California Dreaming

David and I decided to do something different for Thanksgiving this year. We headed to sunny California to visit my sister, Teri, and her family. What a fun vacation! We packed the week full of adventure.

We left on the Friday before Thanksgiving and headed to Saint George, to spend the night at my grandparents. When we arrived, my Aunt Karlene was there all dressed up like a nun! It was opening night for the play Nunsense at the Saint George Theatre Company, and she was the director. She got us 2nd row tickets for the whole family. It was really funny, and the kids loved it! During part of the play, one of the nuns did a pop quiz with the audience, and Kallai got an answer right! The question was, "Why did the nuns leave the leper colony?" and his answer was, "Because they got tired of all the sick people." He won a St. Francis of Asisi refrigerator magnet, and was very excited.

We woke up in the morning and drove to Buffalo Bills Casino in State Line, Nevada. It is a family tradition to stop on the way to California to ride the Desperado roller coaster. Unfortunately, the ride was closed temporarily for maintenance, so we played some arcade games while we waited. It didn't look like they would be done anytime soon, so Jordan and Kallai went on the flight simulator and the rest of us went on the log ride. The boys had a blast, but the log ride was ho hum. As we walked back to the car, the kids were all sad that they hadn't been able to ride the Desperado. Just then, we saw the Desperado car rocket past. They had opened the ride, so we ran back and went on it. This was the first big roller coaster ride ever for both Kallai and Taliah. They were both excited, but when they saw the first big drop, they were terrified! I tried to tell Kallai that he was safe, and to not worry and just have fun. He said, "I'll have fun as soon as the ride is over!" That got me a little worried. We were going to Knott's Berry Farm later in the week, and we'd picked that theme park because there was only one ride that Taliah was too short for. We were planning to hit all of the BIG roller coasters, and Kallai and Taliah were just as excited as everyone else. I realized we might have to tweak our plans a bit. Once they got off the Desperado, and realized they had survived the experience, they both perked right up, and started bragging about it.

After Buffalo Bills, we drove straight through to Mark and Teri's house. We arrived just in time to head to their ward party, with dinner, crafts and Santa Claus! The best part of the party was hanging out with cousins!

To Be Continued...