California Here I Come

So, this holiday break I did something a little unusual... I spent only the first 10 days at home, then came back to Provo and went with Lamar to his family's condo in Huntington Beach, CA. Good times were had by all, so I figured I would detail it on my blog. We drove down on Monday, December 29th, stopping on the way at Excalibur in Las Vegas to partake of their buffet. The only problem with the buffet was that on the outside of the building they advertised 2 for 1 from 2 to 6 pm, but when we got in we discovered that they had suspended 2 for 1 until after January 2. We ate there anyway and got on our way to the beach.

Tuesday was hang out at the beach day. Lamar took much of the time we were there to build a sandcastle. I built a smaller one, but I took less time and Lamar's sandcastle skills are far superior to mine. He actually had some little kids stop and admire his, then come back an hour later to admire some more. We caught a sunset on the beach, then headed to a street fair on main street.

Lamar with his Castle...and the Sunset from the beach

Wednesday began with a long bike ride along the beach path. We ended up in Newport Beach, and there were some pretty cool houses there, some of which had their boats docked basically in their back yard. We went to lunch at Lamar's Aunt's house in Laguna Beach and spent the afternoon there. After a quick dinner, we headed up to Downtown Disney to spend New Year's Eve and catch the fireworks at midnight. There were some musicians there and we walked through the shops. When the hour came, the fireworks went off, but we couldn't see them because the fog was so dense. Made for a fun (i.e. scary) drive home.

Downtown Disney... and Lamar with brother Yusef (fog, not snow).

Thursday we got up late, and went back to the beach for some boogie boarding. We both tried surfing once, but the waves were pretty big and it made it a lot of work. That evening we went up to Long Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a nice aquarium, and we got in for $10 because we went after 5, but they were open late for the holiday season. Good deal.

Boogie Boarding

Friday we went to lunch at Crystal Cove with Lamar's Aunt, then headed up to Knott's Berry Farm. We rode all the roller coasters there (we got there at 4 so that we could get in for half price), then made it home in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Sugar Bowl.

Saturday we got up and left. We stopped in Vegas again, but this time we got the 2 for 1 discount at the Excalibur buffet. We nearly turned the car around several times and headed back to California as the car thermometer started reading negative numbers in Utah, but ended up coming back to Provo.