Days 21-25 Anaheim, California

Welcome to our last blog!! We are sad our trip is nearly over.

We loved warm and sunny San Diego and wish we could stay longer (I really want to work on my thong tan a bit longer)  but we had to keep moving so on Saturday we drove  a couple of hours north to Anaheim for the last destination on our trip.

The kids have actually been really well behaved on our multiple road trips…. as long as Gretel hands them food every 3 seconds. There have of course been some tantrums and fights but that’s usually just Gretel and I.

We successfully navigated the L.A. freeways and arrived in Anaheim in the evening. We are staying at the Best Western Hotel just a short walk down from Disneyland! So we are pumped to hit the theme parks. Even better – there is a Denny’s restaurant next door and a 24 hour IHOP (pancakes)  down the road. I feel like this blog has mentioned food constantly a fair bit.

On Sunday Andrew got up early to do a 5k run fun in long beach. It was advertised online but it was a pretty low key affair although it was picturesque  running along a beautiful marina. There were multiple distances you could run. Andrew actually came 1^st in the 5k! We won’t mention how many people were doing the 5k ….cough….three….cough… ha ha and it was actually really hot. And we mean thermally hot…not just hot because Andrew was there. Ha ha.

The medal they gave all the finishers was HUGE!! Who really deserves a medal for doing 5k?? And who needs a giant size medal for doing 5K? I was almost too embarrassed to accept it!! Then I remembered I had just paid $US 5 per km to do this run so I went back and got my medal and also some free cookies and cherry flavoured Gatorade.  Wow that was gross.  Its these events that make you appreciate free parkuns. The USA hasn’t quite cottoned on to parkrun on a national scale. They have, however cottoned on to Cotton On, which is a great store.

Above is the Long Beach Marine Park.

The best part of it all of course was that Andrew made it back in time to the hotel before the free buffet breakfast closed!! Ha ha score!!! Cause of course we haven’t eaten a lifetime’s worth sugar or anything in the last few weeks.

The rest of the day we did some outlet and grocery shopping as it was the last day we would have the rental car. So we went to some outlets around Anaheim and of course Gretel insisted on going back to the Dollar store so that we could “save” some more money!!

Elise found some converse shoes for $22 at the outlets which she as very excited about and insisted on wearing/carrying them everywhere with her for the rest of the trip. Gretel was her usual bargain hunter and bought a sweater, jeans and a dress for $20 total.

We were also able to visit the Crystal Cathedral which was pretty cool even though it was closed for renovations.

We also went back to our favourite Walmart and bought some gifts and candies and played with all their toys. Andrew bought a “special drink” to enjoy later that evening which turned out to be beer mixed with tomato juice! the label was in spanish? Only realised back at the hotel when Gretel laughed at me as she realised what I had bought! Anyhoo it did go down well….down the bathroom sink as i tipped it out. Nice work Southwell!

That night Andrew was fortunate enough to go to a combined Counting Crows and LIVE Concert in the town of Irvine. Due to his usual poor planning Andrew left it too late to leave and literally had to run 4k’s in the blazing sun to the train station that would go to Irvine. So I arrived with 2mins to spare, sweating buckets. (long distance train so there’s not many coming by very often). The lady I sat to on the train really appreciated that, I’m sure. She was covered in buckets before too long.

The concert was really cool, I was there pretty much to see Counting Crows. It was a full house and a great crowd and they did some of their great songs. It was fun seeing all the Americans really enjoy themselves (probs a bit less reserved than Aussies). I was surprised at how many middle aged people were there in the audience to see the band…seeing as I’m a young adult I would have thought they were a bit old for this band’s era.

Shock of the night was lining up for the urinal and waiting for a guy in front of me who was literally CHECKING HIS FACEBOOK…while ON THE URINAL….while we were queuing behind him….mmmm how nice is that. For a split second i though about taking a pic ha ha but yeh…that’s weird. remind me to never touch anyone’s smart phone again.

The next day was Disneyland so we woke up disgracefully early at 8:45am so we could hit the buffet before 9:30am closing time. Literally…. I actually hit the buffet on the way in cause I’m so fat now. Waffles and pancakes on the menu so the kids were happy.

Disneyland!! The weather was super hot and sunny so we were excited to queue three times (bus shuttle, security and general entry) before we were even in the park. But once we were inside it was great. we even met Mickey! He must have been starstruck to meet the Southwells cause he didn’t say much.

It’s a bit of a challenge for adults like myself to enter these places with the attitude of a child filled with wide- eyed wonder. I found myself having to check my cynicism at the front gate and try to  see past the super, super crowded rides, long queues and over-priced everything and look for the fun and excitement and magic. Otherwise you’re not gonna have a good time.

It’s cool seeing how the kids enjoyed themselves, even on the really basic rides.  It was also cool seeing the kids be brave and attempt rides they found a bit challenging or scary and seeing them really enjoy them. It was also cool in the AC in Starbucks which is where Daddy and Mummy spent time and their spending money!

The kids favourite ride at Disney land were probably the rocky mountain railroad coaster (we could all go on this) and it was pretty fast and fun. They also loved the Soaring around the world ride at California Adventure park. (that’s another theme park opposite Disneyland). Fortunately Jasmine was just tall enough to go on these rides. Daddy’s favourite ride was the “can we just sit down for a minute coz Ive got plantar fasciitis” one. We did that a few times. We also stayed for the night parade with amazing dancers and characters and LED lighting.

12 hours later we emerged tired but happy after a great day. The next day we backed up for another 12 hours. We went in a bit later in the morning to avoid the lining up to get in and we planned to stay late. (Disneyland is open until midnight in the summer. ) Gretel and i both got to go on the “Incredibles Incredicoaster” which is fairly amazing if you ever get a chance.

Why pay for a high res pic when you can snap a shot of a grainy low res one?

We went to a couple of sketching classes in Disneyland where we could sit (hallelujah) in the air con (amen) and follow along with a Disney artist and they showed you how to sketch some of the characters. We were able to sketch Minnie Mouse and also Groot. I don’t even know who Groot is but I sketched him anyway.

Above: Tinkerbell’s house. We wanted to play “knock and run” but it seems she wasn’t home.

Funny story: somehow Disneyland got the photo of some random kid on Gretel’s entry swipe pass. So whenever she would try to enter the parks,  this random photo would pop up and they would give her a hard time, as the photo did not match her face. so funny as she would have to explain the mistake to the staff every time she entered a park. Luckily she was with me each time and I would smile sweetly to the old ladies working on the entry gate and they would let Gretel in!

On Wednesday we had an easy day away from the theme parks and Gretel was able to catch up with her old friend Emily from her first DTS in the Philippines. They had a great catch-up and chatted for hours.

The kids and I just chilled out at the hotel and played and went for a swim. Poor Jasmine trying to swim with her broken arm! In the afternoon we went out for some souvenir shopping and our last dinner at Dennys!! Of Course!!

 

Above: No horseplay or fun according to the hotel pool sign. That’s fine, I can be a zebra instead.

See photo above of us eating salad.

Thursday is the last day on this epic holiday. We have had so much fun! We are so blessed and thankful to have been able to do this trip.

We packed all our gear and stored it in the hotel and headed to Disneyland for one last day. The park was extra crowded today more than previous days for some reason. Highlight of today was eating a MASSIVE  smoked  turkey leg we all shared. Apparently turkey leg is a bit of a thing here. Any vegetarians look away now……

This turkey leg is even more amazing when you consider how huge my head actually is. we certainly GOBBLED IT ALL DOWN!!! ba ha ha ha ha!

Its now time to head to the airport and head home. Travel tip: Smart Gretel worked out it was much cheaper to hire a car from Anaheim and drive it to LAX and then take the shuttle from the rental place to the terminal. Saved us probably $60 USD. She’s a clever clogs.

 

Thanks to you all for reading our blogs, we have really appreciated all the encouraging comments. We will see you in Brisbane on Sunday. Actually….not right then….don’t call us….we will be jet lagged. Ha ha ha.

Bye for now!