California: Day 8: Final Day

Still in San Juan Capistrano....

Woke up and had really good waffles for breakfast with whipped cream and berries. We went in the pool for a little, and put this bright green zinc oxide on my face to prevent sunburn, and look awesome all at the same time!!! After that we left and drove to LA to see the place where my dad grew up. He grew up in Westchester. We saw the house he grew up in, his old high school, junior high, and elementary school, we saw this place called "Randy's Donuts" with this huge donut on top of the building, and we found out that the gas station he used to work at was turned into a Morman church. We went to this AMAZING burger place called "The Shack." There was this one burger called "The Shack Burger" that's a burger with a sausage on top!! (Okay, that's a little overkill.) We also drove by the mountain with the Hollywood sign on it!! You know, this one:I didn't get a picture because it was really hazy, but I saw it!!! I also saw the Warner Bros. water tower and the buildings with all the promotional posters on the sides.

Then we drove to Burbank and saw my great-aunt and uncle. We talked for a while, then drove to the airport, turned in our rental car, and got on a plane, and now we're home!!!!

California: Day 7

Still in San Diego.....

Today we went to this really good breakfast place called the Living Room. I had a Belgian Waffle. We went to ANOTHER beach called Ocean Beach. I just played volleyball with my dad and went up to my waist in the water. After that we went to lunch at the restaurant that my aunt helps own. It's a really good seafood restaurant. I got the crab cake sliders, but I don't know how they're "sliders" because the crab cakes are HUGE. My aunt showed us my uncle's lobstering boat, then we said good-bye and drove up to San Juan Capistrano.

We got there, and went up to the mission, which was really beautiful.

After we were done at the Mission, we drove to the house of my dad's old friend from college. They have a pool!! They also have a girl my age, so I had fun jumping onto the boogie board, and playing Colors and Toothpaste. We had chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, and bread for dinner, and berry cobbler for dessert. Yum!!

California: Day 6

In San Diego....

Today we went to La Jolla (pronounced La HOY-a) Cove to this really pretty beach with pretty big waves (there weren't supposed to be any waves, but they were big enough to surf!!) There were hundreds of hermit crabs, some regular crabs, and about a million shells on that beach. We were there for a while. When we were walking back to the car, we saw this rock that was absolutely covered in seals!!!

After we came home and cleaned all the sand out of our hair, we went to a Padres game!! It was really cool, and I can add another park to my list of ballparks I've been to. The Padres came from behind to win! I also got this huge ice cream cone!!

California: Day 5

Still in Anaheim....

So today we left Disneyland and went to Newport Beach. I played some volleyball with my cousin, then went to play in the water. We body surfed a little and dove into the waves. The really huge ones came in shifts. There would be 5 or 6 HUGE waves, then they would slack off a bit. There was this one HUGE one that hit me and sent me tumbling. I was underwater and everything was completely black and I was under water pressure. It was kinda scary. That's what I thought it would feel like to Apparate. Then we got out of the ocean and dried off and headed to Balboa Island on this ferry-like thing. We were going upstream because there were HOARDS and HOARDS of Junior Lifeguards all going the opposite direction. We had lunch at this place where 7 huge chicken tenders and a huge pile of fries is an appetizer.

So after that we dropped my cousin and aunt off at the Orange County airport, and we drove to my aunt's house in San Diego. We went to dinner at this really good Mexican place. I was dead tired after that so I hit the hay after that.

California: Day 4

We're in Anaheim now....

Today we got to Disneyland right as it opened. We went on a bunch of rides today, too; Space Mountain a BUNCH. My cousin would cheat and show the guy the FastPass from the night before, and he wouldn't notice!!!! We got through that way, like, 3 times!! I got a little nauseous after about 4 times in a row. But it's an AWESOME ride. We did a few repeats, like Cal. Screamin' again. We went on Splash Mountain also because it was HOT that day. We went on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, where you drop, like 500 feet, and the picture of you they take is of you with your eyes the size of dinner plates and your mouth wide open. We went on Indiana Jones again, and it broke down!!!! We were trapped in there for about 15 minutes. Then we got to ride it again. We went on the Jungle Cruise and the Davy Crockett Canoes. We went into some of the stores, and saw some really cool stuff.

This is the pair of ears I got.

Those are both candy apples!!!

We went back to the hotel for a bit because our feet really hurt, and we wanted to swim the pool. My cousin and I played Marco Polo with some other kids, and while watching TV we learned that Billy Mays ("Hi, Billy Mays here with OxyClean!!) died.

So then we walked back to the park and watched the Fantasmic! laser light show on the water. It was really cool; there were images projected onto mist, fireworks, floats, and a lot more!!! We watched it twice because the first time, these people had their seven-year-olds on their shoulders and were standing on strollers and they completely blocked our view. My parents went home, and my aunt, my cousin, and I stayed and rode the Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters twice, and then rode the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride. That one was actually really really cool and well done. We stayed until closing!!!

Top: Those balloons change color!!!

Bottom: Obviously, Pooh Bear!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

If tomorrow all the things were gone, I’d worked for all my life. And I had to start again, with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars, to be livin here today. ‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away.
And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I wont forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. ‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA.


These are some lyrics to the song "Proud to be an American." We had to sing this song at an assembly in 1st grade after 9/11.

On a happier note, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! Barbecues and fireworks and red and white and blue!!!! Yippee!!!! Well, this year we're not going to City Hall to see the fireworks because we just saw some at Disneyland :-( but we are having a nice barbecue here at home. We already had a very patriotic breakfast!!!

(Hopefully you all know what that is supposed to be)

Since we won't be seeing any fireworks tonight (but we will DEFINITELY be hearing them) I thought I'd leave you with some more pictures of Disneyland fireworks!!

California: Day 3

Still in Santa Barbara...

7:25: Wake up, get all my clothes together, and pack up the car

8:00: Leave my aunt's house and drive to the Orange County Airport to pick up my aunt and cousin.

10:30: Get to our hotel at DISNEYLAND!!!! We put on sunscreen, then walked to the park. We waited forever to get our tickets, then got inside!!!

11:15: Get into the park, then we went on the Matter Horn first (pretty long line, really hot) but it was a pretty good ride, pretty jerky.

We went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters, and a bunch of others in Disneyland.

Then we went to California Adventure and went on California Screamin', Grizzly Bear Rapids, and a bunch of others. We also went to this awesome ice cream place called Catch a Flave, where it's just vanilla soft-serve, but then they put this syrup stuff on it, that somehow permeates the whole cone. It was really good; I got strawberry.

We did some more rides, then pushed our way through, like a million people to get an ok seat for the fireworks.

11:00: Get to the hotel and hit the hay!!

California: Day 2

Still in Santa Barbara.......

9:50: I am woken up by my mom. Wow I slept in!!!

10:30: We go to my grandma's place to go take her to the dentist. She can walk really well now, and doesn't stumble at the curbs.

10:55: Get to the dentist, then when Grandma goes in, we head downtown and walk around a bit. All the newspapers were headlining "King of Pop is dead at 50" We went into a bunch of stores (I had fun fooling around with the iPhones in the Apple store) then we went back to the dentist to get Grandma

11:48: We take Grandma out to lunch at the Mesa Cafe. I get a really good cheeseburger. ALL of the TV's are programmed to the Michael Jackson news, all the radios are blaring "Thriller." Mom and Dad were kind of miffed because Farah Fawcett died too, and she got, like, and inch-long article at the very bottom of the newspaper.

12:40: We take Grandma back to her place and say good-bye, then drive back to my aunt's house

1:20: We get home and lay out in the sun for a while again. I shot some hoops again. I wasn't much better than I was yesterday. I braided a few lanyards, drank a soda, just relaxed, or tried to because it was very hot. My back stuck to the lawn chair.

4:00: Leave and go to UCSB (where my dad went) to go to the Santa Barbara Foresters game. It's like a bunch of college guys who play in a summer league. They were playing the San Luis Obispo Rattlers. It was pretty fun. I got a really long hot dog and an ice cream sandwich. The announcer guy said that if a player hits a foul ball, you can collect it and take it to the announcing place, and you get a free Cold Stone gift card. My cousin Joe got one!! Anyway, when we left the game in the top of the 8th, it was 11-0 Foresters. Afterwards, we went to Cold Stone (I got Cheesecake w/ brownie) then we went home.

7:13: We get home and watch my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle eat Mexican food. I played some Wii Play for a while, then went back into the kitchen and found my grandma's old jewelry boxes out again. My dad gave my this really pretty green brooch, and this litte metal purse thingy that holds a tissue, 15 cents, and a mirror. It belonged to my great-grandma.

9:00: Go to bed!!

California: Day 1

Okay. so on June 25th, I woke up at 4:30 and got dressed, got everything together, blah, blah, blah, then..........

5:00: Leave for the airport
5:57: Arrive at the airport
6:45: Board the plane
7:20: Take-off
9:07: Land
9:20: Get all our stuff at baggage claim, get our rental car, etc., etc., etc.
10:00: Leave for Santa Barbara
11:12: Arrive in Santa Barbara
11:15: Put all our stuff in my aunt's house
11:30: Go see my grandma at her assisted living home, talk for a while
12:17: Leave and go back to my aunt's house
12:49: Leave to go to Hope Ranch Beach. It was VERY windy and actually kind of cold. I didn't go in the water because.....well......I just didn't. There, we got a call from my 16 year old cousin, Sadye, who exclaimed to my aunt that "MICHAEL JACKSON JUST DIED!!!" It was on the news EVERYWHERE. After we got over that, my dad and I attempted to play some volleyball on the beach with little success because of the wind.
4:06: Get home from the beach and lay out in the sun on the back deck for a while. I shot some hoops on theie basketball hoop that was mounted above their garage door. (I need some more practice.) My uncle comes home and tells us about how cool Fenway Park is, and about those crazy Red Sox fans on the subway.
6:29: Come back in the house with my uncle and dad, and Uncle Bill puts out a cheese platter with Brie, Dubliner, and Goat cheese. I filled up on that really fast.
7:04: My mom and aunt get home from the store (it took them like 2 hours.) It was then that I was introduced to "Seventeen" magazine. It's....um......interesting.
9:01: We finally eat dinner of sausages and French Fries. My uncle brings out ketchup and this really spicy German mustard that he snuck home on the plane. I didn't eat much because I was already full of cheese. I went to bed after that, or tried to because my aunt, mom, and dad were all studying really old stuff that they found in my grandma's house, like my late grandfather's ashes, some really old silverware, and like 6 jewelry boxes.

Ah...Home Sweet Home...

Yesterday at about 10:30 we got home from the airport after a week long trip to California. It was AMAZING. We went to Santa Barbara, DISNEYLAND, Balboa Island, San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, and Burbank. I had SO MUCH FUN!!!! I kind of have a tan now, since we went to, like, 7 different beaches. My face is sunburnt, my hair smells like chlorine, and my heels are as rough as sandpaper, and I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!! (Well, maybe I could be if I was still asleep. I seem unable to sleep in.)