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Rose Parade, Part 1

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I have a lot of pics from our California trip, so I'm going to break it out into several blog posts, otherwise, it'll be a bit overwhelming (for me) to have it all in one. Without further ado...off to Cali we go!

Day 1, Wednesday, December 28, 2022

We had some trickery getting out of Minnesota. Flights were delayed for weird reasons, which then delayed the rest of the plans for the day. We did end up heading over to Santa Monica Pier for a bit, while the band went south to Long Beach. It was gorgeous to see the sunset over the Pacific Ocean after a long day of travel.

G and I met up with my college roomie, Kristin, for dinner at the hotel. She brought us a bag of goodies (she's so wonderful!) and then we caught up over dinner. G and I hit the bed after that, and slept well. We were pooped!

See you later, Minny!



Hello, LA!


One of many motorcoach rides during the week...


Santa Monica Pier






Exploring Santa Monica



Stopping for hot chocolate!




Catching up with Kristin!


Here are Ava's adventures in Long Beach...also a gorgeous sunset!









Day 2, Thursday, December 29, 2022

On this day, G and I headed over to Disney California Adventure Park. We first stopped at Target to pick up a few supplies, and then meandered our way to the Disney center of madness. We didn't get there until later in the morning, so all of the Genie+ passes had been purchased for the day. Glad we learned a lesson (to get there early) on this day and not the day we went to Disney. Not having the Genie+ passes meant that we had to wait in some really long lines. But, we made the best of it and still had fun!

After many, many hours there, we headed back for dinner at the Red Robin next to the hotel, and then back to the hotel to hit the hay. Another successful, and exhausting, day!


We waited in line for 80+ minutes to go on the Soarin' Around the World ride. And it was worth it! We both loved flying around the world and seeing different highlights from all parts of the Earth. We especially liked how they infused scent into the ride...we smelled grass over the elephants running through Africa, flowers over the Taj Mahal, and coconuts over Fiji. SO fun!



Pixar Pier


Needed to refuel!




Ariel's Undersea Adventure



Pixar Pal-A-Round (so many screams coming from a Ferris wheel with sliding gondolas!)



Jumpin' Jellyfish


Yummy churros!




Finally having dinner...



Ava and the band headed over to Costa Mesa High School and rehearsed for Bandfest and the Rose Parade all morning. They then went to Beverly Hills and Hollywood, and spent the evening in Santa Monica.






And here are a few shots from the last few weeks. We've been very busy enjoying some planned time off this week, but also really focused at school and work when we were there. Ava had her first high school band concert on Tuesday night and it went well. She has excellent posture...the hundreds of marching band hours have improved her skills immensely!

Hibachi dinner out with the fam last weekend


Being silly



Ava and G had fun roller skating last week, thanks to a PTO-sponsored night for G's school!


Can't wait to see what the upcoming week holds...hopefully some more downtime!

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