pretty much "done in". The walk back to our hotel was a long one at midnight. But we loved the entire day.

The next morning we drove down to San Diego and did a temple session there.

That afternoon we hit a Padre's baseball game. It just doesn't seem right to go to one of those without Alex, the ultimate Padre fan. ( I had to get a picture of Adrian Gonzalez at bat, for Alex)

I was obsessed with wanting to go to the beach several times on this trip. We went to Oceanside that afternoon/evening.

I was the only one who would get in the water. It was only 62 degrees. Brrrrr.

It would be a crime to go to Oceanside and not eat at Ruby's on the pier. They have the best oreo milkshakes in the ENTIRE world. No lie.

The pier looked so lovely that evening.

After church the next day we had to do a quick drive-by of our old house in Rancho Bernardo. The "gumball tree" is still there.

We ate at Claim Jumper that afternoon. We looked at the "amazing cake" but ended up ordering the "I D'eclair" monster eclair.

Then we drove to Point Loma.

When we went to Cabrillo National Monument and lighthouse it reminded us of the time we accidentally left Stephanie there for an hour or so. I think she was about 10 years old. (In my defense, we had two car loads of people that day and I assumed she was in the other car. I think she is still traumatized by it. jk)

We drove past Rosecrans National Cemetary where over 71,000 war veterans are buried. I am always so touched by the thousands of headstones overlooking the ocean.

Then, because we always cram as much as we can into every moment on our trips, we went to Seaport Village.

Ever since we used to live in San Diego, there has been some dude stacking rocks there at Seaport Village.

And we always stop in at the hammock shop. We always get one of their brochures, thinking we will order a hammock from them someday. It hasn't happened yet.

Dinner was Pat and Oscar's salad and unbelievable breadsticks. When we lived in RB, I would have Dave bring a bag home on his way home from work, whenever I made soup.

Well, we also managed to squeeze in a visit to Old Town. I keep telling those guys not to touch that dang cactus.

I miss bougainvillea so much. Our yard was full of it when we lived in San Diego.

The Mormon Batallion Visitor's center has really changed for the better. I really enjoyed it.

The next morning we drove back to Orange County. I had to see the ocean again. We hung out at Huntington Beach for a while.

I was the only one who got in the water again.

Then we went to another baseball game. This time it was an Angels game. I think we must jinx the home teams when we come. Both the Padres and the Angels lost when we went to their games.

Our hotel was on Sunset Beach.

Our last day was spent up in the Hollywood area. We went on a tour at Warner Bros. studios.

This is one of the sets for the tv show, ER.

The couch and set for the show, "Friends".

Ellen Degeneres does her show at the studio here. This is her parking stall.

Roo wanted us to drive over to Rodeo Drive so he could see some "famous people". We didn't see a single one.

We drove past the LA temple.

We went to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood where they have the star's handprints.

The Kodak Theatre, where they hold the Academy Awards.

We did as much as we possibly could in those five days. We laughed our heads off a lot on this trip. But the best part, by far, was just being with Andrew. Good times.