1/7/2023

My niece turned 14 and we celebrated with lots of food and piñatas. The party was 80’s themed, but I’m too young to remember the 80’s.

1/2/2023

Supposedly, the Whaley House is the most haunted home in America. I didn’t see any ghosts, but the boys swear they felt the little girl who haunts the place grab at their legs.

12/31/2022

We rung in the New Year freezing in the rain at Knott’s Berry Farm. It didn’t rain too much while the sun was up, and the park was very empty, so we got to ride on lots of rides. Our friends Jeanette and Niko joined us for part of the day.

Luckily, it was warm and dry inside where we watched two shows, first Snoppy On Ice and later a funny comedian magician named Chipper Lowell.

The rain was coming down hard for the last few hours before midnight, but the awesome fireworks show made it worth it.

12/29/2022

The Twisted Colossus was an insane rush!

12/28/2022

The boys got annual passes from their Tia Kristel, so they got to experience Six Flags for the first time. Ali and I hadn’t been since we were teenagers. The park was beautifully decorated for the holidays.

12/26/2022

If you are ever near Old Town, make sure to check out the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. The interactive tour is very well done and it is an interesting bit of San Diego history.

12/25/2022

We spent the morning opening presents, and the rest of the day with the Loera clan, eating and opening more presents.

12/21/2022

With no big trip this winter break, we instead did a few little ones. We spent the night at Great Wolf Lodge up in Garden Grove. That gave us 2 days to enjoy the indoor water park. The boys even gave boogie boarding a try.

12/17/2022

The park was decorated beautifully for the holiday season with all sorts of lights. There was a light tunnel where the lights synced up with music. We also visited the babirusas and the platypus, before finishing the night with the lantern light show in the lagoon.

12/10/2022

In addition to all the rides, we saw “The Gift of the Magi, 1885” at the Bird Cage theater. But the highlight of the night was Snoopy’s Night Before Christmas, the new ice skating show.

12/3/2022

Out enjoying a nice day at the Safari Park, when it was all decorated for the holidays.

11/23/2022

After the last 3 days of running between different attractions, we were exhausted, so we spent the morning swimming and relaxing. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering the strip, visiting the Venetian shops, the Forum shops, and watching the Bellagio water show.

We ate a delicious deep dish pizza at Gordiano’s, which was our favorite when we visited Chicago. Then we explored some more, visiting the Cosmopolitan and the holiday decorations inside the Bellagio. At that point, it was time to say goodbye to Las Vegas, and drive back to San Diego.

11/22/2022

We packed a lot of stops into the last day of our All-Inclusive Go City passes.

The first stop was National Nuclear Testing Museum, where we learned about the development of the nuclear bomb and how they tested it in the Nevada Desert. The information wove in nicely with all we learned at Los Alamos about the development of the first nuclear bombs. We also got to experience a simulated nuclear explosion.

Next we explored the Discovering King Tut museum at the Luxor. The history was told well and Connor especially loved all the artifacts, because he is studying Egyptian history in school.

We moved up the strip and took in the view from the High Roller Observation Wheel, which is the tallest in the Americas. Only the one in Dubai is larger.

Our passes came with $80 to spend at Sweet Sin LV, with the stipulation that you were required to use the complete amount. So we had quite a sugar rush with mountains of gelato and tons of macaroons to bring home.

We headed to Bally’s next for the National Geographic “Rarely Seen” photography exhibit. I loved it. They had so many beautiful photos blown up to cover entire walls, which made you felt like you were inside of them.

The sun went down as we headed to Paris to take in the view from the observation deck in their half-sized replica of the Eiffel Tower. We caught part of the Bellagio water show while up there.

We finished off the night with another show at the Illuminarium, this one immersing us in space. Then we visited a trampoline park down from the strip, which was pretty run down, but since it was free on our pass, it was still worth it.

11/21/2022

The day started off at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, where we took photos with the stars. Then we headed to Marvel STATION which had a ton of Iron Man suits and other immersive exhibits from the movies.

After lunch we viewed “Leonardo: The Universal Man”, which was a cool immersive art exhibit all about Leonardo da Vinci.

Our last stop of the day was The Strat, where we had great seats for “Banachek’s Mind Games”. I went in as a skeptic but I have no idea how he pulled off the mind reading and other magic tricks he performed. After the show, we went up to the observation deck at the very top, to take in the view and watch crazy people jump off the edge.

11/20/2022

Today was the first of 3 days on our All-Inclusive Go City Las Vegas passes, which is a great deal if you cram a ton of stuff into your days. We were up for the challenge.

We started the day by visiting the Luxor to reserve our Blue Man Group tickets. Then we did Fly Over Vegas by “flying” through the Wonders of the American West show. We visited the Hunger Games Experience in the MGM next. Gavin enjoyed it because he had at least read the books, but only Ali and I have seen the movies.

Our next stop was across the street to ride the NYNY Big Apple roller coaster, which was a blast. Then we went into the Excalibur to watch a 4D movie about Aquaman.

Our last stop before dinner was the Illuminarium, where we spent 45 minutes immersed in an Africa Safari. Between the floor rumbling and the videos projecting all around you, it really felt like you were chilling in Africa.

After a good dinner at Rollin’ Smoke BBQ, we headed to the Luxor for the Blue Man Group show. The show was amazing, both hilarious and imaginative. The boys were blown away by it. Connor forgot his hat inside the amphitheater, and came back with his hat and two drum heads from the performance! An awesome souvenir.