Family fun in Anaheim

This post is a bit behind its time but it is an important one.  We enjoyed a wonderful extended family vacation over the long Thanksgiving weekend in Anaheim, California.  Everyone drove on Wednesday and then we met up at the large, historical house I had rented in time for a birthday celebration and a Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Mimi's Cafe.  Our birthday girl was very excited!

Her father made this photo collage of our fun Wednesday evening.

The next morning, early, we had made it to the happiest place on earth.  We spent Thursday in California Adventure and Friday in Disneyland.

It was so much fun to see all my grands and their parents having such a good time.

Or at least a very exciting time.

Part of my goal was to have cousin time.  Lots of cousin time.  I love that they enjoy each other.

Part of the fun was the prep my daughter and daughter in laws had done in advance.  Each grand had a lanyard and some Disney pins to trade.  They loved it and so did I, so before the day was over I had my own lanyard and some pins.  Seriously, so fun!

 

We went to California Adventure first partly because we thought it might be the better day to get fast passes for the cars' ride.  We picked up our passes first thing in the morning and rode and raced in the afternoon.

The little ones hung out with grandpa and grandma while their parents and siblings rode the big rides.

We all loved California Soarin'.

We also enjoyed how everything was decorated for Christmas.  The evening show was wonderful with Frozen themes of course, Christmas carols, and real snow flakes.  And yes, it was a bit nippy.

I love the Disney magic in this place.  That is my Glen on the main street in California Adventure where there were actual gray clouds but a different camera focus and it was a bright sunny day with the street seeming to go on forever.

I have a shot similar to this taken 25 years ago on a family trip to Disneyland over Spring Break.

It felt a bit like coming full circle.

It was Disneyland's Diamond Anniversary.  It is approximately my age.

Opal loved all the Disney characters.

And of course, the castle.

Warren spent some time with his grandparents.  Grandpa Glen and he had fun in the tree house.

Ray's Disney pins.

My son, David, wore a shirt made for his father by his grandma over 40 years ago.  My first trip to Disneyland came after I became engaged to Glen and he wore that very shirt.  Once again, we came full circle.

I think we can all say it was a happy place.

The home we rented was just a mile and a half north of Disneyland.  It was a very easy ride to the parking structure and had six rooms for sleeping and a big space for visiting.

It was built in 1908 and was a bit quirky but fun with a great backyard with lots of space to get those wiggles out.

The family with the newest baby did not join us, but there are 11 of our 13 grandchildren on the balcony.

On Saturday, Grandpa Glen led the way to Hawthorne and the California beaches where he spent his childhood.  They saw his home, his school and high school, his church, the corner store where his mother sent him for the missing ingredient for dinner, and the baseball and football fields where he spent so much time.  He told stories I had never heard before and the grands loved them.

Our final stop was the Redondo Beach Pier where the sun was setting while we ate fried clams, just like he and I used to do when we were newlyweds.

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful family vacation.

Meeting this man at BYU certainly led to new adventures for me.

As the sun went down I took pictures of my middle son's family.  One of these pictures is not quite like the other, but cousins are most always included :)

As we walked back to the parking lot I couldn't resist this one last shot of Grandpa Glen with his older grands as he continued to tell his stories.  It was a wonderful California Adventure and History tour!

Note:  This grandma borrowed heavily from photos shared and taken by her children.

Del Mar and some surf and turf

Do you have a bucket list of things to do in this life?  My husband doesn't have a written one, but he does have a mental one.  For years he has been telling me that he needs to take me to the horse races. Everyone needs to go just once.

He grew up in the Los Angeles area and he loved going to the horse races at Hollywood Park with his friend in his later high school years.  He has great stories about how his older looking appearance allowed him to place the bets for his wealthier friend.  Hollywood Park closed last December after 75 years of races.  Now Del Mar Race Track has started a fall season in addition to their summer season hoping to take up the slack.

This mural inside depicts the celebrities who have enjoyed some surf and turf over the years.

Bing Crosby is first on the mural having created Del Mar. The new fall season is known as the "Bing Crosby Season."  I copied the following from Wikpedia:

When Del Mar opened in 1937, Bing Crosby was at the gate to personally greet the fans. On August 12, 1938, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club hosted a $25,000 winner-take-all match race between Charles S. Howard's Seabiscuit and the Binglin Stable's colt, Ligaroti. In an era when horse racing ranked second in popularity with Americans to Major League Baseball, the match race was much written and talked about and was the first nationwide broadcast of a Thoroughbred race by NBC radio.^[2] In the race, Seabiscuit was ridden by jockey George Woolf and Ligaroti by Noel Richardson. In front of a record crowd that helped make the fledgling Del Mar race track a success, Seabiscuit won an exciting battle by a nose.

Now that is some history and it makes this track a year older than the now closed Hollywood Park.  Trains used to run to Del Mar from Los Angeles.  Del Mar has been renovated and the turf track widened and, of course, there is a big screen so you can follow the horses around the back stretch.

I loved watching the whole culture of the track as well as the logistics of preparing for each race which were held about thirty minutes apart for a total of nine.  We missed the first two but the crowd was a fluid one.

Glen's high school friend taught him how to read a race form.  Note: Glen wants to make sure that everyone knows he hasn't been to the races for over thirty years :)

Each race is heralded in by the trumpet call and the horses are led out one by one.

Then it is time for a warm up as the starting gate is put in place.

Both dirt and turf tracks were used and the gate moved according to the distance to be run.

And they are off!

And they are so fast.  I was intrigued by the pure beauty of these Thoroughbred horses.  As Glen called it, "They are the prima ballerinas of the horse world."

We were seated just above the finish line.  Now I know more about odds and placing for win or to show.  All Glen's bets were $2 and he was breaking even until the last two races, mostly because he started picking horses based on their names which matched those of his grand children and children, like "Warren walk about and Welcome home Ryan."  It was a fun afternoon and another bucket list item has been checked.

As we left the track an added bonus was the drive on Highway 101 as the sun set over the ocean.

You're welcome!  Nothing better than ocean meeting the sky at sunset.  Then we journeyed on to Carlsbad and Pelly's for dinner.  I know that I've discussed Pelly's before on my blog, but honestly it is the best for fresh sea food.  It may not be fancy but it is delicious!  And we can tell that the word is out because it is busier and the wait is longer.  Remember, turn off the 5 at Poinsettia Lane, go west and turn at the first left past the freeway.  It is hidden in the middle of the shopping center behind Starbucks and Subway.  Don't let the chains deter you!  Go on back and get in line.