Day 23 And we're back!

Our last day in the USA was filled with last minute shopping and sightseeing. One of the most memorable experiences of the trip was also on this day. We'd booked in too view the space shuttle Endeavor on display at the California Science Centre. The shuttle was awarded to them after NASA shut down its shuttle expeditions and it has only been on display for a month or so. I wasn't sure what to expect at all, with science or museums not being of a strong interest but I was completely blown away. Standing underneath the shuttle it was difficult to comprehend how it managed to get into space and return, not once but numerous times! The girls and the boys separated inside the huge shed it is on display, with boys scouring the walls reading every single fact and figure and us girls marvelling at the size of what was in front of us, reading a little about it then of course venturing off to the store! I have always been a little intrigued by space and Daniel being a walking encyclopedia full of facts helped me understand a lot about it and answered many questions. We saw the shuttle on display in a position like a plane is, but they are going to build a new display area so that the shuttle is standing on end, with the rocket and boosters attached. We all found it to be an incredible experience and something that we can talk about long into the future.

Front view

Back and wing span view

With last minute shopping completed, showers and packing done we headed off to the airport. Our flight was 10.30pm which was great and allowed us to become tired throughout the day. Packing the car was quite interesting let's say.. We arrived with 4 half full cases and departed with 8 full cases plus hand luggage. Getting it all on the car required the expert packing skills of the Chauffeur, that is Dad. He did an excellent job and Mum and I ended up with a case between us on the backseat. We waited around at the airport for only a little while, ate dinner in the other time before going through the usual things and boarding the plane. It took us a ridiculous amount of time to taxi, probably from one side of the airport to another, but eventually we made it up, up and away!

I slept or napped should I say, for most of the flight after taking motion sickness tablets, which knock me nicely and I was only awake for the last 4 hours or so. Mum was much the same and managed a lot more shut eye than the way there. Dad got a reasonable amount too, but Daniel, not so much which he has paid for yesterday and today. It was more turbulent than the pilot initially said, with a few very rocky patches amongst smaller ones. Luckily they were nothing of the capacity of the flight over! I had the window seat and watched the beautiful sun rise and peek out as the shoreline of the land Oz emerged into view. The view was stunning over the mountains, which Daniel later informed me were the Alps. I took too many pictures out the window probably a few which you will see below.

The dreamy land...

Gorgeous view!

We arrived back into Melbourne a little earlier than expect at 9am on the dot on the 8th of December to an expected top of 37 degrees! The flight was about 14.5-15 hrs and we lost the 7th as happens with the time zones, as we left on the 6th. We quickly made it through immigration and customs and Gran was there to pick us up at the airport. We got back to home sweet home at 11am and began unpacking soon after, which we have been doing ever since. I had to work today (Sunday) but everyone else starts tomorrow. It was SO nice to sleep in our own beds again, eat food we are used and for me to go to the pantry and know what I can and can't eat! The best thing of all to come back to was Opal. We had missed our little girl so much while we were away and were given regular updates of her antics by Gran and Pa (The dog sitters). She was a little shocked but so excited, especially when she was given a new Mickey Mouse toy. She has carried it around all day and it will no doubt became her new favourite toy replacing the old and tattered Mickey from last trip.

Oh and in case you were concerned, the boys, that is Goof and Mr Mick have settled in nicely to the Australian way of life. Opal was a little partial to Goofball but likes her own Mickey far too much to be interested. They were introduced under supervision and all parties were well behaved! We have had an endless amount of laughs out of the two of them, with the laughing fits often ending up with us questioning how old we all are, before we justified it as being delirious and very bored, especially on long the long car trips.

On the trip we drove for some 80 hours as calculated by our car and did a ridiculous amount of kilometres. Our average speed was about 70-80 miles which is about 120km and more. It seems crazy, but trust me, we had cars going past us left right and centre. Cars over there can safely do 10miles of above the speed limit with no issues by Police, infact if you don't you are a hassle on the road!!

Dad was a fabulous chauffeur, Daniel was quite the Chief Map reader, always getting us to where we needed to be, and yes, the loose hanging head did make many reappearances!! The iPad Updater was in fine form, constantly updating her album with the pics taken of her new camera and Chief Photographer here was up to her usual tricks taking some 2700 photos before the culling stage!

We all had a blast and the time of our lives. It was such an amazing thing to do as family, with the memories and many laughs had, held close to our hearts for a long time to come!
Thankyou for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!!

Here are some photos that I have not yet uploaded...

Some Disney ones first up:

Sir Donald Duck

Reindeer eared Pluto

Minnie in a gorgeous dress!

This Woody was very naughty and came up from behind me to engulf me in a hug that was so hard it hurt.

He then proceeded to deliberately to move closer to the camera to be a nuisance to Mum taking a photo before he peered over her should to check out the photo she'd just taken of him. Satisfied he skipped off to annoy the people in front. The characters or should I say people that go out of there way really do make the difference and bring smiles to the faces of everyone, irrelevant of age!

Tigger!

Chrissy Goofball! He was also very cheeky..

Family photo with the one and only Goofy! One of my favourite pics of the trip.

Mum and Daniel on a ride in Cars land. This was just before the ride started, to which we got thrown around and sent sliding. I managed a photo of her with her gob open but thought better of putting it up here!

Some Universal Studio's ones now...

The Simpsons Bart and Lisa

This was the creepy character from the Revenge of the Mummy that sneaked up behind me and scared the living daylights out of me! My red face and uneasiness is evident here. He must love his job.. sneaking up on people, including hiding behind walls to scare people that are walking in the entrance to the ride.

Another funny story to this one.. Just for a joke and to hopefully make the cleaner smile, I put Goof on top of the Tv. I placed Mickey below hanging upside down and the sweet cleaning lady must have though that poor Mr Mick had fallen down and we arrived back to to see that he had been placed up alongside Goofball on top of the Tv.

Day 21: Universal Studios

Another very short update, tiredness is catching up with us all and thought of home sweet home is well within our thoughts! Last update until we get back home probably, next one il add some disney pics and some from today.

Today was Universal Studio's day. The first thing we did was the Studio tour, where they take you on a bus around the backlot of the studios and show you some special effects, sets of movies like Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives and a few other bits and pieces. New things had been added since last time making it even better and I really enjoyed it even though I don't know a lot of the movies they talked about.

We went on a few rides throughout the day, but there aren't that many there, in saying this there are many 4D movies and shows to see.

Just so I don't cop any flack from the travelling companions, I admit to being out of brains by a mummy. I had my to back to a tall person on stilts in a mummy costume, with coloured contacts that made his eyes creepy, a deathly stare and heavy eye makeup, thinking he was occupied with other people. WRONG! Dad gave short warning and I turned around to see the mummy pacing towards me. No I did not need a change of underwear however, I am not sure I have ever moved as fast as I did when I went running behind behind Mum and Dad. The mummy was very demanding pointing and motioning for Mum to take a photo of us, after I refused he made a heart shape and stuck out his hand. Taking a photo was the last thing I felt like doing after he scared the hell out of me, but I was not messing with a creepy looking mummy! Of course, the demanding mummy then wanted a photo with Mum, Dad and I (Daniel was off looking elsewhere) which we obeyed to.

And to keep them happy again... Before being scared by the mummy I had already said I wasn't going in the House of Horrors, but after that episode my decision was final. The house has live actors in it that jump out at you when you least expect it, sometimes with knives motioning to kill you.... Not my kind of thing! Last time I literally ran out of the house after a mummy followed me to the exit. I vowed to never go in something like that again. They all called me a wimp, I prefer the temporary bag holder. I waited at the exit to hear how they all got scared by the mummies jumping out at them and apparently Mum's voice was in fine form (Miraculously only for the first time today).

The boys had things there they wanted to do that us girls didn't, so we separated and Mum and I went to Universal City Walk which is just outside the park and is a mall as they call them, with lots of shops and eateries. Mum and I had fun looking in the shops and both thought it had lots of character and great atmosphere.

We ventured back into the park to watch a show call Waterworld. We both thought it was quite boring as were a few things today, they were 'boy things' as we described them. After leaving the park we drove to some shops Daniel had requested to go to, before eating dinner, getting temporarily lost trying to get on freeways with closed on ramps and eventually getting back to our room.

We are staying at the same place we stayed at the first 2 nights. You'll be glad to know we had nice weather today, low twenties, with sunshine and no rain, but plenty of fog. I'm looking forward to the blast of heat expected for Saturday morning at home, however the others are not so much! It has been VERY humid over here this time so I'm looking forward to leaving that behind hopefully. We are all tired and ready to go home, especially to see the baby girl, who has been very spoilt with Gran and Pa. We are over the food here, or as Mum puts it, deciding what to eat. Pleasing 4 people is difficult but we have managed very well and we have all got to do things we have wanted to do. We leave here at about 10.30pm tomorrow night, so Thursday 6th our time and will be back home about 9.30am Saturday the 8th Aus time. We will spend the morning packing up, before going to view space shuttle Endeavor on display at noon, which should be great. We have a last few minute things to get, so a Walmart and Target visit are probably in order before heading off to the airport to be at Home sweet home soon after!

Day 20: Goodbye Disney

Sorry just a quick update, too late for long post and photos..

Finally the weather weather has improved for us and we made the right decision in skipping Disneyland yesterday. We had clear blue sky and sun in then morning and afternoon and guess what... No rain!! Finally we have had some decent weather in LA. It is supposed to be 25 degrees tomorrow *I should actually say today as its past 12am though* which I am very much looking forward to!

We started off in California Adventure today and our plan was to be there for gate opening and join the fastpass queue for Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. Mum and I ran ahead but you weren't allowed to join the queue, as it was full! Instead we rushed off to the scram that was the crowd building at the roped off to area to other parts of the park until official opening for the day. I hope little hope of getting on the ride but somehow we managed to race through the park and into Cars Land to join the queue for the ride and it took  well less than hour in the end! It was so worth the wait, whether long or short. It didn;t go quite as fast as expected but really was great and so realistic to the movie. The whole of Cars land is actually set out the same as in the movies, complete with Cozy Cone motel food vendors. Mum loved the ride, which was to be one of the only ones for the day...

Her screaming became well known throughout the day. Despite nearly backing out, she came on the Twilight Zones Hollywood Tower of Terror. She may have screamed, but considering she doesn't like the rides that drop from top then rise back up before dropping she was fantastic! She didn't even have her mouth open in the photo!! Mum also came on the California Screamin' rollercoaster. She has done it before with no issues and she was determined she was doing it again. And yes, she did do it, very comfortably, screams included which gave as all a laugh. Fair enough, she vowed to not go on it again! Later in the day her vocal cords were in fine form again on Goofy's Sky School. This ride was like the made mouse and threw you around a bit but I really loved it, not just for that fact that it involved Goofy! Ps. I may have met three different dressed up Goofy's today!

Also, on another note, Daniel has become chief eavesdropper! He has this lean when a conversation is going on he is not quite in ear shot of. Mum and I got a good laugh out of it and had more than a few laughing fits. We blamed it on being delirious due to being tired as last night the people above us were making a racket from 12-3am!! Daniel and I didn't hear it mind you, we must sleep like logs!

We also visited Disneyland today to redo a few things but also do a couple of things we hadn't done. When the girls and boys separated Mum and I ran into some characters had lots of fun taking photo's. I got engulfed in a hug by a naughty Woody, who even played up to Mum and was checking the photo she had taken on her camera to check himself out. The characters are just adorable!! I love them at my age so I'm sure the little kids would be so delighted.

We finished off today with again watching World of Colour in California Adventure. The show is truly unbelievable and SO well done, it is impossible to imagine! We were on a different angle this time so it was even better and we saw more of the show which was awesome.

Tomorrow I'll try to put up lots of pics from today, have piles, from ride photos to character ones and all in between! Off to Universal Studios tomorrow!!

Day 19: LA exploring

As we didn't venture off to Disneyland today as I mentioned in yesterday's blog instead we went off exploring in LA and seeing a few places that we had noted down.

The weather today was very gloomy with the morning having no sun and all clouds and persistent light rain. It still wasn't cold though but instead very humid. Funnily enough it was a beautiful afternoon. The clouds cleared to reveal blue sky and sunshine, but there was a lot of fog around, especially on the horizon.

First off today we drove to some of L.A's beaches, namely Newport and Huntington beach. We couldn't see very much at either and at one stage couldn't even tell the water from the sky due to the very low fog floating around. The local areas however were lovely, with beautiful houses and nice shopping area. We stopped in Huntington beach for lunch and had Johnny Rockets which apparently has delicious hamburgers.

Shortly after, we headed to Long Beach. I remembered a part of it I wanted to see from last trip and was glad to see what I had remembered. It was another very nice area and I'd love to spend some time exploring LA's beaches more one day. Next stop was Little Tokyo in more central LA to visit a store that I had heard about.. It was 3.30pm on a Monday and the  traffic to get there was stop and start on the freeway the whole way, just like it was peak hour at home! Their traffic really is insane and you get virtually anywhere by freeway with drivers who hardly use blinkers and dart in and out. Luckily Mum was sitting in the back as her brake pedal was worn out well and truly. Luckily there isn't too much more freeway driving to come.

Just for a change, after that we went to Citadel Outlets that we also went to last trip. I got some things and Daniel visited Tommy again and FINALLY got the jumper he'd been hanging out for. After leaving we drove past Knottsberry Farm (A theme park) and actually decided to go in as there is shops and restaurants outside the park. We had TGI Friday's for dinner which we all enjoyed and we have actually never been before, here or at home.

We got back to our Anaheim and had the task of repacking our cases. Not an easy task  let me tell you!! I have bought so many clothes and shoes and everyone said "Your not going to fit everything in your suitcase!". I love nothing more than a challenge so just to prove them all wrong I did indeed fit everything in my case! :) They questioned how I got it in there, but with some interesting techniques I managed..It may be bulging and only JUST do up and be well over the plane weight limit but hey I proved my point! We will all repack again on our last day and divide stuff into other bags so that each one is within the weight limit.

That's all for tonight! Off for our last day of Disney tomorrow. Weather is 'supposed' to be about 21 degrees and cloudy with 5% chance of rain. Fingers crossed it won't!!

Day 18: Sea World

As I'm writing this we can actually hear the fireworks going off at Disneyland!

We were up reasonably early today as we had about a 1.5 hour drive to San Diego ahead of us to go to Sea  World.

-We went on a rollercoaster called Manta and Mums voice or should I say scream was in fine form! Daniel and I seated in front of Mum and Dad were in fits of laughter. It was a very nice rollercoaster, smooth and quite fun, but rollercoaters are not her thing so I give her credit for even going on it.

Manta

Daniel's and my pic (Mum has her mouth hanging open)

- We watched the Killer Whale show 'One Ocean' along with some others. All are very well done and the animals are spectacular.

Time for a spot of relaxing

Waving goodbye

- After lunch it was time for me to do my Beluga Interaction Program that I'd booked to do. I left Mum, Daniel and Dad behind and they were taken to the viewing area while I was taken behind the scenes to meet and feed a Walrus up close and personal. His name was something like Ogey and he was MASSIVE, noisy but very friendly. I also got up close to but was behind glass to see a polar bear called Snowflake. She is the tomboy and the least dominant but extremely smart. Next I was taken to a private change room to get into my wetsuit and booties. Not an easy task!

The big boy

- Once everyone was ready we were taken into the Beluga enclosure. The water is apparently about 2 degrees and is was quite cold but the wetsuits helped and being cold was not on my mind. I got to interact with a female called Alua and a very old beluga whale, Ferdinand. Both were gorgeous and followed every instruction and got their feed of fish or ice for completing an instruction. Getting a kiss from Alua was adorable and the the experience as a whole was amazing and unlike anything I've ever done or that you can do back home. Just before I headed for the warmth of the shower we got to see the 2 yo baby Beluga Pearl. She was in a tank behind the scenes with her Mum and Dad and was so cute. She was still grey coloured and will stay that way for another 7 to 8 years.

Splash splash!

Whale tail

Holding hands 

He was huge!

Kisses!

- Not long after the program finished Mum and I rushed off to see a dolphin and acrobatic show that the boys were at. We decided to leave shortly after which was a good decision as it was beginning to rain. The morning was also cloudy but about lunchtime the clouds cleared and we had blue skies and sunshine for a couple of hours which was nice for a change. We haven't had much luck with weather in la but everywhere else has been nice!

- We went to an outdoor shopping/outlet place on the way home for a look and some dinner before getting back to our room and settling in for an early night.

*** I actually wrote this last night before I lost internet, but we are skipping disneyland today as it has been and still is raining. Instead we are heading to la for day as we would have tomorrow, so tomorrow we will go back to disney HOPEFULLY with no rain!! We have had rain every single day we have been in la or anaheim the whole trip and although its muggy, not cold it is a bit of a pain!

Day 17: The happiest place on earth

Just a quick summary of our day with some photos along the way...

Family Photo infront of the castle

- Started off today with the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland. We missed it last time, but it was beautiful and well worth the 15ish minute wait!

-Did some more rides around the park before we separated later on in the day. Dad went off to California Adventure to try to get a Fast Pass for a popular new ride *A pass that gives you access to a ride time for later so you can do other rides* but to no avail. While he went off, the three of us visited Toon Town. One of my favourite parts of parks not surprisingly. Luckily for me I shook Goofy's hand before later on actually meeting him. They really are so cute! Also met Pluto who cracked me up and was my favourite meet and greet with the characters so far. Pluto took his time with each person and was just adorable!

Sniff Sniff!

Happy Snap

Big Goofball!

- We left Disney for lunch to go to Downtown Disney * A shopping a restaurant precinct within the resort* before we all ventured back into Disneyland to see the Christmas Fantasy Parade. It was just as beauitful and magical as it was last time despite the longggggg delay encountered due to a problem with a float. We then left the resort to go for a break back in our room.

Tigger and Pooh bear in the parade

- After an hour or so Mum and I had had enough of sitting around so ventured back to the Downtown Disney and then Disneyland. The boys stayed back and went to a Fry's electronics store and looked around while Mum and I had fun looking in all the shops around Disneyland.

- The crowd today was MASSIVE! I have never encountered so many people and we only got a few rides done today. We now now it was because of a special Candlelight procession which was the first night of it running for the christmas season, probably brining out the locals.

- Mum and I ventured into California Adventure to watch the Pixar Parade. I really loved this and it again showed how Disney does NOTHING by half! All the characters from my favourite kiddie movies made an appearance throughout and bubbles were blowing from machines on the lampposts, creating a really joyful atmosphere. In Disneyland, Mum and I also paid a visit to the Teacups ride and It's a Small World which looks incredible at night!

The Incredibles in the Pixar parade

The girls In California Adventure

Pretty moving teacups

It's a Small world

- After finding dinner, Dad came back to meet us and Daniel stayed back in the room. We had a long while to fill in before the 'Believe' fireworks that we were waiting for. Due to the huge crowd people were waiting very early and we eventually joined them, plonking ourselves down on the concrete for a good hour. About 15 minutes before it began it started to rain *Just our luck*. We were packing up to go when the fireworks began and I'm so glad we ended up staying. The display was absolutely gorgeous and despite the rain, you couldn't help but marvel at the beauty. Photos do no justice for it, in fact no photos do any justice for Disneyland, but I did try and spent the show snapping!

- We'd planned on staying to watch another show we saw last time which is similar to world of colour, but due to the misty rain we left the park and ventured back to our room.

- We are all very tired and need the "early" night as we still have two big days left. I can't wait for Seaworld tomorrow! I booked in to do a Beluga Whale Interaction and have been waiting for a long while to do it now. I'm so excited! We've got an hour and half-ish drive down to San Diego to get to the park so no chance of a sleep in!

Day 16: Disney magic

Sorry, I will only be writing a little tonight and for the next few nights as days at Disneyland are LONG days and I'm doing this as it is at 1am *oops*

Upon entering entering Disneyland again you could feel the magic in the air. There is just something about that place that really does make it the 'happiest place on earth'. As much as you try to describe the place it is not until you experience it that you can really grasp what it is like!

In the morning we had a little look around and did a few rides. There wasn't really any wait if at all which was great!! Unfortunately the weather today was dodgy. We woke up to it being wet outdoors but we had little choice to go ahead as planned with fingers crossed any rain would hold off. Hmmm well the rain didn't hold off and we were basically washed out by lunch time thanks to the misty rain! Luckily it wasn't cold though. We left the park to eat lunch and then continued onto our room where Daniel had a rest and the three of us looked a a few shops in the area we'd been wanting to look at. We also ended up having a much needed nanna nap! We've had some very late nights recently and we will no doubt be coming home for a rest!

Having fun on one of our favourite rides from last time

We ventured back to the resort about 4.30pm (Disneyland resort has Disneyland itself, but opposite is also what's called California Adventure, just like Disneyland). This time we headed for California Adventure and luckily for us the showers had eased! Yay!! We did a couple more rides and the usual things before we stood and waited for 45minutes for World of Colour to start. The show is basically a wall of water created by lots of individual fountains and colourful lights that film is also projected onto. I had heard good things about it and was not disappointed in the slightest. The colours were gorgeous and combined with the music it was just magic and I absolutely LOVED it! Something else that Disney has created that has to be seen to be believed.

World of Colour

Below is a youtube link that if you click on, you should be able to view a snippet of the World of Colour show that I filmed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-isOS69_VE&feature=youtu.be

After World of Colour Daniel headed off back to the room. He has got the cold that I kindly passed onto him. The three of us stayed on to look at shops and explore a few areas. We then headed off to Disneyland where we admired the castle all beautifully lit up, looked at some shops and I was delighted to also meet Pluto and Mickey! Their poses are so cute and there costumes are just adorable. We left the park just after 11pm with aching and tired feet like never before.

Sleeping Beauty's castle

Christmas Mickey!

The gorgeous Pluto

We have what's called a Magic Morning at Disneyland tomorrow where we can get in 1hour before opening. That means we can get it at 7am and with the park open until midnight we are in for another longg but amazing day!

Day 15: Bye Bye Vegas

Some pictures from a night in Vegas... The pics seem to be able to load now which is good sign as no doubt there will be plenty of Disney ones to put up!

At the Venetian with some lovely decorations behind

Casino's go all out with decorations and look gorgeous!!

This is a display which was at Aria.

Now on to today...

After packing up our Las Vegas room we managed to leave at a reasonable hour considering the packing up we had to do. First stop was the famous 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign. We took a few pictures (including with the the 'boys', that is Mr Mick and Goofball). Dad and Daniel also admired a Nascar that was under the sign (we think there was a parade or something on) and a Ferrari in the parking lot.

Our next stop was at Primm which is not far out of Vegas. There are outlets there (surprise surprise i bet your thinking!) and last trip we all thought that these were the best ones. You be glad to know that again we were certainly not disappointed!! We really didn't think that we would buy all that much there, but little were we to know that many of the stores had specials that none of the other outlets have had *yippeee*. Tommy Hilfiger was rampaged by Dad and Daniel, but mostly Daniel of all people. As Mum said he was like a dog let off a chain. He found numerous things there and other places as did Dad. Mum and I were not left out with Gap being out desired choice along with Fossil.  Prices are literally ridiculous and this was especially evident at Primm. With aching feet and arms after 4 hours it was time to fit our purchases into the already pretty full car. Dad threatened Goof and Mr Mick that they would be put on the roof racks which I was not too impressed with and as a result Goofy got up to some mischief!

Goody raided the Glove box...

and went swinging on the steering wheel when Mum and I were bored and needed to amuse ourselves for a few minutes while the boys were looking at a golf course.

After our shopping expedition it was time for the 5ish hour drive to Anaheim. Just because we hadn't done enough shopping already *haha* we stopped off again at the Barstow outlets as Daniel wanted to look in a shop there. A 'quick look' that was really only intended for one store turned into a little longer! Again we got a couple more little things and luckily Daniel got what we went for. By this time it was 5.30pm and with another couple of hours of driving left to Anaheim we ate dinner before venturing off. What I love about being away is that you don't have to run time. We initially intended to be at Anaheim around 3pm if not earlier but of course that didn't happen, but it didn't matter at all!

After a stop at Target in Anaheim *necessity shopping* we checked into our accommodation. We had a big sort out and a look at what we bought which brings us to now.. We are all tucked up in bed either already sleeping, researching, writing a travel journal or writing this. We've got a big few days ahead of us with our first day at Disneyland tomorrow. I cannot wait and I am so excited to see it all experience the magic all over again! Shivers ran down my spine when we heard the fireworks while driving past it tonight. It is yet to sink in that I'm actually going back. The place holds so may happy memories that are still vivid in my mind and feel like they happened yesterday. No doubt over the next few days there will be many more!