Mickelsen Family: Christmas in California!

We hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas! It's hard to believe that tomorrow will start a new year! We have had a wonderful Christmas season spending time with family and friends in warm weather. The month of December has flown by once again as it usually does each year. Here are some things we were able to do.

To start off with...Emma's hair. I think it says it ALL! In a way, it kind of explains how I felt at times this past month.

Emma and Santa did NOT hit it off well during their visit. Maybe next year she will like him.

Caleb attends a preschool close by. He LOVES it! We had the chance to watch the kids sing some Christmas songs and then Caleb and I decorated a ginger bread house...as did all the kids with their moms. It was a lot of fun.

NOW FOR THE CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE!!!!

We started our trip off on a Thursday morning. We loaded up in Zane's parents car and headed to Las Vegas. On the way we stopped and picked up Zane's sister and her friend. It was a full car! Zane's other sister also took her car with her family in it so all, in all...there were 13 of us total! We arrived in Las Vegas Thursday evening and enjoyed a walk to the M&M factory and Coca Cola factory. I had never been to Las Vegas before so this was a sight to see!!!

M&M factory and Coca Cola Factory. I have never seen so many M&M's in my life!!!

We stayed at the Luxor hotel. It was a pyramid and inside was pretty cool. The elevator went up on an angle so that felt a little weird.

On Friday we loaded up and headed south once again. We arrived in California, went grocery shopping, got settled in the house we rented, and picked up our tickets for the adventures that awaited us.

First stop was Universal Studios!

This was so fun! We were able to see the Grinch, go to a animal show, and take a tour down through the studios where they film movies and t.v shows. It was awesome!

Universal Studios.

Animal Show. Our nephew was selected out of a crowd of people to help the guy on stage. It was a fun show to watch.

During our tour through the studios we saw the original "Jurassic Park" jeep, and watched how they make fire, cars fly, and flash floods happen.

This is the neighborhood where they filmed "Desperate Housewives"

Awe...The, THe, THE...THE GRINCH!!!! Nice little production they put on for us and we got to see the set they used for the movie.

Anyone ever watched "War of the Worlds" I hated that show! This is probably why...here is the set they used to film it.

This is the set they used to film "Jaws." Here's a little trivia...Did you know that when they filmed that show, the shark had so many mechanical problems that they would always refer to him as "Flaws" instead of "Jaws?"

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

This was a tree lighting they put on with the Who's in Whoville and the Grinch.

Next day...CHRISTMAS!

Christmas morning we went to Church with Zane's parents. After church we came back and had a nice Christmas dinner. It was a nice day.

On Monday we hit it hard again...This time we drove to San Diego and went to the Zoo Safari and took a ride around the park to see the animals. There was a lot to do there but we cut it a bit short so we could run over to Sea World and catch some fun over there.

Here we are at Sea World. We watch the "Blue Horizons" dolphin show. It was AWESOME!!! The kids loved it!

On Tuesday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was so crowded but we were able to squeeze in some fun rides.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was soooo crowded!

The first night we were there, they shut down the park and wouldn't let anyone in due to the fact it was over capacity...yes...that means there was more than 55,000 people there! Yikes!!!!

Going on some rides. Here we are on the T-cups and the Mono Rail.

Disney Characters!

Toon Town!

This is kind of funny...We ate at the Cheesecake factory one night. Apparently Caleb was so tired that he crashed right on the bench...the funny thing, his 3 cousins did the same. The only kid that was awake was Emma!

4 of the 5 kids sleeping at the Cheesecake Factory

Thursday...another day at Disneyland. We took the kids into the park really early so we could catch a few rides. We rode on 3 and then the wait time for the rides went up to 45 minutes and then to 60, 80, 120...you get the drift...it was busy so if you didn't catch the rides first thing...you probably weren't going on any of them.

Screaming California was the best roller coaster I have ever been on! It was so much fun!

These two were so cute on this little "Bugs Life" ride. Emma was squealing and laughing the whole time. Caleb was fine about the ride after about halfway through...He's not near as adventurous as his little sister.

Here is a picture of the house we stayed in. It was nice and fit all 13 of us well. The last night we ate at Joe's Crab Shack. It was so good. There was a guy that even made the kids an animal balloon. Caleb's was a monkey climbing up a tree and Emma's was a little poodle on a leash. He did an awesome job!