Last day of Preschool...ever!

Josh had his preschool graduation today. I can't believe it. I am so happy that he sang all the little songs and did so well. He has grown by leaps and bounds this year, but he is definitely ready for some summer rest and relaxation!

I can't believe we're closing this chapter of our lives.

First day of school/last day of school

With his wonderful teachers Miss Marianne and Miss Heidi

day 7 Friday

Our last day in California. Our Go Card included a whale watching tour. We tried the Newport Landing tour. They had an earlier tour when we arrived to check in, so we were on the boat by 9:30. No whale sightings today. We saw some dolphins and sea lions. The captain gave us $7 return trip vouchers to come back again another time and try again for a better sighting day.

It was still fun seeing the common dolphins and being on a boat on the calm ocean. It was perfect weather and sea conditions.

After lunch the kids wanted to swim in the hotel pool. So we hung out there for a few hours. We got some ice cream at Hans Homemade Ice Cream shop in Santa Ana and then went to Corona Del Mar beach to watch the sunset on our last day. It was a pretty beach with rocks and tide pools, but it was high tide so we didn't see any tide pools while we were there.

on Saturday, day 8, we drove all the way home. We got to our house around 9:30 and ready for our beds! Now back to real life.

day 6 Thursday

Today we went to our 3rd amusement park of the week, Knott's Berry Farm. There were dozens of school buses with kids field trips here today. Otherwise it wouldn't have been crowded. Our longest wait was still only about 20 minutes. This park is a lot like Lagoon. There were plenty of older kid rides, and not too many that Josh wanted to go on. So he spent his time waiting for the big kids and eating cotton candy.

The park closes at 6 today, so we were going to leave early, around 4:30, but kids kept seeing "just one more" ride they wanted to try before we left. We did get out of there at 5:30 and headed over to Outback for dinner and a little birthday ice cream for the birthday girl.

day 5 Wednesday

Beach day! Yay! It was a little chilly for beach day, in the 60's to low 70's. But still a lovely day. We went to Huntington Beach this time. Near the pier. It has a lot of sandy open beaches so it doesn't feel too crowded and the enough shallow wading area for kids to enjoy. Long Beach, a few miles up the coast, has been sighting 15-25 white sharks close to the shore. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to get in the water at all. But there were plenty of people and surfers in the water so we were able to relax and enjoy here.

We ate dinner at Ruby's on the Pier, and stayed on the beach until sunset.

day 4 Tuesday/birthday!

McKinley chose to go to Harry Potter World on her birthday specifically.

We headed straight to Ollivander's wand shop. They do a little wand ceremony for one person in each big group they take in. The wand chooses the wizard. 

Then they let you out into the wand shop where you can purchase one if you'd like. All four kids got the interactive wands that you can cast spells with around the park.

McKinley chose Hermione's.

Sawyer chose Ron's.

Hayden chose Snape's.

Josh chose Harry Potter's.

The train and conductor.

We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks!

There are a couple of rides. Here we are in front of Hagrid's Hut as we wait to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff.

Here we are at the gates to Hogwarts castle. There was no line to wait in here. The first time we hurried through to the ride, The Forbidden Journey, and the second time we took our time and looked at all the fun stuff there is to see inside the castle. The talking paintings, the sorting hat, the Dark Arts classroom, and other cute things we missed rushing through the first time.

Here are a couple of us casting our spells around the park. 

We watched the school choir sing with their toads.

McKinley and I had to go to the entrance to get her a birthday button to wear. After she put it on, apparently every employee must say happy birthday to her. She loved it of course! At the entrance it tells you to 'please respect the spell limits. When we bought the wands the kids were told to not call the dark mark, and not cast any unforgivable curses.

There's a resting spot in the owlery. You can see the animatronic owls in the rafters as well as owl droppings on the floor below.

 Of course we got some butterbeer! Some of us chose regular and some chose frozen butterbeer.

We also watched the Goblet of Fire tournament performance, but the kids were done with my picture requests.

After we had spent all the time we wanted in the Harry Potter World section, we visited a few other spots in Universal. We rode the Depicable Me, Transformers, Jurassic Park, and the Mummy rides.

McKinley's other request for California was to go see the Hollywood sign. So on our way back to the hotel we drove by a viewing spot at the Griffin Observatory. It was very crowded and parking was $4, so we had her stick her head out the window while we drove slowly by the lookout spots. It was good enough.