California Trip July 2010

Last week we got to go to California for our family trip.We drove to CA on Thursday. My sister Amy and her kids came to our hotel and went swimming. We had a blast letting the kids play while the adults caught up with each other. On Friday Natalie got to dance with her dance company at Disneyland. After she danced we got to ride the rides in Disneyland and California Adventure. The kids had a blast going from park to park. Natalie, Drew and I were the only ones brave enough to go on the Tower of Terror Ride. Trevor is not such a fan of that ride, and bailed before the ride started. Kent and Justin never even came inside. Trevor redeemed himself a little later when he went on the California Screamer with me two times in a row.
The next day we met up with Amy and her family, and we went to Huntington Beach. Amy's husband, Gavin, was able to join us this time. Kent, Justin and Trevor all tried body surfing. I read and worked on my tan. At the end of the afternoon, we went back to our hotel to clean up then went back to Amy's house. Justin and Trevor got to babysit the kids while the adults went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I just need to say that Amy really loves the Navajo Sandwich. Ha ha. Kent forgot that his birthday so I was able to surreptitiously talk to our waitress and have her come with a piece of cheesecake and a group of people to sing happy birthday to him. When we were done eating Amy and I went to Barnes and Noble while the boys got the car. We found a couple of books that had us laughing out loud. Kent and Gavin got a little irritated that we were taking so long to come out to the car, I think.
The next day we met up with Kent's sister, Rebecca, and went to Knott's Berry Farm. Being a HUGE roller coaster and scary ride fan I had a blast there. I finally got to ride the Xellerator. The last time we were there the ride had just opened, and the wait time was over 3 hours. This time I was the only one who would go on it. I went into the regular line because I didn't want to ride in the front car alone. A girl who was waiting in the line for the front car started talking to me, and she ended up ditching her boyfriend to ride with me when she decided that she didn't want to ride in the front car either. Ha ha. Kent surprised me by riding the Silver Bullet (with 6 1/2 turns upside down) twice. He hates roller coasters, but he actually liked this one. BTW, if anyone wants to make a trip to CA for amusement parks I'll be happy to join you!
The following day we went back to HB to the Brandon's house. We let the kids play, Amy and I talked while Kent worked, and then I made the girls headbands with some really cute fabric Amy got. That night we went down by the beach to eat at a restaurant. We were going to go to the pier afterward, but it was so cold (okay, not really, but it was in the high 60's- so our winter weather) that we had to leave.
On the ride home we stopped at the outlet malls in Cabazon and did a little shopping. I'm still doing 6 days' worth of laundry, but we all had a great time, and can't wait to go back!