Wow....Lots of memories flood my brain as she gets older and older. It is really hard to zero in a few things. She was getting closer and closer to be an adult. My BABY was getting older. But...I chose to embrace it and work to be a part of everything she wanted to do.
Also...I had the privilege of helping her learn to drive during this year. I made sure she could handle herself in many different scenarios. I taught her to drive using the radio and eating/drinking food. I figured she was going to do that anyway when she got her license, so I wanted to be with her as she learned how to do that so she could handle it on her own. And: she turned out to be a good and responsible driver.
In March of 2001, we took a family vacation to California. I had been watching the weather and saw the warmer temps so this was gonna be a great trip weather wise. Larry had flown there earlier for business, so Keith, Erica, and I flew out there to meet up with him for a week seeing the sights in California.
Here are my kiddos on the flight to CA.
When we arrived there....guess what? The weather had cooled off tremendously from the week before. Fortunately, I had us all pack jackets so we were set. Larry on the other hand did NOT have a jacket. Turns out....the jacket I packed for me was HIS jacket I packed by mistake. But...he was glad to have it. I was the one without a jacket. It is very hard to buy a jacket in the spring time when all of the warm weather clothes are in season. Larry borrowed a jacket for me from one of his hotel employees. Boy ...that was a lifesaver for me.
Here is Erica at Fisherman's Wharf. We met Larry in San Fransicso and took in some sightseeing there before heading to Anaheim. We loved this place but it does smell fishy. I am a seafood eater so it was right up my alley.
We decided to do the Alcatraz Tour. It was a self guided tour using Walkmans. Remember those? WE had fun making pictures behind bars and looking at the entire prison facility. I am bad about skipping ahead of the tape....but Larry loved every minute of the tape.
Some other places we saw were: Gladstones/Lombard Street/Coit Tower/China Town/ and the Roman Chinese Theater. We were taking it all in...who knew if we would be able to do this again as a family?
Of course....we are a theme park family so we went to Disney's California Dreamland ( now called Disney's California Adventure). It had just opened in Feb of 2001...so it was barely a month old when we went there.
That is Erica in the C of the California word. It was not very crowded since it was still new so we were able to ride all of the rides and see the shows without much standing in line. One ride in particular was a tough one for me to ride. I can't remember the name but it was something to do with bees and they had "bees humming" playing thru the entire ride. It was scary for me with my bee phobia. But I did it and lived to tell about it. Another ride was a free fall drop, I think this one was called ORANGE BLOSSOM....but it raised you up and then dropped you free fall style. Not one...not twice....but 3 times! Sort of like Tower of Terror except we are sitting in an orange!
Glad we did this park before Disney changed it.
Next we did Universal Studios and Disneyland. I am exhausted just writing this. Really glad I was younger when we did this trip. My motto was : go go go....do all the sites as fast as you can.
And of course.....we always take in Rainforest Cafe where ever we go. Who can resist the "VOLCANO"!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment