A few characters we have met along the way!

Hey everyone,

Another day and another WOW moment!!  Who knew water, lasers, lights and fire could be so beautiful!!  Disney California Adventures - World of Colour was spectacular!!!

The kids have met a few of their favourite characters - here are some photos!

Here you are Poppy - you wanted a picture of a bear!!

CARS!!! We need to come back next year - they open Cars World in 2012!

Jack's fave - Mary Poppins and Bert!

Pluto

Bang! Bang! Woody

Awww  Love for Woody!

The pictures below are from the World of Colour show - there are no fireworks, it is all water, lasers, projectors and fire - A - MAZ - ING!!!

I have video - beware the slide show when I get back... BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So we have 2 days left - still have some parts of Disney we haven't seen and still have some rides we LOVED, and want to do again before we go.

This has been one of the best experiences of mine (and speaking for the kids right now) the kids lives (to date).  We will come back, not sure when but hopefully very soon - the 40th birthday might be another big holiday me thinks! 

Love and kisses to everyone - see you all soon!

xxoo

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME, JACK

I have decided on one thing. Remember how I said I had a new wand? I am going to look up ALL the spells known on wikipedia and information sites (that includes the unforgivable curses, such as Avada cadavera, Curcio, Imperio) so I can become a master wizard!! (I now magic isn't real).

On a more happier, magical, spectacular, absolutely positive, exciting, amazing, bombardedly popular in my world note, just yesterday, my family was in the happiest place on earth, DISNEYLAND!!!! the best ride we went on was the space mountain. It was a full roller coaster inside... IN THE DARK!

The worst ride we went on was the haunted mansion. THE WORST HAUNTED MASION IN THE WORLD!!!!! It wasn't even scary. before we went on the ride, they had the tomb stones of the pets owned. they had one for a snake. on the tomb stone it said:

here lies my snake, whose fatal mistake, was to frighten the gardener, who carried a rake.

We also went to Mickeys house, and walked through it. we saw a lot of strange furniture. when we got through we were in the line to meet Mickey. and we didn't even realise!

You have probably seen Luke and Ben's post, so i guess this is a....

GOODBYE!!!!!

Luke and Ben's view on Disneyland so far

LUKE:

We went on a ride called the Astro Orbitors, it was seriously fun, when I went down I squashed Jacks leg!

We went on Astro Blasters it wasn't too fun to me, also we went on Star Tours, Mum and Dad really loved it!!  To me, half half.

My favourite ride at Tomorrow land was Space Mountain!  Then we went on a ride called autopia, I got to be the driver of the car and I went crazy.  I crashed every single time!

Moving on....

We didn't go on any rides in Fantasy Land but we went into Mickeys Toon Town, it was really cool!  From Epic Mickey they had the clock tower they used as a villain (Simone:  He is talking about the "Its a Small World" ride). 

First we went into Goofy's house, everything was a bit silly - like Goofy is!  Then we went to Mickey Mouses house, it was really cool and they had a really big line, just to take a photo with Mickey Mouse!

I am really looking forward to Fantasmic.  I would really like to see the fireworks again because they were REALLLY good!

Just before I go I am going to mention about the haunted mansion, it wasn't really scary at all except for one part!  When the voice of the storyteller said "You can find a way out or go out my way"  The way he got out was by hanging himself - that was the only bit that was scary.

Well goodbye, Ben has something to say.

BEN:

Good Morning, my name is Ben and I would like to tell you about something!!  We found 2 treasures when we were pretending to be pirates, then we saw a grave full of zombies digging the ground. Then what happened next we saw the fireworks with my Mum and Dad.

Today we are at home, Dad is having a shower and I really hate it because it takes so long and I am really hungry for breakfast! 

Goodbye now I am going to put my tattoos on and have a rest!

WOW WOW WOW!! Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth!

I can't stop saying it!! WOW! WOW! WOW!

I can't believe we are really here!  I can't believe that I just saw the most beautiful fireworks show over Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Being at Disney is a dream I have had since I was a kid, and now I am here with my own kids... WOW!! You can't wipe the smile off my face!!!

We have just spent 12 hours at the park and only done a quarter of the rides... there is a lot to do, and a second park to get to.. thank goodness we got a 5 day park hopper pass.  We were lucky enough to get a "sneak preview" of the new upgraded "Star Tours" ride - we waited in line for an hour and it was worth every minute!! We are hoping that they will still have it open next week but doubt that it will be.

I think we relax tomorrow (somewhat - we need to go and buy a suitcase for all the souvenirs we are yet to buy!), and then Monday - Thursday is going to get crazy!

Here are some photos from the fireworks... WOW!!

Can you see Tinkerbell flying by?

She is in this one too!

Everyone else is sleeping, the camera battery is on charge, and I need to do the same, so speak to you soon when the kids can tell you their favourite bits so far!

Hugs and kisses for everyone
mwah mwah
xxoo

What have we been up to??!!

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO LUKE:

At Universal Studios in the Harry Potter part of it, I absolutely loved the rides I went on.  Number 1 "The flight of the hippogriff" and "The Hogwarts Castle" ride.

We had butter beer, it was really delicious!  Ben and I got our face painted, Ben got spiderman and I got 2 dragons.  In the Marvel Superheros spot we went on this Spiderman ride, it was kind of like the Harry Potter ride, it was 4D and it was really cool.

We went on 2 rides that made us get really drenched.  The first was Ripsaw Falls, Jack and I went on it 3 times, once with Mum, second time with Dad and the last time just Jack.  Number 2 water ride was Popeye ride and we got drenched on that one too.

We went on the Pterendon flight in Jurassic Park and it was actually fun, adults couldn't go on without a kid because the ride was for kids.  I got to see a dinosaur egg hatching.

Right now we are staying in a hotel right across the road from Disneyland.  We haven't been there yet but we are going tomorrow.  I can't wait its going to be exciting.

I also just cant wait to get back to Australia!!

Bye

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JACK:

HULLO!!! everyone! I am particularly exited about staying in a park RIGHT across the road from the one, the only, spectacular, wonderful, so amazing that it makes me exaggerate, DISNEY LAND!!! and we are going there tomorrow!(on a Saturday!).

Also, I have been on my very first roller coaster, UPSIDE DOWN!!!!! which I am quite proud of myself about. the ride is called the dragon challenge, named after the first challenge in the tri wizard tournament (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Mum and I went on it twice, and dad and I went on it 1 more time. I also have a new wand. It is made of vine, and the core is the tail hair of a unicorn.

The day after the UNIVERSAL STUDIOS: ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE trip, we went to the Kennedy Space Center, YES, The Kennedy Space Center. The first thing we did there was a ride called the shuttle launch experience, which moved and shook a small room up and down. We got to see the launch pads, the assembly building (which is so tall that the full sized statue of liberty could fit inside it, and still have a little space left.)

oh, another cheap here, expensive home deal struck us. I bought a Lego set from NASA (a Lego version of the Atlantis space shuttle) that was $40 here, and $100 something at home! Also, we came across a Lego shop that you could buy Lego sets that could be over $200 at home, but under $145 here. some have never even came out in Australia!

I had to leave for a little while writing this, Disneyland had a truly spectacular firework show. so left to watch it sorry :-(

although I would write more and more and more things, I think this story is long enough. so, until next time,

bye. 

Harry Potter World - Hogsmeade

Harry Potter World - Hogwarts Express

Harry Potter World - Hogwarts Castle

Baby Raptor hatching - Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park Camp - Pterendon ride

Jurassic Park - watch out for the T-Rex

Luke face painting - Double Dragon (kind of scary huh!!)

Harry Potter World - mmmm yummy butter beer - tastes a lot like butterscotch!

Proof that it has been warm enough to go swimming!  Love heated pools!

Mass sliming - Nickelodeon Suites

There is so much to tell you all that I am afraid we dont have enough time, (that or you all go to sleep from boredom!)

Here are some highlights:


NICKELODEON SUITES
- Kids got mass slimed at the water slides
- Weather fabulous for swimming
- Ben got a photo with both Blue and Diego
- Luke and Jack participated in Karaoke

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
- Jurassic Park discovery centre lots of fun for kids
- Jurassic Park Camp lots of fun for kids
- Harry Potter World absolutely amazing, the detail in the architecture made you really feel like you were in Hogsmeade!
- I was dragged on roller coasters with kids - blurgh!  but fun!
- Would have loved to go on the Hogwarts Castle adventure more then once
- Ben got to meet Spiderman and we all went on a Spiderman ride which was incredible
- I could have spent a lot more money - lucky the husband was there to put a stop to that - sorry kids!

KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE
- Ben to little for Shuttle Launch Experience ride - bugger!
- Steven and kids liked the Shuttle Launch Experience ride
- Seeing the Saturn V rocket was unbelievable - absolutely massive!
- Hearing the stories, and reading the facts was very interesting
- Spent too much money - yes husband was there but I didn't listen this time!

ANAHEIM SO FAR
- Right across the road from Disneyland - literally
- Fireworks were loud but really close!
- Lego SOOOO much cheaper then home

FREE TIP:  Dont go to Universal and completely wear out your 4 year old then go to Kennedy Space Centre the next day and expect that 4 year old to be on his best behaviour... just a quick word of advice!

So we start our Disney adventure tomorrow - probably a split day as we have a "magic morning" experience tomorrow but we also want to see "World of Colour" and "Fantasmic" so will be a big day, lots of photos and probably too tired for a blog :-).

Sunday might see us shopping for suitcases so we can bring home all our souveneirs...

Overall still having a blast... Kind of sad the holiday is nearly over... Kind of glad we are nearly home.

Lots of love to everyone

xxoo

Last leg of the holiday started today...

Just a real quick one to let you all know that we made it out of Orlando alive and are now in our hotel room in Anaheim.... Disneyland here we come!!!

We have a lot to tell you including Universal Studios, Kennedy Space Center and Karaoke - no not me - Jack and Luke!!! :-)

So once I work out all the photos, we will have a MEGA BLOG to send you all.

Love from us!

WE ARE IN ORLANDO FLORIDA

Hey there,

After waiting, waiting and more waiting we finally made it to Orlando Florida!  We waited to get our boarding passes at the hotel, we waited for our bags to be scanned, we waited for us to be scanned, we waited to get on the plane, we waited while the plane flew over to Orlando, we waited on the plane for the lightning to pass before we could get off the plane, we waited to get on the bus to get to our hotel, we waited to check into the hotel and that was all the waiting... how long was that?  We were up at 4:30am in California and finally fell into our hotel room at 8:30pm, (there is a 3 hour time difference between California and Florida) so it took about 13 hours to fly from one part of the country to the other.... phew!! We were tired!  Which is why there was no blog last night!!

Was the wait worth it?  HELL YES!  This is a hotel made for kids... so many things to do!! A couple of pools, water slides, activities, Nick shows, the kids are either busy or too tired, which is why they are not blogging tonight.  Ben is in bed watching telly (probably already asleep) and the older boys are at a studio watching a show being taped!!

Last night we could see the fireworks from Disney world (which is literally up the road).  Believe it or not, I didn't take one photo yesterday, and only a couple today!  Things will change though tomorrow!

We are very excited, the shuttle launch happens on Monday... we THOUGHT we were booked to visit the space centre on Monday, turns out that we needed to call to confirm and missed out, so now we will visit on Wednesday, I am sure it will still be interesting!

Ben was very excited he got to meet Blue from "Blues Clues", he had a cuddle and a high 5 - here are some photos (of course Jack had to get a cuddle as well!):

Ben and Blue

No Blue is not trying to suffocate Ben - he is just getting a cuddle!

Jack getting some action from Blue

Hi 5 Blue!!

The hotel we are staying at is called Nickelodeon Suites, google it to see what all the fuss is about - if you have kids and you are flying to Orlando I highly recommend you come and stay!

Whilst we flew into thunderstorms to get here, the weather cleared up for us today and was perfect swimming weather - it got to 30C - aaahhh lovely!!  Tomorrow it is going to be a little cooler - approx 27C, I think we can handle that! :-)

We have another busy day tomorrow - more swimming, boys are going to try and get cast for one of the shows... we will see how that goes!  It's pretty late here now so will get to bed.  Have a great day everyone!!

Love from everyone here in sunny Florida

xxoo

OH YEAH BABY... THIS IS HOLLYWOOD!! At least that's what they tell us...

We made it to Hollywood and really, not as pretty as everywhere else we have been, but still, now we can say we have been here... will we rush back?  Probably not.

We think we saw someone famous - David Spade... from Rules of Engagement... cant say 100% sure, but it really looked like him!! 

Went on yet another tour, saw some famous houses, I took photos of them but cant remember who they all belong to haha!

Here are some photos from the day!

A cool race car - the most expensive in the world!  Just one of the many fancy cars on Rodeo Drive.  Ben would like one of these for his birthday...  hmmmm...

the Beverly Hilton - where they hold the Golden Globes

the Hollywood sign

boys in front of the Hollywood sign

Kodak Theatre - where they hold the Academy Awards (the Oscars)

Jack EXTREMELY excited - he found Harry Potter hands and feet!

Me EXTREMELY excited - I found Victoria's Secret and Steven and the boys waited outside while I perused and shopped!

the Beverly Hills sign, unfortunately I had the camera on the wrong setting!!! Looks kind of arty don't you think!

JACK:
I FOUND THE CONCRETE SQUARE THAT DANIEL RADCLIFFE(harry potter) RUPERT GRINT(Ron Wesley) AND EMMA WATSON'S(Hermione Granger) PUT THEIR HAND AND FOOT PRINTS ON!!!!!!!!!

By the way, we are currently in HOLLYWOOD, city of celebrities. we went on a tour around the city, and saw the houses of Brittney Spears, Miely Cyrus(yes, Lani, if nan shows you, MIELY CYRUS), Madonna, George Clooney, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley's last houses before they died, Drew Barrymore's house and the Playboy mansion.

I also spotted someone off the T.V. show, RULE'S OF ENGAGEMENT! That's the only celebrity I am going to see:-(

That's all I am going to write today, so GOOOODBYE FELLOW FOLLOWERS.  

BEN:
We are going to fly to Disneyland and first we are going to see the rockets at the space centre.  Then we are going to go to America - Disneyland and we are going to see Cars 2 at the movies.  Then we are going home at Australia.

See you soon I am going to bed now.  I miss you so much.

LUKE:
Tomorrow we are going to the Nickelodeon resort, I am SOOOO EXCITED!!!  Dad said we would be going down water slides with slime instead of water and landing into a slime pool.  I don't think that's true, I think it is water with green food colouring.

Today we went to IHOP, it was a really good restaurant.  I had the Silver 5 which was 5 pancakes, a piece of bacon and scrambled eggs and it was only 360 calories!  Jack had something that was like 550 calories or maybe more!  Mummy let us have most of her hot chocolate.

For tea we went to this place called Mal's Diner.  Ben and I with our tea got cardboard cars with flames on them.  I am using my car as Angel's car - my favourite teddy.  Ben is using his car as Fluffy and Puppy's car. 

I am really missing everyone and I just cant wait to see everyone again.

Well I have to go to bed now so goodbye!  Have a nice time in Australia!

Santa Cruz to Pismo Beach!!

Hi there everyone,

We are on our way back to LA to drop of the RV.  I am kind of sad that we have to give it up, it really has been such a great adventure!! Here are some photos over the past day... not in order - that requires time and patience!!



Pismo Beach sunset, Steven and all 3 boys are there!

More Pismo Beach sunset

The river at Felton (Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Park)

The view from our bedroom window at Felton (Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Park)

The setting at Felton - so beautiful! (Thats our van)

Clearly the sign leading us into the park!  At least Ben is bigger then the Bear!

The way down to the river.

The boys posing for one of the many photos!

So tomorrow we will be heading to Malibu - the last night in our van!  We will keep an eye out for Charlie Sheen but not sure we will have any luck seeing him!! hahaha!!

After that a couple of days in Hollywood.  Only a small blog I know but we the boys will add their piece tomorrow!

See you all!!

xxoo



Bye Bye San Francisco... Hello beautiful Felton!!

The kids like the combined blog, so here is another!

FROM LUKE:

Yesterday we went to Pier 39.  We also went on a carousel - it was 2 stories!  There wasn't just horses, there were dolphins as well.  We also saw Sea Lions and they were cute... but they stank!!!

We also went on a tour.  We saw houses of rich movie stars and we also saw the house of Mrs Doubtfire, the one they did the movie in.  We also went near the Golden Gate Bridge, it was seriously busy!

Today we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not Odditorium.  It was amazing!  We also got a bag of candy and we went in the maze of mirrors. 

We went to the Rain forest Cafe, I mean restaurant.  It was cool AS!  It looked like a real rain forest.  The middle floor I couldn't believe my eyes!!  They also sometimes have fake thunderstorms which makes the pretend animals move and make noises!!

The RV park is amazing, I want to stay here longer and longer and longer because it is in a forest.  We crossed a freezing cold river and Jack was the last one in.  I also made really good friends and my friend Emma (she is one of them), she's like me, absolutely loving Pokemon!

Well I guess I can't think of anything else, I guess this is goodbye, have a nice time everybody!

FROM BEN:

I miss you so much Nanny, we went on an aeroplane to get to America.  We went past the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was really cold on the bus.  Then we goed to this Caravan Park.  It is nice with big trees. 

I love Mum, I love Dad, I love myself and I love Jack and Luke.  I love this movie we are watching too - Open Season 2.

We went to the caravan park with a beach, and a pool and a playground.  We went to the Las Vegas caravan park as well.

Speak to you next time.

FROM JACK:

Hulloo everyone!

We went to Pier 39 yesterday, it was crowded and we went on a 2 story merry-go-round and it looked like it went fast, but when you went on it, it didn't go as fast as it looked. 

We went around the pier as well, we walked to one side and saw one sea lion, and then we walked to another and saw a whole pontoon (or at least alot!) of sea lions!

IT STANK!! (not in the bad way - I mean the smell)

After the sea lions we went on a tour around San Francisco, we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw Lombard St, a street in the shape of a zig zag (literally a zig zag).  (Herbie drove down this street in one of his movies). 

Today we went to a museum that was based on Ripley's Believe it or not books.  That was awesome, (strange but awesome!).  They had the worlds smallest man, there was a robot made to look like a naked lady (and right next to the display there was a button that caused an alarm!)

It also had a wedding dress made of toilet paper.  I measured myself against the tallest man - I am
5ft 6!  They also had an art museum that had portraits of people made out of strange things and they had modern songs playing to sound like classical music.  My favourite one was when they played Pokerface with the violin.

There was a  tunnel where the walls rotated with a path in the middle.  I could not walk in a straight line because when you went in the tunnel it felt like you were the one turning - not the walls!  After crashing into the side bars so many times, I finally made it out the door!

We walked down even though we were in a dark room, then we found the exit, but then another maze started which was a mirror maze.  Before we entered the maze, they put gloves on us so we didn't mark the glass.  I thought it was fun, because every time I went around another corner I went to say "Hi!" then realised it was me I was looking at!

Annoyingly they had revolving mirror doors which made it that little bit more tricky to hop out meaning I got lost a couple of times.  When we finally found the exit, we were told to go back through the maze to find the entrance.

When we finally got out of the mirror maze we went into a lolly shop and bought about 4 bags (not full though).

When we finished we got back in the RV and travelled to Santa Cruz Redwoods RV resort.  When we got to the resort, the first thing we did was walk down and look at the river.  Then we went to the club house which has a pool table, Foosball table and ping pong table.

After that we walked down to the river at a shallow part and then walked across what felt like minus 1 degree water.  I eventually made it through and then when I got back through we had to get back through to the caravan.

That's basically what has happened over the past 2 days, so talk to you again another time.

BYYYEEE!

FROM SIMONE

Yep, it has been a couple of busy days!  San Francisco was great - it was Mothers Day for me yesterday, the boys got me a card each and made me breakfast in bed.  It was very yummy!  We went for a swim in the morning - we looked a little crazy swimming at 9:30 in the morning, but the sun was out.  Unfortunately the pool had not yet heated up so it was a great heart starter!!  Lucky they had a hot tub that really was HOT!



Luke really wanted to go Ripley's Odditorium but we ran out of time on Sunday, so we packed up the van and drove the RV right into San Francisco and took the kids today on our way (or rather out of our way) to the next RV park.  The drive was less scary then I thought, and the kids loved Ripley's.  They also loved the Rain forest restaurant.  It was pretty spectacular!

The trip to Felton (5 miles from Santa Cruz) was (I think I might need a thesaurus), beautiful.  We drove around the coast and the shoreline was spectacular, we drove through Venice Beach, (the houses here looked a little out of our price range), and through some other coastal towns, then it was time to get to Felton. 

The drive was amazing, at least I think it was because I had to close my eyes to save myself from having a heart attack!!  We were in a 31 foot RV travelling around windy, forested roads, kind of what you might find around the Great Ocean Road, only narrower.  I had never been so happy to see a caravan park in my life!!!

It was all worth it though, it was one of the most beautiful parks I have ever stayed in. I am hoping the photos do it justice, but I am not sure they will.

It's getting late now, so will sign off.  We are heading to Pismo Beach then Malibu and need to have the van back to the rental mob on Thursday.  I am hoping we will get to Santa Monica pier, but so much to do, so little time.

I know the next half of the holiday is going to be awesome, but am a little sad to be giving back the RV, this really is the life!  We have met some wonderful people and seen some amazing countryside. 

I think we need to start planning the next trip and we haven't even finished this one!

Love and kisses to everyone

mwah mwah!! xxoo

Santa Cruz RV Park - the trees here are huge!

Luke sitting on one of the tree stumps

The river at the park

The boys in one of the hollow tree stumps (Jack pretending he has a chainsaw)  (Luke pretending - I hope - to choke Ben)

Ben on one of the other RV kids scooters - Ben loves it! Especially free rolling down the hills!

It's kind of windy in San Francisco

The sea lions Luke and Jack were talking about.  They came to live there after the '89 earthquake

The whole restaurant is decked out like this!  (Minus the kids!)

Maze of mirrors - not good for someone who doesn't have a sense of direction! (That's me I am talking about!)

More maze of mirrors - boys loved it - I was scared we were going to lose one of them!