Friday, 4/2 ~ Ang, Ethan and Ryan to arrive in San Francisco late pm after hopping on a flight after school.
Saturday, 4/3 ~ Spend the day exploring San Francisco, including Fisherman's Wharf and a boat tour or the bay or a ferry to Sausalito.
Sunday, 4/4 ~ Drive down the coast stopping at a state park to see Redwood trees and at the Santa Cruz boardwalk as well as Monterrey Bay before stopping in Santa Maria for the night
Monday, 4/5 ~ Finish driving to LA with a quick stop in Buellton for OstrichLand (this is where they filmed most of the movie Sideways). Have lunch at Pinks in Hollywood and then explore the Walk of Fame and Manns Chinese Theater. Have dinner with family in the area.
Tuesday, 4/6 ~ Visit Santa Monica and check out the pier and rides
Wednesday, 4/7 ~ Visit LegoLand in Carlsbad
Thursday, 4/8 ~ Fly home and arrive late pm (all 4 of us)
That was our plan at least. It was aggressive with a lot of driving and no down time other than in the car. I am impressed that we mostly stuck to this schedule, but it was a bit cold in the early part of our trip, so we had to adjust a bit.
Our single day in SanFran was sunny and clear, but very windy and pretty cold (mid to upper 40's). We had to postpone our bay/boat experience for when we go back in July (tentative), and opted to do a double decker bus tour of the city which is an excellent way to get to know a city and decide what you would like to go back and visit as well as see the highlights in a day. We did spend quite a bit of time at Fisherman's Wharf as well.
David and the boys on Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf overlooking San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz in the distance.
Ang and Ethan on the top of the bus with the Golden Gate Bridge
On Sunday, we picked up our rental car in the morning, had breakfast and hit the road. Driving down the coastal highway. The views were amazing and we often felt like we were on the edge of the cliff with just the ocean under us. The weather was the worst this day, cold, windy and rainy. We completely scrapped our park stop and just drove through and looked at some Redwood trees (we will hopefully get to see some of the really big, old ones on our next trip!). We were crazy enough to try to brave the boardwalk in Santa Cruz (us and about 10 other people), but we only lasted about 15 minutes, long enough to eat a bad lunch and some cotton candy. It was so cold, we just wanted to stand at the hand blowers in the bathrooms, so we knew it was best to get back on the road; this was just past lunchtime.We headed South again to Monterrey. At that stop, we had planned to visit Ghiradelli, walk on the beach and spend some time on a local playground. Instead, we had fabulous ice cream and chocolate creations at Ghiradelli, then we walked around the area a bit and found a an IMAX that was about to show a movie about waves and the ocean. We spent about 40 minutes on that (and it was a really cool movie). We spent the rest of the day driving to Santa Maria, which is just a small town that we picked because it had a Marriott and was about as far south as we could drive that day. We were in late and out early, so it didn't matter too much, but it was a nice, clean, new hotel in a nice quiet area.
Stopped for a quick photo of the shoreline
On Monday, we drove to LA with a quick stop in Buellton to feed the ostriches at Ostrich Land. I had found really good reviews on it online. We got there early, just past 9am, and kill some time at the grocery store until they open at 10am. Well, we waited and waited, and when they still weren't open by 10:30am (and others were waiting too), we decided to leave. Just as we were loading up, they started to open. It was just a single, teenage (at the oldest) girl to open and run the shop. Anyway, glad it worked out because it was a super cool experience for the boys. Got tons of photos and video too.
After our visit to Ostrich Land, we got on the road and drove about 3 hours to LA getting to Hollywood just past lunchtime. We headed straight to Pinks for a famous hot dog.
After lunch, we headed over to the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd. It was hustling. There is a great, outdoor shopping mall there as well. We had a good if not distant view of the Hollywood sign there (you'll see it in our pictures). We saw some famous names/footprints, and the boys tried the Star Wars characters' prints on for size as well as posing for a photo or two with batman.
After our fun in Hollywood, we headed to Century City for dinner with family (a cousin of David's mom and her family including her two grand daughters ages 7 and 10). We had a great dinner, and the boys had fun playing with the girls. On Tuesday, we spent the day in Santa Monica, first in the downtown area for lunch and to see the sights, and then on the boardwalk once the park opened. Everyone loved the Ferris wheel, but we weren't so crazy about the swinging dragon or the roller coaster. They did have tons of carnival games and little rides for the boys. In the late afternoon just before leaving, we let the boys play in the surf a bit although the water was very cold! (Apparently, the Pacific doesn't warm up enough to be comfortable in until about August! makes you really love our Florida beaches).
Boys on the beach in Santa Monica - it was a gorgeous day!
On Wednesday, we drove down to Carlsbad (about an hour south of our hotel in Anaheim), and were at the gates of LegoLand for their opening at 10am. We had scored some buy-one-get-one-free passes through a lego club we enrolled the boys in - BIG SCORE and BIG SAVINGS! We explored and fully exhausted LegoLand. It is really good for kids the boys ages, too much older and it would have been a bit boring for them. There were just 2 rides that Ryan couldn't ride but one was about like the teacups so not sure about that. It is definitely a park that you can do in one day, although they are opening a water park wing this summer that might take up more time. I do wish that I had known about the water play areas they have because we didn't take a swim suit or change of clothes for the boys, so we had to skip that even though it was definitely warm enough to enjoy it. 
On Thursday, we had breakfast (we had free breakfast at our hotels every morning except the one in SanFran so that was really nice, and it was the full breakfast with everything you can imagine!). We packed, and headed to the airport early since you never know what to expect with traffic in LA and around LAX. We had to fill up and return the rental car too. We did get to the airport early, but it worked out well since security took a while, and we were checking a bag. AND David got us all into the SkyClub lounge with free snacks and drinks. Our flight was on time, and the boys watched movies all the way home (we were lucky to have the plan with the private screens on each seat on the way home). We got in late Thursday night, exhausted, with tons of laundry, but very happy!!!
On Thursday, we had breakfast (we had free breakfast at our hotels every morning except the one in SanFran so that was really nice, and it was the full breakfast with everything you can imagine!). We packed, and headed to the airport early since you never know what to expect with traffic in LA and around LAX. We had to fill up and return the rental car too. We did get to the airport early, but it worked out well since security took a while, and we were checking a bag. AND David got us all into the SkyClub lounge with free snacks and drinks. Our flight was on time, and the boys watched movies all the way home (we were lucky to have the plan with the private screens on each seat on the way home). We got in late Thursday night, exhausted, with tons of laundry, but very happy!!! Oh, and with TONS (over 100) of pictures to share! Each day was like a mini-vacation! Enjoy them all when you have a chance. They are on our Shutterfly Share Site (which you can join as a member if you want updates when we add photos there).
Just in time to head into our crazy busy family weekend - which is the reason why I am just now getting this post done and the photos uploaded :) I will go into all that in my next post!
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