It Was Fun While It Lasted

So my trip to California is officially over. We got back into town around 3pm yesterday afternoon. The trip was very eventful, both good and bad. Saturday we drove up to California and left AZ around 10am. We had to drop off my nephew Ethan at my aunt's house in Goodyear to watch while we were on our trip. We got into Blythe, CA around 2pm and stopped by a McDonald's to get some food on the go and wrap up our trip. There was a little bit of rain on the way up to California but I never had to turn on my wind shield wipers because the rain just went up to my roof since I was going over 75 mph. San Diego/San Bernadino got slammed with rain and had a flash flood warning while we were on the road. The sky was pitch black to the right of my car so I am glad we got to skip that storm completely. We got to our first hotel, Holiday Inn Express in Garden Grove, CA around 4pm. This was an awesome hotel. The rooms were HUGE, the hotel itself was pretty new (built in 2001) and was in a great location. We decided to just order pizza and eat in because we were all tired from the long drive. After dinner we went to the swiming pool with my brother and my cousin. I hung out in the spa while my mom, dad, and sister Maria watched the kids. I feel asleep around 7pm, I was knocked out! I felt bad for my sister because I fell asleep while we were talking HAHA. I woke up around 4am and took a few pictures of our room and bathroom that I still need to upload and then called my mom and we went walking around the hotel for a little since everyone was still fast asleep. We checked out of our hotel around 10am and went down to our cars to leave towards Huntington Beach when my mom's car got infested with ants. My dad parked the car right on the curb and disturbed an ant hill and those ants were pissed! I wish I took pictures because it took about 30-40 minutes to get the majority of the ants out of their car and get houskeeping to spray the ant hill. There are still ants coming out of the hood of her car! We eventually got to the beach and it was gorgous! We were there for about 4 hours and met my cousin Brittany there. We have tons of pictures from the beach. I actually got in the water and learned that sea water tastes disgusting and that I cannot swim well in the ocean. I got sand in every nook and cranny...my ears still have some sand in them and I have cleaned the crap out of them. I was tossed everywhere. I also got a really bad sunburn and looked like a lobster for the remainder of our trip LOL. Good thing my burns turn into amazing tans :) I did not plan on going in the water and rolled my pants up so I could go ankle deep to watch my brother when a wave came and took me out and I got soaked. I had my new cell phone in my pant pocket that I just got two weeks ago and did not add insurace on...Needless to say that phone is dead. The batter actually had corrosion on it and fried. Me and my sister went back to my car to change into our swim suites because at that point we might as well go in the water. We went to eat lunch after the beach with my cousin and then around 4pm went to check into our other hotel, Anabella Hotel, which was directly behind California Adventure. Me and my sister went to the spa and had the most expensive pedicures we have ever had in our lives.....I spent $78.00!! Needless to say, there was no leaving a tip. After that we decided to go to Medieval Times for dinner around 7pm. We were there for about an hour or so when I noticed my brother was sneezing, sniffling, and coughing a lot. He wasn't acting like himself so I kept bugging him. We took him outside and gave him some of my dads inhaler and had to leave because it did not get better. We left right when the show was about to get good with all the fighting and jousting. We had to find a close by Walgreens to get him some Benadril and he felt better instantly. Something we will need to remember if we ever do that again! Apparently he is allergic to horses and the smoke! We got home around 10pm because my dad thought he knew where he was going and we ended up in La Mirada county and had to turn all the way around to go the opposite direction. Monday I woke up around 6am and we all went to breakfast around 8am. We hitched a ride on the park trolley's and spent most of the day at Disneyland. We got on a few rides but not a whole lot because my cousin is scared of the dark, scared of loud noises, and scared of roller coasters....What kind of fun is that! We got on Autopia, Matterhorn, Nemo, and the carrisel and then headed for lunch. After lunch we went over to California Adventure and rode the grand rapids ride. My brother was an inch short last year and really wanted to go on it, he was so happy that this year he grew another inch and could ride. My mom got SOAKED, you could see her underwear through her khaki pants! LOL. We went back to the hotel for naps and then went back to the parks around 6pm to do a few more rides. We hit the haunted mansion, pirates, Autopia again, and rode the train around the park. We headed back to the hotel around 9pm. The parks were PACKED and the lines had over an hour wait so we didn't get a whole lot of rides in, even if we could we were limited on the rides we could go on because of my cousin. He had to be walked out within two minutes of being on the haunted mansion ride because he got scared. My brother had a blast though! We drove back to Arizona around 8am in the morning after stopping at Denny's for breakfast and got back into town around 3pm. We were happy to get back but I wish we could have gone on more rides, met more characters, and caught a few of the shows. We got to see the fireworks though which were cool and part of the Fantasmic! show which was my first. There is always next time, I go a couple times a year. Next time we know: Do not park your car right on the curb because if you disturb an ant hill they will get into your car, either give my brother Benadril before going to Medieval Times or check out the Pirates Adventure dinner and show instead, do not wear street clothes to the beach, take out your phone from your pants and either leave it in the car or leave it on the beach with the rest of your stuff, wear sunblock to the beach and reapply often, do not open your mouth at the beach or you will taste pure SALT water (yeah I know that is what sea water is but it is still freaking nasty), wear ear plugs so you don't get sand in your ears, do not go to the parks on a holiday, and do not take my cousin unless you plan not to go on a lot of rides :)