Our drive down to California

On August 18th we left early afternoon and began our drive to California. We decided to break our drive up into two days and stay in Vegas that night. We only stopped once in St George where we quickly filled up our car and ate subway sandwiches for dinner. 


We arrived in Vegas just before sundown and checked into the Monte Carlo. The heat was unbearable, we couldn't believe how HOT it was even after the sun went down. The kids were so good as we walked 4 miles up and down the strip without strollers. Crazy is what you can call us, we were all soaked with sweat. We couldn't resist the cold water being sold for $1.00 and had to buy a few.

We had a great time seeing the cool lit up buildings. Elvis and Jack Sparrow were everywhere but we couldn't resist a picture with superman :) The Bellagio fountain show was my all time favorite. Especially because it was to the song "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea  Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.  Walking past Caesars Palace seemed to take forever but the kids had fun splashing in the fountains. We then made our way to Treasure Island to catch a glimpse of the huge pirate ship and then back to the Mirage for the volcano show.
We eventually slugged our way back to our hotel going through the cool (literally cool) gardens at the Bellagio and then crashed for the night. It was actually better then I thought it would be and I think it helped that we were out on the strip well before it got late and into the craziness. 

The next day we checked out and before beginning the rest of our drive we walked the opposite direction down the strip. It was even hotter than last night. We visited M&M world and checked out New York New York. We walked around Excalibur and then took the tram to Mandalay Bay. There we went to Shark Reef and enjoyed every minute. Josh and Aaron walked around with these information  phones while I walked around with Rachael as she pointed at everything saying 'wook' 'wook' and 'wow' (look  being one of her favorite words). We saw some cool sharks swim right above our heads and a load of other cool fish including piranhas, jellyfish and huge creepy creatures.

Once we made it back to our car we pulled out the nice ice cold cooler with drinks and lunches before hitting the road. We then drove the remaining 4 hours or so to Anaheim. We stopped once in Bakers California where we saw the world's tallest thermometer (sorry no pictures).


We checked into our Holiday Inn Resort and took a shuttle into Disneyland. We had 5 days in Disney and we decided to use that evening as one of them. We got right onto a bunch of rides including Buzz Lightyear and the Matterhorn. The best thing about the rides Rachael couldn't go on (which was only 5 or so) was that they do a switchpass. So Aaron and Josh would wait in line and go on the ride while I waited with Rachael. Once they got off the ride I got straight back on with Josh without waiting in any line. It was brilliant and Josh got to ride all the big rides at least twice.


Before leaving the park we went on It's a Small World. Seeing Rachael's beaming face reminded me of Josh at Disneyland Paris in 2008 when we took him on that ride. It really is a cute and fun ride for little ones even though the song is then stuck in your head for the next 3 days.