Fun In The Sun!

Did you know that less than a day's drive from our smoggy, cold Utah winter there is a place where it's warm all year.  Jackets are optional, and swimsuits are often preferred to every day clothing...

And that's where our family went for Christmas this year.  Wahoo!

Why?

Because family time was a gift we decided we needed this year.  In five months, Nate will graduate.  A year from now we aren't sure where he'll be spending Christmas.  And we could spend hundreds of dollars on family gifts that we won't remember next year, or we could spend hundreds of dollars on one big gift that we'll always remember.

We voted for the big gift.

We also voted for warm weather destinations.

California is warm.

California is relatively close.

Gabby has never been to Disneyland or Seaworld, and Tim is the only one of us who has been to Universal Studios.

California it was.

A few hundred pictures are worth a thousand words....

Day One:  SeaWorld

Day Two:  Disneyland

Tim fell asleep waiting for the World of Color show (which was AMAZING!)

Day Three:  A visit to Aunt Bonna and Moonlight Beach

Tim's Aunt Bonna lives in Carlsbad.  When Tim called her to tell her we were going to visit, she was very excited.  When we were driving into the neighborhood where she lives, she was at the end of the street waiting for us.  Later, Joie wrote that one of her best memories of the trip was, "The chance to see Bonna waiting at the end of the street to see Dad."

Day Four:  Universal Studios 

Favorite ride:  Transformers!

Gabby's favorite

Mummy was pretty awesome also!

Delorean from Back to the Future

And they made it snow in Whoville as we were leaving

Day Five:  New Year's Eve At Disneyland

Chip and Dale recreate the Chip and Dale pose

Trust me...  They're faking it.

Joie's midnight selfie

First ride of 2014...  Radiator Springs Racers, of course!  (The wait is usually 2 hours, which we turned into about 45 minutes after standing in line for 30 minutes FIRST THING in the morning for fast passes.  The line was definitely a lot shorter after midnight, only 20 minutes!  We stayed until the park closed at 2:00 a.m.

Foot shot...only way to get all 5 of us in the picture at the same time. 

 Day Six:  Huntington Beach... A Perfect Last Day in California

Add two days in the car to and from California with the kids in electronic comas, and you have the recipe for a perfect family vacation!  It it really was amazing...  One of our favorites, maybe because we knew it was one of our last chances to be together with all the kids while they are still technically kids, or maybe because a vacation was what our family really, really needed right now.  Either way, it was filled with memorable moments.  This was definitely the best choice for a Christmas present!  We'll never forget it, and the kids don't miss the "stuff" they didn't get on Christmas Day.

This story will one day be known as Christmas Without the Snow!  It may also one day be known as Why Don't We Live In California?  Because really...  Why don't we live in California?  I'm not really seeing a down side here...  (Sigh....  Going to grab my slippers and turn up the heat... )