California

I can't believe we are on our last day of vacation. Most times we are on vacation, I'm ready to leave on the last day. Not this time. I was just reading the forecast for Michigan and it sucks! We've been really lucky with weather here. It's been sunny and low 70s all week, with the exception of a rainy morning yesterday. Disneyland was AWESOME - coming from Drew himself. He rode just about everything with the exception of Space Mountain cuz we rain out of time and energy. We got to Disney at 7:30 and found out we could check in to the room then, so we got all that taken care of by just before 9 and headed toward the park. There were some crazy lines to get in to the park but once we were in it was smooth sailing. We jumped on the Buzz Lightyear ride first...loved it! Then on to Autopia, It's a Small World and some of the smaller rides. The first big ride we hit was the Big Thunder Railroad, Drew came off screaming and jumping around...THAT WAS AWESOME!!! And that was the beginning of some proud papa moments with Mike. We did the Matterhorn, same result. We didn't get on Splash Mountain either, a bit too cold in the early evening to get soaked.

The next day we went to Build a Bear where grandma and grandpa bought Drew a bear, and headed to San Diego. Not too much traffic. Easy check in. Then headed off to the bay for lunch and some site seeing. Mike & I got to go out for some drinks and Drew stayed with Grandma & Grandpa. Saturday we headed down to the San Diego Zoo. Not at all what I remembered (from 24 yrs ago), I don't know why! The best part was a bus tour around the park. It was the first trip of the day and all the animals were awake and moving around. And since we didn't get to all the exhibits it was good to get a peak at everything. We took the gondola from the polar bears (at the top of the park) down to the bottom. The panda bears were playing around but the polar bears were sleeping on the rocks. Drew loved the gondola, although I have to say, it took my breath away a bit. It was the highest one I had ever been on. You could see over the mountain and down to the Pacific. Incredible views.

On Sunday we headed back north to California Adventures. The other side of Disneyland. It was packed but we got on the rides quickly again. We took Drew on the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror, and may have hit our limit on the adrenaline junkie. It goes straight up and down several times and literally takes your breath away. We were all a bit in shock after that ride. Then over to Soaring over California which is just an incredible ride. It really feels like you are flying over some of the best sites in California. We all LOVED it! After several hours, we had all had enough of lines and walking and headed back to LA.

Yesterday we took it easy and stayed close to home and today we are headed to Santa Monica as it's our last day here. Have to get Drew on the beach at least once while we are here. Tomorrow our flight leaves at 8:30, so we'll be getting up at the crack of dawn. I think it's going to be a struggle getting back to Eastern Time.