DISCLAIMER: This trip was a one fun filled blur and I hope I am doing everything in chronological order, but there is a good chance some of it isn't.
Every year the Larson family, which I am now apart of, makes a trip down to California to visit the Davis side of the family. We had been planning this years trip for the whole summer since we all needed to make sure we got work off. As the vacation dates drew closer I got more and more excited. Mainly becuase I don't actually remember the last time I went to California. I know when I was a little kid, younger than I can remember, we went to California to visit my Grandparents and went to Disneyland. That was so long ago though, so the anticipation for the trip was constantly building as the months passed. The day it finally arrived I thought I was going to burst with excitment.
Since there were so many of us we had to take two cars. In the van was (Big) Steele, Nancy, Nick, Tess, Sean, Blake, and I. In the other car was BreAnna/Norman, Bryan, (Little) Steele, and Charles. We left on a Saturday and drove all day. I slept so much that even though it was a 10-11 hour drive it seemed like a lot quicker. I also finally had enough free time that I was able to finish reading the Book Thief and started reading Insurgent, the second book in the Divergent book series. I absolutely loved the Book Thief and would recommend it to anyone.
Blake's Aunt and Uncle, Bob and BJ, were generous enough to let us spend the week in their house while they went on vacation to New York. Which we were so grateful for. It was awesome to stay in their beautiful home. They have a stunning backyard with a pool. What more could you ask for!?
The next day on Sunday, we all woke up and miraculously with three kids ages five and under made it on time to Grandma Davis's ward in Long beach. We even beat Grandma, Steele, and Nancy ;). It is always interesting to go to someone else's ward outside of Utah. It just proves the church is true everywhere you go. The speakers did an amazing job, and I got to spend some quality time with my cute nephew Steele playing some quite church games. After we snagged a couple pictures outside the church while we were waiting for everyone.
Grandma Davis's house is right on the Virginia Country Club's golf course, in Long Beach, CA. Grandma Davis and her since passed husband have been members of the country club for a really long time (I don't know how long since when I asked blake he didn't have an answer for me). After church she wanted to take us all to the Country Club for lunch. The Club house was beautiful and the food was even better.
Blake's Grandfather Jonathan Lamont Davis passed away in 2007. We went and visited his grave after lunch to pay our respects. It was in a beautiful cemetery with a large duck pond and some fountains. I never knew Grandpa Davis, but from what I have heard, he was an amazing man. Blake was actually named after him. Surprise, Jonathan Blake Larson's first name isn't actually Blake, how's that for a story twist.
The next day, Monday, was a relaxing pool day. We spent a lot of time swimming. The kids Steele, Tessa, and Charles, were so fun to play with in the pool. I definitely got a work out swimming all around with them. Bob and BJ have a lot of diving toys that sink straight to the bottom. One of my favorite things that me and Blake did would drop as many as we could in the deep end and then race to see who could get the most at the same time. It was very entertaining.
I also spent a lot of time reading in the backyard while drying off in the sun. I ended up finishing Insurgent, and made Blake promise we could stop by a book store since I didn't anticipate needing very many books and knew I needed something for the drive home.
Later in the afternoon Blake and I went an a bike ride around the neighborhood. It had been a long time since I rode a beach cruiser. It was so fun and refreshing.
On Tuesday we woke up fairly early, packed the car, and drove to….. I know the suspense is killing you…. LEGOLAND!
Since the kids wanted to do age appropriate things Blake, Sean, and I broke off from the group and went to find some rides. Lego Land really only has about three adult rides, and one that was our favorite in particular was the Green Dragon. By the end of the night I am sure we rode that ride at least 10 times, it was awesome.
There were a lot of things to do and see in Lego Land. We watched a short interactive 3D movie, and walked through the many different lego cities, New York and Las Vegas were really cool. Here is a picture of Washington D.C.. It just blows my mind how long it would take to build the cities out of legos.
They also had a whole lego star wars section. With many battle scenes and all that good stuff.
There was even the real set from the Lego Movie. Blake and I have seen the Lego Movie enough times for me to be very excited to see this. If you have not seen it yet go and watch it right now.
Right next to Lego Land, is the Lego Land Water Park, which technically is a different park. We didn't buy passes to that, but there was a part of Lego Land called Pirate Reef that had a few water rides. We didn't bring our swim suits, but Blake, Sean, and I decided we would go on one of the water rides. When we were in line we noticed everyone in front of us taking off their shirts and shoes. That's when we realized how wet we were going to get. I took a video of the ride but I was to lazy to post it on youtube and upload it to the blog, so I just took a few screenshots so you would get an idea of how wet you get on the ride.
So basically not one inch of you was dry after the ride. It turned out being nice since it was a fairly hot day and we dried out pretty quick.
By the end of the day I was pretty tired so I was sitting on a bench, and Blake was just standing 20 or 30 feet away, and kept asking me to come stand by him.
Turns out he was standing on one of the water streams and thought it would be funny to try and get me wet. He wanted to get me to go stand by him and then he would step off of it. Luckily I was smart enough to not fall for his evil plan.
We ended up staying till the park closed, then made our way out. It was a very fun, very exhausting day.
On Wednesday, Blake, Sean, and I decided we wanted to go climbing at one of the local climbing gyms. Sean was put in charge of finding a gym and he decided we would go to Hanger 18. It was weird having to rent gear since none of us brought our own. Rental gear is not comfortable at all and the shoes make climbing a lot more difficult but it was still a blast. It was a really cool atmosphere and everyone climbing was very friendly. Also, the walls there were really cool, and they even had holds all over the celling.
Since I have not been climbing as much it was really hard, but Sean and Blake did a really good job.
The next day, Thursday, Nick, Bryan, and BreAnna, took their kids Steele, Charles, and Tessa back to Lego Land to do the water park portion. Blake, Sean, their parents Steele & Nancy, and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I LOVED IT!!! I don't know what it is about creatures of the sea, but they are amazing. Especially ever since Blake and I got a salt water tank it has made my love for sea animals that much greater. The aquarium was gigantic. There were so many cool exhibits. 
One of my favorite was the shark tank.
I didn't really take many pictures at the aquarium, but next to the shark tank there was a pool where you could pet little sharks and sting rays. It was so interesting, they feel weird! In the little shark pool there were a bunch of tropical fish. We were instructed not to touch the tropical fish because many of them have little knife type things on their tails that they use when they are threatened. But rules are there to be broken aren't they? There was a little yellow tang that loved to be touched. Blake would pet it, and it would kind of drift away, and then swim right back to his hand and rub against it. That fish loved to be stroked. I didn't get a picture or video of the fish, but later in the aquarium I took a picture of a yellow tang that looked just like it.
Later that night we went back to Grandma Davis's for dinner. On our way to her home, we stopped by the country club and picked up some golf carts. This is a couple pictures of the golf carts parked in Grandma Davis's back yard.
Sean epic photo bombed our picture.
While we were driving back we came across a field of geese. Once they found out we had bread they flocked around us .
On Friday we went to Seal Beach. It was beautiful. The water was freezing, so Blake and I just walked up and down the shore line, and played in the sand.
That night we went and ate dinner at Blake's cousin Johnny's house. Dinner was delicious, and when everyone started getting in their pool Blake and I decided to make a small trip to the closest Barns & Noble to pick up a book for me.
The last day Saturday Bryan, BreAnna, Steele, and Charles drove home. Steele started Kindergarten the Monday after they got home so they wanted a day to relax and prepare for that. Since we were staying till Sunday we just spent all day relaxing a hanging around the pool at Bob and BJ's. It really was a much needed rest day.
That night we also cleaned the house so it was in as good of shape as when Bob and BJ left it, and stayed the night at Grandma Davis's home.
Sunday morning we woke up bright and early drove home. It really was such a fun vacation! I can't wait till next year. :)
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