Rowdy Rollins: California Dreamin'

We just enjoyed five wonderful days in the beautiful California sun! We stayed in Newport Beach for the first couple days.

We went swimming several times in the many pools at our resort. Our kids couldn't get enough of the water, they were like fish. My favorite part of our vacation was playing and relaxing in Newport Beach.

Happy Peter and his Mommy!

Ammon said his favorite part of our trip was when Spencer had us all play tag at the playground at our resort. I guess we need to go to our playgrounds at home more often.

Talmage was the die-hard tetherball player in our family, but everyone took turns competing.

We played on the sand and in the ocean at Huntington Beach. Spencer and Talmage enjoyed boogie-boarding, while the rest of us jumped in the shallow waves. This picture shows Leia and Ammon trying to escape a large wave. Leia got away, but only Ammon's hat managed to stay on top of the water.

We hiked around the beautiful beaches at Crystal Cove. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant nearby, and as we were leaving we were surprised to be stopped by two different groups commenting on the good behavior of our children during the meal. We were pleasantly surprised...even though Peter was asleep during most of the meal.

We were able to explore strange sea life in the tide pools.

You can't take children to Southern California without making a trip to DISNEYLAND! We enjoyed two days at Disneyland going on rides, waiting in long lines, walking forever, trying not to lose anyone, and visiting with Mickey Mouse.

We spent one day at California Adventure. We enjoyed shorter lines and were happy for our whole family to be able to ride on most rides. We bought Peter some heeled hiking boots so he could be that extra inch taller that he needed. Talmage and Leia loved going on the wild rides. When we finished riding Space Mountain, the Tower of Terror and a few other scary rides, Peter would say, "I'm not going again."

We had so much fun! The worst incident that happened on our trip was when we were waiting in an especially long line, and the kids were getting restless. Then we heard a woman near us start screaming, "No...Noooo!" I frantically looked over expecting to see someone bleeding, but instead I saw Peter squeezing a little girl's juice box. I quickly pulled Peter away and apologized, but after the mother stopped yelling, the little girl started screaming. Spencer wanted to offer a couple dollars for the spilled juice, but the mother was too furious to look at us as her little girl cried. We felt really bad...especially bad as we had to continue passing them as we weaved through the line.