March

Packsaddle Cave Trail

Our next stop on our Christmas Calendar was the Packsaddle Cave Trail

This is a 6.4 mile out and back trail, traversing streams, mountains, and loose rock. To date, this just might be my favorite hike. We were able to take our time playing in the stream, telling each other silly stories as to why that one tree fell right across the path, and of course explore the cave itself. 

Once inside, we were greeted by this lovely painting on the wall. Now that gave us plenty of material for scary stories! Whoever did it might have wanted to frighten people, but it gave our family an opportunity to bond over the craziness of it.

As we left the cave we saw the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak! The haze is all the dust floating around. Next time we'll bring bandannas to cover our noses, but this time we were having to much fun to care about it.

February

February brought us to Disneyland and California Adventure. Going to the happiest place on earth for a family of five means planing ahead! Luckily it always pays off. Disneyland itself was just as magical this time as it's been every other time with one difference: our youngest was able to ride Space Mountain! Whirling through the vortex of stars and feeling the wind through your hair was just enough of a rush for him to pronounce it as the best ride ever... even with tears streaming down his cheeks. While he enjoyed most of the ride he was not a fan of it being nearly pitch black and was glad Dad was by his side. 

Okay, being a SoCal native means I've been lucky enough to enjoy the SoCal discount at Disneyland for years. I've eaten in the park a number of times and normally go directly to the Golden Horseshoe for my mid-day meal. However on this trip, mid-day found us in California Adventure and not wanting to back track we decided to stay in Cars Land and give Flo's V8 Cafe a run for it's money. Hands down, that was the best meal I've had in the park. I'd even venture to say it was better than Goofy's Kitchen. Next trip, we're going back to Flo's!

We still spent more time in Disneyland proper than in California Adventure but as the kids are getting older, the Tower of Terror screams sound less and less scary. I'm sure we'll be transitioning to California Adventure more and more in trips to come.

January

As 2014 started I made a vow to have more adventures this year, whether its just a day adventure or a true exploration, I'm taking charge this year. And so it begins...
We kicked off the year of travel with Legoland in Carlsbad, CA. While it was very fun and worth the trip, we found the 7 hours the park was open to be just enough time to see all that we wanted to see. As a family we explored our first roller coasters as finally everyone is at the minimum height limit! We built Lego racers and explored the mini world of Lego Star Wars (yes this is where we spend nearly an hour). It was fun, it was exciting, it was the perfect start.
Our adventure continued the next day with whale watching. We sailed with Newport Whales (http://www.newportwhales.com/) and found our captain to be friendly and entertaining. Of course it helped that we did find whales on our outing also! We found a mama and her calf swimming fairly close together and a bunch of sea lions hanging out on a buoy. All in all it was a great day!

Much of our last hour was spent exploring Miniland USA with more time in the Star Wars area than any other. The builders truly did a fantastic job!

This triceratops jump started my imagination for the day, another great build. 

Our vessel for the day's adventure 

You can barely see the whale at about 2 seconds in. Unfortunately we didn't get any great photos or video's of them as we were in such awe we didn't think about it until we were nearly done with our encounter.

This apparently, is the hang out spot for a sea lion.