From Oakhurst, we headed to Solvang, CA for the Watkins Family Reunion. We have one every three years. This year was a little odd because far less people attended. And of the 30ish people there, 24 of us were from the East Coast. Go figure. It was a great excuse to head West and it was tons of fun.On the way to Solvang, we drove staight down California-1, and got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. I didn't get any great pictures, because we never stopped the car, but it suffices to say the water was a gorgeous blue-green. We skirted the coast for a bit and eventually wound our way to Solvang, which is an adorable little Danish-inspired village. I want to live there. I love the convenience of everything being in a six-block radius,
the short distance to the Pacific, and the even shorter drive to mountains. The weather was beyond ideal: cool mornings, sunny but comfortable afternoons, cold evenings. I was in heaven the whole time we were there. Mom and Hoyt rented a pedal car for one afternoon. Poor Hoyt was forced to wear the hat since he was under 18, and he wasn't allowed to steer...only pedal. They ended up having a blast anyway!The whole family went to a play together (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). If you haven't seen it, you should. It was HILARIOUS...not at all appropriate for young children, but so funny.
And here is my dad (left, yellow shirt) with his siblings & dad:
While in Solvang, we took a day trip to
Oxnard where we caught a boat to Anacapa Island, one of five in the Channel Islands National Park. Apparently, sitting inside a cabin of a boat is the worst place to sit, because I ended up getting sea sick. Totally gross & embarrassing - especially since we were less than 1/2 mile from docking. We also had to hike up 153 stairs from the dock to the top of the island. It was quite the hike, but we all made it. The views were spectacular. I would not have missed this trip for anything...even sea sickness. 
There was a National Parks Naturalist who took our group on a one mile hike across the island, but I didn't make the whole hike (I was deflated after being sick on the boat & needed to sit & rest & eat), so Robert & Hoyt took pictures for me from Inspiration Point.
After the reunion came the three highlights of the trip for me: 1) visit with Heather & Greg, 2) Disneyland, and 3) visit with Amaly.
We were all a bit anxious about driving into LA, but we were luckily
driving in on a Sunday morning, which made traffic about as light as it ever could be. We persevered and made it to Glendale just 10 minutes shy of our goal time. We met Heather & Greg at their apartment and drove into Glendale for lunch at a restaurant called Porto's Bakery. Very yummy & very nice to visit. We only had about an hour to chat because dad & Hoyt were already late for an Anaheim Angels baseball game and Addison was desperate to get to Disneyland. So, we rushed off, venturing further into L.A. More traffic, confusing lane switches, exits and entrance ramps on all side of the road, lanes that abruptly turn 
into Exit Only lanes were all successfully maneuvered and we arrived at Disneyland. Addison was happy as could be by the time we hit the tram. She immediately began asking when we would see "her" princesses, and we (thanks to a relative at the reunion) had a plan for that. We had reservations for the Character Dining Experience at Ariel's Grotto, where four princesses parade through the dining room taking pictures with their adoring fans. We rode on several rides, endured the heat, and were all glad to see dinner time arrive, though for different reasons. The food was really yummy (other than Robert's steak). In the middle of our dinner, the princesses started arriving. My mom took the most amazing picture (which I do not yet have a copy of) of Addison's reaction to Cinderella's arrival (she was the first princess to make an appearance). We thought Addison might have a stroke. She flapped her arms, sucked in all her breath and then froze with a smile plastered across her face. She was beyond over-joyed. It made the trip for Robert & me. We were so thrilled to see her so happy.
We spent the next day at Disneyland, too. We walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle, but Adds thought it was scary. We stayed for 12 hours total that day. A few highlights from the day include Addison barfing up her dinner on me and peeing on Robert as he gave her a piggy-back ride through the park. We watched a highly impressive fireworks show over the castle that evening, which included TinkerBell flying from the top of the Matterhorn mountain to the top tower of the castle.
By the way, if you go to a Burger King in LA, expect to pay $0.25 to use the bathroom. I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture of the pay lock on this bathroom door. CRAZY!
Check back later for installment #3 of my vacation recap. That will be the last one, I swear!
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