Back to California
Okay, so I haven't blogged for over two years. I figured I might get caught up on the few trips we've gone on in the past few years.
Our first trip back to California was in September of 2010. The main purpose of the trip was to attend Jenn's cousin Kyle's wedding in Long Beach. But of course, since we were traveling to California, we had to also hit a few more spots, including Disneyland!
We flew into San Diego, and drove up the LA area a few times to see Jenn's relatives as well as hit a few spots we always do while in the area.
One of the places we always go to is the Umeya Rice Cracker factory in Japantown, LA, to pick up a few boxes of arare and senbei to take back to Maui.
The window where you purchase your arare and senbei
We were lucky that day as the owner (?) let us go "behind the scenes" and look down at the factory machines working.
Later we stopped at Gardena Bowl, to eat some "local" food at the coffee shop.
We then went to ohaka, to visit Jenn's grandparents on the Katsuki side.
The next day was the wedding, at the Japanese Gardens at Long Beach State University. It was such a beautiful setting.
We got dressed up and I actually wore a tie!
Jenn got to see most of her cousins too!
It was a beautiful wedding and we got to see Jenn's relatives which we don't get a lot of chances to see since they're spread out across the U.S.
The next day, we had breakfast at Kyle and Kelli's house and said our goodbyes before heading off to Disneyland!
We hadn't been to Disneyland for over a year so we were excited! We parked at the Mickey and Friends parking garage and took the shuttle for the first time ever.
You can't really see it, but I have a huge grin inside!
We got on It's A Small World and had the entire boat to ourselves.
I decided to try holding my hands up during the big drop on Splash Mountain, but only got them half-way up! =)
I was sad that Haunted Mansion Holiday hadn't opened yet. They were installing the overlay and wouldn't be open for another few days.
We got on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster and for the first time ever (probably 50 rides) Jenn beat my score! Woohoo!
Later that night we went over to Disney's California Adventure to watch the World of Color water fountain show. Very impressive!
The next day, we started at Disney's California Adventure and Jenn rode Tower of Terror three times in a row, No way I'm riding it!
We then jumped on Mickey's Fun Wheel (non-swinging cars of course!)
Back over to Disneyland but on the way we visited our brick that we bought back in 2005.
We were hungry so we stopped for a snack, a corn dog from the Red Corn Dog Cart on Main Street. They cost about $6 but they are the best corn dogs we've ever had, hands down. Yum!!!
Then off to take our photo in front Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
We rode Splash Mountain again and this time, hands and arm fully extended and I even got Jenn to do the same!
Jenn's cousin Lisa, her husband Brandon, and son Luke stopped by and we all rode Pirates of the Caribbean together.
Then it was the long slow walk down Main Street and one last look at Sleeping Beauty's Castle before we left Disneyland. And as we passed Walt Disney's apartment above the Fire Station, we thanked Walt for the great time we had at Disneyland.
We drove back down to Carlsbad and stayed with Jenn's aunty and uncle before heading home the next morning. We enjoyed a beautiful Southern California sunset.
It was a nice long vacation to Southern California and we enjoyed ourselves greatly, seeing all of Jenn's relatives and also getting to go back to one of our favorites places to visit anywhere, Disneyland.
