California, Day 12: Long Beach Aquarium

Checking out a shark with Grandma

The Long Beach Grand Prix was beginning on Thursday, which meant a lot of traffic and confusion was in order. We had difficulty in getting to the aquarium, as all traffic was directed to the Grand Prix. After a bit of "off-roading," we made it back to Ocean Ave. and found the aquarium.

The aquarium was wonderful, with many touch tanks for sharks, rays, and starfish. We also saw a sea lion show, though the educational perspective was a tad over my boys' heads.

Starfish are cool!


Watching the sea lion and environmental show

The boys also loved feeding the lorikeets. Nolan kept pointing and saying "buhd!" and Matt was

in absolute rapture when two birds descended on his cup of nectar.

Matt said, "they love me!"

Nolan preferred to see the birds from a distance.

California, Days 9, 10, and 11

We didn't do much on Monday and Tuesday following Easter. We went to Uncle David and Aunt Mary Ellen's condo on Monday to play at the park and played with their Wii on Monday. On Tuesday, we went to Santa Barbara again and visited the marine life center on the pier. We also went to the zoo again (hey, it was free)! Nolan was battling a stomach problem and we felt it would be better if we stayed low-key.


On Wednesday, I received a hair cut as a gift from my mother-in law, and we went to Dennis's grandparent's house for dinner. The boys had a great time blowing up balloons with Great Grandpa, and Matt loved helping Great Grandma in the kitchen.

The Men: Great Grandpa, Uncle David, Matt, Grandpa, Dennis, and Nolan

The wives: a long-suffering group (Me, Great-Grandma, Aunt Mary Ellen, and Grandma)

Great Grandpa blows up balloons for the boys

Matt tries to copy Great Grandpa

California, Day 8: Easter

A-hunting we will go...

More candy? I LOVE California!

Nolan's a seasoned pro at this now

Since we live so very far from family, I was ecstatic that my husband's extended family made the long drives from Arizona and Nevada to come and see us. Even more exciting, my children were able to meet their cousins for the very first time!

One of Dennis's cousins bought the kids matching shirts and dresses, and another brought Easter Eggs, pails, and Sweet Pea seeds. I have to say, these kids are the cutest in the world! They also are among the most difficult to photograph en masse. We did get a shot of all the children, though at least one of them is looking away from the camera in each shot. With seven kids under the age of seven, what can you expect?

All seven children: Nolan (age 1), Kobe (6) holding Collin (7 months), Katie (5), Jake (4), Allison (2), and Matt (3). They were a busy group of kids!

Almost all of the kids: Nolan, Allison, Kobe, Katie, Jake, and Matt

Kobe, Katie, and Matt. I'm not sure what Matt is so excited about!

We ate tri-tip and barbequed chicken, pasta salad, deviled eggs, and a multitude of other things that kept us from meeting any diet goals this month! The great food was finished off with a big sheet cake. I had forgotten how much I loved strawberry filling- yum!

The girls eating cake

The boys eating cake- with much more gusto!

The food was excellent, the company was excellent, and we miss everyone quite a lot.

California, Day 7: Goodbyes and Hellos

Saturday was the day we switched families. Since Dennis's parents only live about a block from my parents, the move was rather easy. We spent the morning with my mom at the Ventura Harbor, watching the boats and enjoying a crystal clear morning. We ate breakfast at Le Petit Cafe, which has french toast made from croissants and wonderful crepes.

We took our things over to Dennis's parent's house and let the boys run free in the backyard. My mother-in-law is a preschool teacher, so she had a variety of toys (including scooters and bikes) borrowed from the preschool over Easter break. We relaxed the rest of the day because we were due for a huge family party on Easter.

Our vacation was half over, and time seemed to be flying by all too quickly!

California, Day 6: Santa Barbara

Friday dawned sunny and mild, beckoning us to drive up the coast to Santa Barbara. We went to the zoo first, admiring the animals and the scenery. The kids loved the playground, which consisted of a large ant-hill made out of astro-turf. My kids were expert at sledding down the hill, being native sledders.

Matt discovers sledding- on grass

Nolan sleds without any cardboard

Matt shows off

So that's where my kids came from!

Nolan hatches

Playing on a "spider web"

This zoo has some of the best scenery of any zoo I've ever visited. The best part is that we had free admittance, since we're Erie Zoo members and the Santa Barbara Zoo is on the reciprocal list.

The family at the zoo

Matt at the Santa Barbara Zoo

After the zoo visit, we ate lunch at Longboard's on the pier and then walked over to a local playground. The entire playground was themed after a shipwreck, and there were lots of sea creatures popping out of the sand.

Nolan slides down the plank

Matt plays on a humpback whale

A brotherly collision

Running through a mock-up of a mission

Grandma helps Nolan climb

Matt scales some chains

Nolan in a giant Nautilus shell

California, Day 5: In Which We Relax

Nolan and I walk along the boardwalk

We spent Thursday, April 9th in a very low-key fashion. We took the boys to the pier and walked on the boardwalk in Ventura. The boys loved playing on the playground equipment, watching the waves, and running with abandon. Normally this boardwalk is quite crowded with roller bladers, bikers, and walkers. Luckily it was a weekday and almost no one was there!

Matt watches the waves roll in

California, Day 4: California Adventure

We woke up on April 8th to a forecast of rain showers and children who were a bit antsy during breakfast. The hotel had a great breakfast buffet in their restaurant. We stashed two boxes of the travel sized cereal into the backpack for later snacking.


We entered California Adventure and the boys had a great time walking through the crowds in Downtown Disney. Nolan has a current obsession with balloons, and would stop and cry "baboon!" whenever we passed a vendor.



We headed straight for the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, a huge playground and obstacle course designed for children. We played here for about 45 minutes, and both boys had the time of their lives. We decided to leave when Matt was starting to tire his father out and Nolan was getting irritated because we wouldn't let him climb on the rope bridges (his feet were too little and would pop right through the netting).

Nolan climbs through a tunnel


Rock slides are fun!

Nolan in a log on the playground

The boys play chase on the playground

We headed over to Midway Mania after this, and everyone loved it. The ride has 3-D effects as you shoot at targets. Matthew was in seventh heaven, though a bit reluctant to give up his 3-D glasses at the end of the ride. Nolan signed "more" at the end of the ride, so he liked it as well.

We met a dear friend of Dennis's for lunch, while my parents went to sort out an annual pass issue for my sister. She was meeting us in the parks that day and there was some issue regarding black-out dates. We had a decent lunch and a great time catching up with James, though finding a place to sit was difficult. We ate at the Test Pilot's Grill in the Condor Flats area of the park, and there was no seating to be had. Luckily, Dennis scored a table before we gave in and had a picnic on the ground.

Matt visits Lightning McQueen

The whole family meeting "Cars" characters

After lunch, a visit to Bug's Land was in order. Everything is themed quite nicely in this section. We gave my parents a call to meet up with us in this area, and rode a few kiddie rides. Both boys loved all the rides, though Nolan was too short for the bumper-cars.

My parents found us while we were riding Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (totally lame for us, but Nolan absolutely LOVED it).

Matt taking a rest in Bug's Land

The boys on Flik's Flyers

Matt and Aunt Kristy on the Bumper Buggies

My mom and I ride the Bumper Buggies

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train- Nolan's favorite!

Surprised at how quickly the day was passing us by, we jogged over to the Hollywood Backlot area to try the Monster's Inc. attraction. Unfortunately, the line was 50 minutes long, so we bypassed that ride to see the other attractions in this area. We lined up for the Muppet Vision 4-D movie, and Matt was excited to find more 3-D glasses in his possession. He loved this movie, though Nolan found it to be a bit loud.

Turtle Talk with Crush is also in this area, and we watched the amazing interaction between the animated Crush and audience members. This show is a lot of fun, and Matt was seated on the floor with his Aunt Kristy, excitedly holding his hand in the air. He wasn't selected for a question, but enjoyed the show nonetheless. Nolan was a tad oblivious and was kept happy with a secret stash of raisins.

We headed out of the park and decided to get dinner at the Rainforest Cafe to avoid rush-hour traffic. Both boys fell asleep upon exiting the park, and awoke once we left the restaurant. We saved their children's meal for the ride home, though they ended up preferring the boxes of cereal we had taken from the breakfast buffet that morning.

We got home at around 8:30pm, and both boys were fast asleep. Prior to falling asleep, I asked Matt what his favorite ride was. His answer?

"The Yellow Ride."

It took quite a lot of guessing, but we finally figured out that he was talking about Midway Mania. The yellow was in reference to the yellow 3-D glasses. The brains of three year old boys work in funny ways!

California, Day 3: Disneyland!

April 7th was an exciting day for all of us, but was the ultimate day for Mr. Matthew. We woke up and got in the car for the two hour drive to Disneyland! Grandma and Grandad generously payed for tickets (Southern California residents are able to get into both Disney parks for the price of one ticket) and for a hotel. Grandma also stocked the car we were driving with Hot Wheels, which kept a certain 3 year old boy quite happy!

Nolan wasn't quite thrilled with the car ride down to Anaheim, but finally fell asleep in the car as we approached Orange County. As we entered the massive Disney parking garage, Matthew became excited and started pointing to all the characters on the "Celebrate" banners surrounding the park.

We exited the garage, and the ride down the escalator was quite thrilling for Nolan. Both boys enjoyed the tram ride to Downtown Disney. As grown ups, we sometimes forget how exciting riding a giant tram can be!

Since we already had tickets, we simply had to go through security and enter the park. Once in, we headed for Fantasyland and Dumbo. Since we were in California over the traditional spring break season, the park was quite crowded and the line for Dumbo was already about 40 minutes long. The boys did really well with the waiting aspect of the theme park experience, and we were soon given our "magic feathers" to board the flying elephant. Dennis and I flew with Nolan, and my mom flew with Matt. My dad took pictures from the sidelines.

Flying with Nolan

Matt and Grandma love to fly!

This is pure joy

After Dumbo, we checked our watches and noted that lunch time was fast approaching. In a vain attempt to avoid any meltdowns, we headed to Tomorrow Land and Red Rocket's Pizza Port to grab some lunch to keep the munchkins (and the munchkin handlers) happy. Matt had a bit of a meltdown anyway, refusing to walk as his father was laden with lunch trays. Luckily that storm passed quickly and Matt was back to his cheerful self.

After lunch, we headed to Autopia, which was Matt's favorite ride of the day. The boy actually quivered with excitement as he hopped into his car. Dennis rode with Matthew, I rode with Nolan, and my parents rode together on this ride. Matt didn't want to exit his car at the end of the ride, but Dennis finally managed to extract him and we headed for Buzz Lightyear.

Nolan and Daddy wait in line for Autopia


Matt watches the cars while waiting in line

Buzz Lightyear was Matt's second favorite ride. He loved shooting the gun, and I was able to experience his excitement since he rode with me. He loved moving the joystick to turn the ride vehicle, shooting the laser gun, and all of the day-glo interior. Nolan rode with Dennis and had a neutral reaction to the ride, consistent with most 19 month olds!

After Buzz, we decided to head over to Adventure Land and ride Jungle Cruise. Despite the crowds, the wait for this ride was only 10 minutes long! Both boys loved this ride.

Matt riding the Jungle Cruise

After the Jungle Cruise, we decided to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. While Matt loved this ride at the tender age of 15 months (and liked it again at the age of three), we found that Nolan was less than enthralled. The dark interior, loud cannon blasts, and "waterfalls" were too much for him to handle. For more on traveling to Disney with a very young hard of hearing child, see my other blog entry.

Nolan, taking a hearing aid break and recovering from sensory overload.

Disneyland, Grandma, and ice cream. What could be better?

Boys love sugar!

After Pirates of the Caribbean, Nolan was a little upset. We took a break in a quiet corner of New Orleans Square and had funnel cake, ice cream sandwiches, and lemonade. After this, we decided to take the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island. A new pirate themed overlay has been integrated into the island since my last visit, and it sat quite well with my little boys. Nolan liked the freedom of running, but was not enamored of the dark caves. Matt LOVED this place so much that we had to drag him away when we were done. Quite literally, kicking and screaming.

Grandma and Grandad on the raft.

Matt watches the water go by.

Grandma and Nolan on a bridge.

The boys find Pirate Treasure!

Lifting a skeleton and treasure chest with a turnstyle.

Our family on the swinging bridge.

Being carried off the island, kicking and screaming.

We rode Winnie the Pooh after exiting Tom Sawyer's Island, but found the noise level and visuals were too much for Nolan. So we headed over to Tomorrow Land and the boys took a nap in their strollers. My parents watched the boys while Dennis and I waited in line for Space Mountain, but after an hour of waiting the ride broke down. I haven't ridden Space Mountain since they updated the track and visual effects, so this was a little disappointing for us.

We ended up rejoining my parents and the boys (Nolan was just waking up) and decided to head out for the hotel. The boys were tired, and we were all ready for dinner and some relaxation.

The boys had a bath in the hotel room and we all fell asleep with relatively little effort.

Something about sun and Disney makes for a tired family!