Richardson Vacation
Once everyone looked a little more like lobsters than before, we left the beach and went to the hotel to shower. I should probably mention that I was running on about 2 hours of sleep, and the jet lag finally hit me when we arrived at the hotel. I was seriously going crazy and could not stop laughing at all these random things. McKenzie and Zach are troopers for putting up with my jet lag craziness.
Eventually we went to dinner at BJs where I got to finally eat pepperoni pizza! I can't even describe to you all how much I missed it. After dinner I passed right out and didn't wake up until the morning.
Wednesday was Disneyland day 1 and also Canada day! Everyone had 2 day park hoppers except for Avery and my parents who had one day at Disneyland and one day at California adventure. Everyone spent most of Wednesday at Disneyland regardless and Thursday at California Adventure.
I think the best part was going on the rides with EJ and McKenzie and then seeing their faces afterwards, they were absolutely priceless:
Avery mostly loved going to see the princesses, but was terrified of any of the characters who wore masks instead of actually being people. She also did not like most rides, but her favorite was the teacups even though she was absolutely terrified to go on it. We got her to go on pirates of the Caribbean and hated it because of the drops, she held on so tight to me and asked every two seconds if there was going to be another drop.
My parents are awesome and were just so excited for Avery to experience Disneyland that they didn't even care that she hated most rides.
Overall it was an awesome first day at Disneyland full of laughs and screams.
A failed shoulder ride
One fun story of the day: Zach and I went over to California Adventure for a little while and decided we wanted to go on the Cars ride (neither of us had been on it before). I believe the posted wait time was 45 minutes, maybe 60. We ended up waiting in line for probably an hour and a half and it was very hot. We eventually did ride the ride and enjoyed it very much. As we were nearing the exit for the ride, it broke down. We sat in our car near the exit for about 15 minutes, but it felt like 45. Because of the MAJOR inconvenience (I am never going to get those precious 15 minutes back), we got an up to 6 people fast pass for any ride in either of the parks. We called up McKenzie and EJ and hopped right to the front of a 30 minute wait (we probably could have used it more wisely) at California Screamin'.
I was very surprised that the lines were rarely very long, and the only time they were long was later in the evening. I mean it's the summer, no one is in school, it's around 4th of July, I was expecting it to be crazy. We really lucked out.
Disney Day Two!
As I said earlier everyone spent most of the day in California Adventure (except for my parents and Avery who spent the entire day in California Adventure). We started the day off with and Elsa & Anna sing a long show. Everyone was getting really into the sing along.... except for Avery. The only time she sang was when I sat her on my lap and made her dance with me, she's one shy girl in public, but totally the opposite at home.
While all the big kids +my Dad went to ride the Grizzly Rapids, Avery, my mom and myself hung out in Bugs Life Land (for the record, Grizzly Rapids is one of my favorite rides, but Avery really wanted to go on rides with me, so I stayed back to hang with her). Avery ended up braving all the rides in the land, and her favorite one was my moms least favorite... lots of spinning. We discovered that Avery is much more willing to go on rides if she goes on them with me. But I think our little trust pact was broken when I got her to go on the cars ride with me. She screamed her head off the entire time and clawed onto my arm. When we got off she kept yelling "YOU TRICKED ME SYDNEY" it was so sad.... but also very funny.
If you look closely at this picture you can see her grabbing onto me as my hair flows majestically in the wind. Also my mom's face is pretty hilarious.
Here are some of the pictures from day two:
Despite her face, Avery loves hanging out with me and Zach.
This was actually my first time of going on the Tower of Terror. All the other times I have gone I was wither too scared or didn't have the opportunity to go on it. I've been on way worse dropping rides, so I wasn't very impressed. McKenzie's face is the best in that picture
As you can see in this photo, Avery is sleeping. We went to the Aladdin show (one of my moms favorite things to do in California Adventure) and Avery immediately fell asleep. My dad was cracking up the entire time at the genie. They always do a good job of updating his jokes to match with the times.
When California Adventure closed, my parents and Avery went back to the hotel, but everyone else went over to Disneyland until that park closed. It was kind of lame because the lines were so long, and I was exhausted, but we were able to get in Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain before we left.
Zach rocked the princess pose, and I was his knight in shining armor.
It was an absolute blast going on vacation with my entire family +Zach. Seriously, there has not been a Richardson vacation with everyone since Avery was born with both EJ and Rory being gone on missions at different times. And prior to Avery's existence, the last vacation we had was in 2006 when we went to New York. It's crazy that everyone is all on their own schedules and lives now, we were very lucky to have a few days that everyone was available to vacation together.
Walton Vacation
On Friday, Zach's mom, grandma, and brother picked us up from our hotel to start the Walton vacation in Huntington Beach. We stayed at Pam's parents house in Huntington and hung out around there for the weekend.
Friday we went to the beach! Boogie boarding is one of my favorite activities at the beach, so I was pretty thrilled to find out that they had multiple boards. Scitt (Zach's brother) and I totally owned the waves.... and they owned me a couple times as a I totally wiped out.
It was very windy at the beach that day, so we didn't stay too long, but it was still a blast.
Friday night some of Zach's family friends came over to the house to have a game night. Both the Walton's and the Reese's are word nerds and love word games, good news is that I love word games too. I was introduced to multiple new games that I think I was able to hold my own in, and with enough game time I think I will become a pro. I love game nights, so it was a perfect way to end the first day of my second vacation.
Saturday as you Americans should know was the fourth of July. Zach, his brothers, his mom, his grandparents and myself hung out at the pier. There were tons of people and a lot going on. For some people it would be totally overwhelming, but it was definitely my kind of place. I love busy places with lots of people doing lots of different things, I seriously think it's so fun. This was the day I brought my camera along, so lots of pictures!
On the pier there was a Disney TRYathalon with different stations where you had to try different things, and of course learn something. We learned about balanced diets, how to shoot oversized balls filled with air, how to save money for short, medium and long term goals, and how to pose with fruit.
Notice how Zach is wearing the Italy shirt I got him on the 4th of July, very patriotic... at least it's blue!
This was my favorite picture of the day, I caught Jonah mid-cough
After hanging out at the pier, we went to Pam's brother Mike's house for some BBQ. Apparently it was a very big deal because they never get invited to his house, so I felt pretty honored. The BBQ was the BOMB with lots of variety, multiple flavors of pulled pork, chicken, beef, sausages, vegetables, chips and desserts. It was very american and very fantastic.
Mike had some horseshoes in his backyards and and inconvenient pole, but it was fun to play horse shoes anyway.
Pam wanted to take full advantage of me bringing my camera along, and I love taking pictures so it works out pretty perfect!
He might have a tough exterior, but he's a real nice guy
Mike and his wife Lori
This is Jonah's "ball is life" pose
They think this is totally embarrassing, but it's my favorite.
Pam took the camera from me so there was proof that I was present too
After the BBQ we went back to his grandparents house where some neighbors were lighting some fireworks in the road. We spent the rest of the night catching up on Big Brother episodes, editing photos from the day and lounging around because 'Merica.
We left California and it's beautiful weather on Sunday to go back to the furnace that is often called Arizona. It was very sad to get out of the car every time we stopped and feel that the temperature was getting increasingly higher and higher. The car ride was fun, we watched some movies, Pam and I had great conversation, we drove through a crazy rain storm, and sent lots of snap chats. Eventually we made it back to Arizona!
It was an awesome week because I was able to spend a lot of time with my family and a lot of time with Zach's family. We were pretty lucky to have both of the vacations line up pretty well.
It's totally weird being home now and adjusting back to normal life. I was really only home for a few hours when I landed from Italy, so I think I can now officially say that my vacationing is over. Unfortunately I am not returning to Krispy Kreme for the summer due to some management changes and what not, so I am pretty much free 24/7... but I am also broke... so I'm channeling my inner 12 year old and opening myself up to anyone who may need a babysitter for any reason at any time of the day, let me know, I think I am a pretty cool person.... Avery seems to like me.
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