California... Here we come!

For Christmas Break we went to California! We had way too much fun!

China Town was first. We went into a huge discount store and found some cool stuff to check out. Chanelle had to do a type of cultural experience for class so ta-da, that was done. We were able to get a bunch of smashed pennies for our collection. Dad ended up staying at the hotel. He doesn't enjoy shopping too much. At this food

store we innocently went in to get some candy. Little did we know there would be much more. Deer tails any one?

Our hotel room had such a great view. You could see the whole city! We also got a suite so we had a little balcony. Only the corner room's get those! Aren't they just little love birds?

We had to ride the cable car to Fisherman's wharf. There we saw the street performers including the bush man. The bush man hides behind bushes and scares people. We didn't know, so Aubrey got scared half to death. Aubrey and Chanelle were able to get their names on a grain of rice and Aubrey got her name painted on a poster.

The next day we had a duck tour. We were able to make it in the nick of time and found some seats. "Ducks" were used in World War II. They're really slow, but they can go on both water and land. Our driver was from Switzerland so we couldn't understand him half of the time, but what we did hear was pretty good. We even got kazoo's in the shape of duck bills called quackers. We made quite a lot of noise!

We went to the wax museum. Everyone says that Mom looks like Resse Witherspoon. And Dad like the Lion in Wizard of Oz. What do you think?

Tijuana seemed next for us! Dad chickened out again so we were alone. It was fine. Everyone was really nice. Aubrey got a Chanel purse (no, not Chanelle) and Chanelle got some woven purses and Chanel earrings too. Mom was most excited about all the discount pharmacy's. Before we knew it, it was night. We asked Mom to get a cab but she insisted we walked. We ended up getting lost, but eventually found our way to the boarder. Dad didn't seem mad, I think he was just glad that we were safe.

On Christmas Mom bought some clams for Chanelle and Aubrey to open up. It was really fun and I'm sure our cleaning ladies were confused to find clams in the trash. We also got a phone call from Elder Snelson! Chanelle was able to make it a conference call so we got Brooke and Josh in too. Jason was in Israel, so no luck on his end.

What a better way to spend Christmas then with Shamu? We went to Sea World after and it was Aubrey and Chanelle's first time. We only got wet during the dolphin show. Shamu's we sat up pretty far even though we were still in the "soak zone." For the dolphin part, we were in row six. Mom didn't think we would get wet ("They're so small!") But we did. Aubrey and Chanelle brought their swim suits, even when mom didn't think they needed them. At least they were able to get into something dry.

The next day we drove around. We went to a science museum to see an i-max movie in the first i-max theater ever built! We had some time to kill before we went in, so we went to their sound exhibit. Who knew there was so much to learn about sound?

Dad was paranoid so we were at the airport really early. It's ok since Aubrey and Chanelle had some rocking chairs to kick back in. We'll miss the warm weather!