Finally, cross country day had arrived. I was seriously excited about it and my new found, self styled role as mentor and wise old cross country owl to the newbies competing for the first time. It was the first year Dad wouldn't be coming to watch, but I was okay with that.
Just as well, he had to pick me up from School and take me to gymnastics.
As usual, the weather was rather nice and we had a lovely sunny afternoon. It's fair to say that I wasn't be going to bother the top spots this year, but I felt good and ran as well as I could. The roar from the John Rankin supporters was truly epic as I entered the finish straight, spurring me on for a real sprint finish. I crossed the line running completely on empty.
Dad went to pick Ned up, so had arranged for Laura to very kindly pick me up from gymnastics. I loved it, we got to go back to Darcey's for a bit too, not nearly long enough for my liking though.
When Dad arrived to pick me up the presentations were done and dusted, everyone who finished got a lovely medal which I was proudly displaying. Dad was also told that I was the team chatterbox, even striking up conversations with fellow competitors during the race itself.
We had a mini birthday for Mum after tea, mini Colin the caterpillars (complete with candles) and an advance present that we couldn't take with us for her real birthday.
Wednesday
We had rocket day at. School, we had to get into teams and design and build our own rockets (fuelled by compressed air). Despite my endless protestations to my team that we needed fins of some kind to keep it flying straight, I was over-ruled. Needless to say, our rocket was rubbish and veeered off target almost instantly recording a truly pitifull overall flight distance. Actually, I think it was in minus figures.
I got another tooth out after school! Yay, another visit from the tooth fairy. It didn't take much pulling, I could turn it completely backwards!
I had swimming again, it was breaststroke week. It started pretty badly, but by the end I was teally on it, my instructor gave me 10 out of 10!
In the evening I helped Mum do some packing for our upcoming holiday......
Thursday
Finally, the last day of term!
We had our Easter egg hunt.
We got a little chocolate present from our teachers and then it was straight down the park with Ali and pretty much everyone else for the afternoon.
Which meant that I got to hang out on the adventure playground straight after school.
Then it was time to pack our own hand luggage for holidays.
I packed blankie and Panda (obviously, and his passport) as well as some pens and pencils, some hairbands, my Ipod and headphones and a notepad.
I went for my giant puzzle book, my camera, my small binoculars, ipod and headphones and some sticker books....oh, and Stitch.
Friday
Up bright and early as we were off to America.
Yup, this time to California, all the way over on the west coast.
Dad put the address where we were staying in San Diego into the Sat Nav, it was 5,400 miles away.
Dad put the address where we were staying in San Diego into the Sat Nav, it was 5,400 miles away.
So the longest flight we've had so far at 11 hours.
At least Dad had managed a last minute switch on our allocated seats, from ones next to the toilet to ones next to a window.
We got to the airport in time for breakfast....
Just! We had to walk miles for it though!
We didn't have long to wait in the airport before we boarded the plane.
I also made sure that I showed the cabin crew that greeted us onto the plane pandas passport. They were well impressed with it.
And once we were airbourne the entertainment system kicked in....films! TV! Games! Brilliant.
Add to that something to eat or drink every half an hour or so and we were in our element.
We watched cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2
And Despicable Me 2, and he highlight for me, Frozen.
Not to mention a whole load of other stuff, it was well cool.
And we were certainly pleased with the window seats:
When we landed, Dad and I could actually see the Hollywood sign up on rhe hills from the aeroplane window.
What wasn't so cool was waiting in immagration once we had landed.
There was a massive queue (or should I say 'line')
It took aaaaaaaaaaaages.
However, once that was done, picking up our hire car (A Chevrolet Malibu) was a breeze and we were soon on the freeway, heading south from Los Angeles to San Diego. As before in America, you get to pick your own car. Once Dad had realised there were no Dodge Chargers on offer the choice was pretty easy really. I wanted a white one all along:
The roads were cool and spotting the different cars was awesome.
But it was too good a chance to pass up for a good old kip.
Well, even though it was 6pm in the USA, it was 2 am back in England.
We woke up once we arrived at our accomodation for the week, a place called Capri by the Sea, in Pacific Beach, San Diego.
It was awesome, sixth floor, big massive windows all along the wall facing out to sea, with the sound of the Pacific Ocean surf crashing onto the sand.
It really was quite something.
Saturday
What with the time difference and all that, we were up pretty early in the morning.
So we had plenty of time to go to Ralph's, the local Supermarket to get some supplies in.
The shop was pretty cool, with it's big lift up from the car park as well as the trolley escalator like Sainsbury's.
Best of all though was that being an American supermarket, there was Mountain Dew by the crate load.
We headed back to the apartment to make up a picnic before heading off to San Diego Zoo!
Yep, I appointed myself parking monitor for the week. It was my job to remember we were parked in the area of carpark nominated as Flamingo 2!
First up we took a tour of the park, upstairs on an open topped bus.
So we had plenty of time to go to Ralph's, the local Supermarket to get some supplies in.
The shop was pretty cool, with it's big lift up from the car park as well as the trolley escalator like Sainsbury's.
Best of all though was that being an American supermarket, there was Mountain Dew by the crate load.
We headed back to the apartment to make up a picnic before heading off to San Diego Zoo!
Yep, I appointed myself parking monitor for the week. It was my job to remember we were parked in the area of carpark nominated as Flamingo 2!
First up we took a tour of the park, upstairs on an open topped bus.
It gave us a good overview of what we wanted to see for the rest of the day, so we formed a loose plan and set off on foot.
The highlights had to be the Panda's, the Lions, the swimming Hippo, the Polar Bears (not as white as you might think) and the baby Giraffe's.
Yes indeed there was, especially the one near the pandas:
Ice cream prices, higher than Cornwall, unlucky Andy who declared it was his shout.
We carried on for the afternoon, had a chat to one of the zookeepers who had visited England (he had family in Devon, who told him it rained 8 days out of 7). He was really interested in Cornwall and said he'd visit next time he was over.
We did ourselves a souvenir coin on one of those rolling machines with the big turny wheel and filled in the animal gaps we'd identified on our map.
We covered all of our objectives and after a long day, made our way back to Flamingo 2 to find our car and head back.
We covered all of our objectives and after a long day, made our way back to Flamingo 2 to find our car and head back.
Then out for an evening meal in Denny's......which we struggled to stay awake for.
Once I was tucked into my bed, I surveyed my lovely Ocean vista for signs of wild dolphins as I fell asleep......
Sunday
We decided on a quieter day to catch up a bit after travelling and a full day at the zoo.
So after a leisurley breakfast and more looking out for Dolphins:
We headed out to hire some surfboards before spending the morning on the beach.
It was lovely, our first dip in the Pacific Ocean. It felt about as warm as the Atlantic in Cornwall at the height of summer, so still not particularly warm.
But it was much warmer out of the sea that's for sure.
We skipped the waves, we bodyboarded, I skim-boarded.
Pacific beach sand was also equally good at burying people in as well. We love digging.
It was lovely, our first dip in the Pacific Ocean. It felt about as warm as the Atlantic in Cornwall at the height of summer, so still not particularly warm.
But it was much warmer out of the sea that's for sure.
We skipped the waves, we bodyboarded, I skim-boarded.
Pacific beach sand was also equally good at burying people in as well. We love digging.
Watching the world go by was pretty cool. People walking, people riding their beach cruisers, skateboards, all very cool.
Lots of dogs going for walks too, little ones, big ones, ones in jackets, I loved it.
The pier was pretty cool, there were tut shops and loads of people fishing.
We retreated to the pool once again after our exertions.
The pool area was great, it even had a jacuzzi spa and sauna that even us kids were allowed in.
Although the jacuzzi felt seriously hot, hotter than we have a bath at home!
We rounded the day off with a trip to the trash chute. This was all sorts of fun, you got to put your bags of rubbish into a trap door, shut the lid and then listen as it plunged down six floors worth of tube.
Monday
Mums birthday!
My dolphin watching paid off at last, I spotted some out to sea, playing in the surf.
We couldn't believe it.
There must have been about four or five of them, racing the waves in and performing all sorts of cool jumps through the air and the breaking waves.
After that sort of early morning excitement we needed a decent breakfast so we headed to the Ihop restaurant.
This place was awesome it has to be said, with a breakfast menu that looked more like a pudding menu.
After we'd had our fill we hit the road road for Sea World.
We did indeed, we parked in the area C2, not as imaginatively named as the zoo parking fans.
The first thing we came accross was a load of small touch pools.
Now we're suckers for this sort of thing so we loved it. There were small sharks you could stroke, stingrays and best of all these little sucker fish.
Yeah, they loved to eat all the loose skin, bits of dirt, breakfast residue and bit's of bright red crisp deposits from your fingers.
So they had a field day with us lot thats for sure.
We moved on towards the first ride of the day, Manta, a rollercoaster.
Now i'd decided I was going to be all brave and give it a go. I was quite happy, it didn't go upside down or anything.
It did however go very, very fast. And make some big swooping turns.
I didn't like it. Thats what you get for being brave.
I thought it was brilliant, but a lot more hardcore than I thought it would be.
I calmed myself down by stroking the very sociable stingrays as they gently glided by in their tank and then by going to watch the Dolphins go about their business. I loved them, they were so cool and clever.
Next up was the Shamu killer whale show.
They were massive!
And very clever.
When they splashed the crowds with their tails people were getting seriously wet.
Indeed they did, as well I know as I went to sit in the splash zone when a load of lightweights decided they'd rather stay dry than face to soggy onslaught.
I went down initially, but scarpered before Ned took a proper dousing.
So it was all great fun and very well done but we're not entirely sure how we really felt about these great big clever creatures being kept in an admittedly very large pool........
The dolphin show was also brilliant, add in a couple of whales, some parrots and a load of dancers and I was in my element. Especially when they started high diving and acrobatics above the water too!
It was high time for another ride, this time a log flume with a twist, Journey to Atlantis.
There was no way I was getting on it, no way, not even after everyone tried to convince me it was a good idea.
Turns out Ellis was right to resist. There was a standard log flume element, but there was also a very surprising lift for the boat half way through the ride, which felt like it was swaying. It certainly caught me out the first time I went on it with Mum and Andy. I had to keep quiet when I took Dad on it straight afterwards.
They also got a proper good soaking on the splashy bits!
Next up was what turned out to be the highlight of the day, the Pet Show.
Yeah, thats right, a show featuring dogs, cats, and a couple of pigs.
It was so cool, better than killer whales any day of the week. Who has ever seen cats walking a tight rope on demand? No? Thought not.
It was great fun and we even got to meet the stars of the show afterwards for a bit of a cuddle on the stage.
The penguins were next on the agenda.
They had a very cool (literally) enclosure, with proper ice and snow and a lot of water held behind a glass wall. We loved watching them dart about under the surface and struggling across the rocks on their little legs.
It was so cool, better than killer whales any day of the week. Who has ever seen cats walking a tight rope on demand? No? Thought not.
It was great fun and we even got to meet the stars of the show afterwards for a bit of a cuddle on the stage.
The penguins were next on the agenda.
They had a very cool (literally) enclosure, with proper ice and snow and a lot of water held behind a glass wall. We loved watching them dart about under the surface and struggling across the rocks on their little legs.
But the ride itself was very good, and if you measure how good it was by how wet you get, it was a straight 10!
We were pretty tired by the time we got back, so rather than go out or cook anything we had a pizza delivered. How exciting, we've never done this at home.
Not exciting enough to keep me awake though, I dozed off and missed it......unwakeable!
Tuesday
We headed north a little to La Jolla to see it's famous residents.
Not exciting enough to keep me awake though, I dozed off and missed it......unwakeable!
Tuesday
We headed north a little to La Jolla to see it's famous residents.
We carried on around to La Jolla cove where we thought we'd try a bit of snorkelling. The sea had other ideas though, it was pretty rough.
Was it? I wondered why Dad was struggling to keep me afloat....oh, and the rocks under the water didn't help much either!
Poor Mum got a good gouge on her leg helping me back in to shore too. Oh dear.
Still, at least we gave it a go and lived to tell the tale.
We had lunch back at the apartment, then took a trip to a place called the Baked Bear.
It was an ice cream parlour, and cookie and brownie bakery. I urge you, if you are ever in the San Diego area, you must give it a visit. It was amazing. You could pick from about 10 varieties of cookie, then top it with a choice of 20 different varieties of ice cream and finish it off with a freshly baked, gooey chocolate brownie.
Or you could just have the biggest mint choc chip cornet of all time:
Which both me and Dad thought we'd get to finish off for her.
But they didn't! I polished the lot off!
We took a drive out in the afternoon, south towards San Diego itself.
It was another nice chance for a kip in the car for me.
We made a stop at a park which was right next to a massive aircraft carrier, USS Midway. It was brilliant, it had planes and helicopters on the deck and everything.
I don't think it was really worth waking up for to be honest.
We carried on our trip, through the downtown area, looked pretty nice for grown ups I suppose.
We the drove over a really big, high bridge over the bay and out to the Coronado Hotel. Apparently Mum wanted to stay there, but not with us scrotes as she so tactfully put it.
We drove out accross a weird spit of land towards Imperial Beach, but it just seemed to keep going and going so we turned back for home.
We broke up the journey back by having a a bit of a falling out session.
It wasn't our finest moment it must be said......
It also culminated in us all going to bed with no supper!
Except Andy, who made himself some toast.
I don't think he was in quite as much trouble with Mum and Dad as we were though.
Wednesday
Feeling refreshed and out of the dog house (if maybe a little hungry) I was really looking forward to todays activity, bike riding on the beach boardwalk. We'd sussed out our options as we passed the various hire shops over the previous days and i'd decided against a few BMX's I had seen and go for a proper California style beach cruiser instead.
I decided Dad would need all the help he could get and opted for a tag-a-long behind his bike.
Mum decided she was above all this cruiser business and sorted herself out a very fancy looking Specialized hybrid that Mark Cavendish would have been proud to ride.
The man from the hire shop was born in Bath! So he almost knew where we came from which was a novelty.
We hit the boardwalk and started cruising.
Yep, even me. I couldn't help myself, my urge to race and compete and force my way to the front seemed to drift away with the sea breeze....
It really was a lovely place to ride your bike, no traffic except for other riders and the occasional jogger or skateboarder.
We made our way the 4 miles to the end of Pacific Beach and stopped for a well earned picnic.
Feeling re-fuelled we headed to the inland side and rode around the harbour area, stopping to play on the playground.
Where I performed some truly huge swing dismounts.
We headed back to the beach side and made our way back to Belmont Park, an amusement park right on the beach.
The main attraction beingvthe Giant Dipper, built in 1925!
I declared it far too scary so left it to Dad and Ned to make the maiden voyage.
Ellis would not have liked it, i'm not entirely sure I liked t! It was noisy, bumpy and extremely fast! I can't believe it's so old and yet so cool.
I preferred the more sedate attractions, winning myself this rather cool inflatable dolphin by catching some fish in my net!
We saddled up and rode back to the Apartment. You could see it at the other end of the beach, it looked such a long way away.
But we were soon back and returned the bikes to the hire shop, before we headed for the pool to while away yet another beautiful sunny afternoon.
We made friends with a couple of kids from Washington, apparently it's pretty cold there as well, so they were enjoying the sunshine as much as we were.
We went out for a meal in the evening, just down the road to a place called the Bareback Grill, a fancy burger bar.
Dad and Andy tried a variety of beers and I loved the 'sliders'
But we were soon back and returned the bikes to the hire shop, before we headed for the pool to while away yet another beautiful sunny afternoon.
We made friends with a couple of kids from Washington, apparently it's pretty cold there as well, so they were enjoying the sunshine as much as we were.
We went out for a meal in the evening, just down the road to a place called the Bareback Grill, a fancy burger bar.
Dad and Andy tried a variety of beers and I loved the 'sliders'
Dad and I headed for the Baked Bear so we could try another of the ice cream flavours.
I walked back along the boardwalk with Mum and Andy and had a few sneaky Oreo's when we got back.
Thursday
Well that was the end of time in sunny San Diego.
And much as we loved it, we were pretty excited to move on.
Indeed we were, especially woth Disneyland up in Orange County, Los Angeles being our destination.
We hit the freeway and headed north, we made an early start in an attempt to beat the LA rush hour traffic.
We did pretty well and arrived at our hotel, parked the car and went out for breakfast, all in time to be at the park just after it opened, which pleased Dad no end.
He does get in a flap about these sorts of days out, he's so anxious that we get on enough rides in a day.
Now we didn't go to Disneyland itself, no, we went to it's next door sister park, Disney California Adventure.
It looked good from what we'd seen but it has to be said, our first ride of the day was a bit of a disappointment:
They were tragic, painfully slow.
You couldn't catch anyone, let alone give them a tooth loosening bump!
The other rides in the bugs life area were brilliant though, and best of all it was really quiet so no queues!
Next up, something a bit more daring for the boys, The Tower of Terror!
Mum and I spent a bit longer in the bugs life bit.
It was great fun as usual, I love Tower of Terror.
Next up was Monsters Inc Mike and Sully to the rescue.
Which we really enjoyed, once we'd got over the initial fear of a car ride into a partly dark setting.
Yeah, this still creeps us out a bit.
Of course, being a Disney park, there plenty of characters to cuddle:
So, the park was as quiet as we dared hope, Dad didn't have to stress, we got on loads of things.
We did, the Golden zephyr was next, followed by the Jumping jellyfish, then Goofy's sky school, the Silly symphony swings and then for me, the big one, the main event the California screamin' rollercoaster.
It went upside down, it went really fast, no way was I going on it.
I went with Dad and Andy, and we sorted out a child swap so Mum could come on with no wait afterwards (also means Dad and I got two goes as we could accompany her).
Mum and I had a couple of goes on King tritons carousel, instead of horses it wa all water creatures. I loved the cute beaver.
The wait for the rollercoaster was only 15 minutes, what a result! We were soon on and ready to go. I was so excited. The train made it's way to the side of the lake, and in front of a crowd of onlookers the countdown began. Once it reached zero we were fired along the waters edge and the up the first big climb of the track. The rest of the (long) track was pretty much a blur of drops, turns and climbs but the loop itself was brilliant, you could see it comng and I loved every minute of it!
As soon as we were off, we collected Mum to do it all over again.
While I got to take Andy on the carousel!
We decided it was time for lunch and found ourself a lovely place to grab some food. A sunken courtyard with lovely flowers and greenery. We could have been in Italy or something, it seemed a million miles away from a theme park.
The only thing that brought the tone down was Andy's lunch. A whole, massive turkey leg!
What? It was delicious!
So after lunch it was back on it, next up, Mickeys fun wheel!
If you look closely at the picture you can just make out that not all of the cars are fixed. They can roll around their own track as the wheel turns around we'd never been on anything like it before!
Once i'd worked out just what on earth was happening I loved it. In fact, i'd go as far as to say it was my favourite ride of the day.
Next on the agenda was Cars land.
As far as I can make out this was the main driving force behind Dad wanting to come on this holiday.
We'd already sorted out a Fastpass for the main attraction Radiator Springs Racers. Just as well, the wait was over an hour and a half! So that's where everyone was.
Dad and I were so excited, the ride looked brilliant. We couldn't wait to get in our car and loved speculating about what colour we'd get (green as it goes).
I was a bit nervous, as usual.
It was brilliant fun, the character bit at the start was great, and the race bit to finish out on the open track was awesome!
Junkyard jamboree and Luigi's flying tyres were brilliant too:
We got an ice cream from the Cozy Cone Motel! Brilliant!
Next up was the most popular ride of the day across all of us, Toy story midway mania.
It involved sitting in a car, donnng 3d glasses and being taken through a variety of shooting galleries.
Instead of having a laser gun though, you had a gun that you had to pull a plunger thing on a rope.
It was brilliant fun.
Then it was a few more sneaky goes on the California Screamin'
Or the carousel of course.
All that was left was the Grizzly River Run, a rapids run type of thing.
We went on with a couple of cool American girls and their Dad.
It was a really good ride, of course we got soaked!
As we made our way back across the park the parade just so happened to be starting.
We found a lovely spot behind the rope and sat ourselves down to enjoy the show:
So that was pretty much everything done, we were way too tired to hang about for the fireworks sadly.
We called into a McDonalds on the way back to our hotel, I loved the fact you could do yourself drinks refills!
The last push to the hotel was a struggle.
Yeah, I was as knackered as i'd ever been in my life I think.
Friday
So, we had spent the night in our new hotel, the Howard Johnson, Anaheim.
It was pretty nice too, although the view we had, accross a 300 lane freeway wasn't quite as picturesque as Pacific Beach.
Never mind, the noise insulation was really quite amazing, you couldn't hear a thing. I quite liked watching the cars zoom past.
We hit the Ihop again for breakfast, there was a balloon modeller in there, he was really rather good:
Never mind, the noise insulation was really quite amazing, you couldn't hear a thing. I quite liked watching the cars zoom past.
We hit the Ihop again for breakfast, there was a balloon modeller in there, he was really rather good:
We took a drive out to Huntingdon Beach, famous spot for so many surfing competitions and what have you:
We carried on out onto the pier, the pelicans were certainly friendly enough:
We knew it must have been a fairly swanky area when we followed a very new looking Rolls Royce Wraith for a few miles.
It was very fancy indeed.
We stumbled accross a Vons supermarket, the other big name in supermarlets over there. We were expecting big things when we parked up near a Rolls Royce Ghost in the car park!
It was pretty nice actually, we stocked up and headed back to the hotel.
Pool time! This place had a cool water playground, we loved it:
We spent all afternoon there, until we decided to try the other pool:
We had a bit of a slump session back at the room, watching You Tube videos of a comedian called Brian Conley.
We thought he was hilarious....IT'S A PUPPET!!!!!
After a bit of research we found out you could get a good view of the Disney fireworks from the car park, we headed out and enjoyed the show!
Saturday
Time to move on again, we headed for Santa Monica.
We got parked up pretty easily and hit the beach.
It was my idea of paradise, the sea, the sand, the sunshine and best of all, free gymnastics equipment to use:
There were all sorts of things to play on, monkey bars, hoops, balance beams, we didn't want to leave:
Now i'm not the biggest rollercoaster fan as we have established, but Ned was desperate to go on this one and it did looked pretty cool out there on the pier.
I promised i'd take good care of her, so she agreed.
I did, I felt vey brave. On the second lap I even had both my hands in the air.
We wandered back up the pier, the end of the famous Route 66:
Well, things started off pretty normally, the usual boardwalk traffic, cruiser bikes, skateboards, rollerbladers, a bloke hula-hooping with a bottle of water on his head....
And then it started getting weirder, and weirder.....
There were stalls set up with paintings, jewellery various nick naks..
Then there were hippies playing music and doing yoga, full on bands playing, dogs in bikini's, ornate painted skulls for sale. I think it's fair to say it was a whole different world in Venice.
There was a busy skatepark, basketball courts and makeshift shelters set up on the grass where people were just taking it easy....
There was a weird smell in the air too, apparently some of the cigarretes smoked here were not quite the same as normal ones.....
There was only one chap showing off his muscles at the Muscle Beach bit, so we had to step in:
We were certainly glad to get back to it for a sit down.
We headed towards our final hotel, the Best Western Sunset Plaza in Hollywood!
We found it pretty easily, checked in and went to our room.
It was lovely, big, cosy looking with a window that opened out over the pool.
The pool was brilliant as well, by far the deepest we've been in since Mijas!
Plunging the depths for the dive sticks really took some doing, I think even Ned was impressed that I managed all for from the depths of eight and a half feet down!
In the evening we visited the Saddle Ranch Chop house, a full on cowboy themed bar that was just opposite the hotel.
It was a brilliant atmousphere in there, but the real highlights were desert related.
First of was the giant candyfloss (or cotton candy as it was called):
Sadly we weren't old enough to have a go on the mechanical bull....
But fortunately Andy and Dad were!
Andy went first and did a good job, he certainly had the style down.
Then Dad had a go too, he did okay too. Well, he wasn't a complete embarassment anyway:
Sunday
My tenth birthday! How exciting. Can you all believe i've been on this earth bugging you all for 10 whole years now?
I was seriously excited and couldn't wait to get stuck into my birthday cards (a lot of which had been posted through the door at home before we left and made the journey with us.
There was a selection of compact gifts to open too, well cool.
Then got ready to go on our Hollywood bus tour.
We were dead excited about this, even though Mum and Dad said Hollywood was a bit of a dump last time they came.
Things had certainly changed by the looks of it, Hollywood was actually pretty cool.
There were street performers and stars inlaid in the pavement with famous peoples names on them. We hadn't really heard of many of them.
If you really squint you can just about make out the Hollywood sign on the hill in the distance.
Again, there were plenty we'd never heard of, but we got a picture with this one, just for Auntie Christine:
It was pretty interesting.
First stop was a good vantage point, high up on the hills to see the Hollywood sign.
It was also a good place to look out over the city of LA.
We the drove past a load of celebrities homes, again, we hadn't heard of any of them really.
A couple of things were worth mentioning, firstly some bloke called Vinny Jones had a house that impressed the grown ups.
There was also what looked like an entire village in the valley that belonged to someone called Cher.
Never heard of her either, but her place looked well cool, it even had it's own riding stables and a pair of massive Easter eggs outside her front gate.
Eventually we made it to the whole point of this trip, Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive. I'd been looking forward to this all holiday. I'd been promised loads of fancy cars to spot, and I got them. I knew it would be good when we saw a Bugatti Veyron pretty much straight away.
I wasn't quite so interested really, I was quite happy to sit in the back of the bus with Andy and take it easy.
The bus driver parked up so we could go for a wander about, the exotic cars kept on coming. There were so many fancy Porsche's we gave up on them, and concentrated on the Lamborghini's, Maserati's and seemingly endless Ferarri's (like in the background of this shot)
It was, ice creams on Rodeo Drive are still cheaper than Cornwall. I also managed to pull out another tooth, mid ice cream! I was relieved to hear that the tooth fairy makes visits to the USa but still pays in English currency.
That pretty much concluded the tour, we got dropped off at our hotel and headed for the pool.
We seriously loved this pool.
We did indeed, even though I soon took to a sunbed and had a Minecraft session on the Ipad. Well, it was my birthday after all:
In the evening it was time for another one of the things I was really looking forward to, our visit to the Cheesecake factory.
We found it easy enough, but hadn't really bargained on the fact that it was actually the Beverly Hills branch, so was in a very swanky area!
We parked our frankly lame hire car a decent distance away and walked to the restaurant.
There was a bit of a wait for a table, but not too long. We spent the time perusing the massive chiller cabinet full of the multitude of cheesecakes on offer, trying to make our decisions about what we'd have.
We were soon seated and had a great table.
Of course we had to have some real food first, not such a hardship as there was pepperoni pizza.
Then it was on the the main event, the cheesecake! Dad and Andy both went for the Oreo version, while I played it simple and had a vanilla one. Turns out to have been the right choice for a cheesecake purist like me. It was delicious, and less heavy going than the Oreo variety.
Dad also managed to mention that it was my birthday to our waitress, I got a round of happy birthday sung for me by three waiters (and the rest of the restaurant) and a nicely decorated plate:
Monday
Our last day.
A final breakfast time binge at the buffet.
And then a pool morning.
The flight wasn't until tea time so we thought we may as well make the most of the sunshine for the day before we had to head home.
My goodness it was a scorcher as well.
I perfected my 'no papparazzi please' pose for next time I come back to Hollywood:
It was a pretty short trip and we were soon at LAX.
We dropped the car off and went to check in.
We dropped the car off and went to check in.
Which was pretty chaotic. You have to take your own bags to the xray machine, not like Heathrow or in fact any other airport we've been to where they sent the bags off down the conveyor when you actually get your boarding cards.
Anyway, one of the machines was broken and there was quite a backlog of bags to be scanned.
We remarked at the time that we'd be lucky to ever see our luggage again.....
We boarded the plane, which was exciting in itself. As it was an overnight flight we had a bag with the usual blanket, blindfold and cosy socks as well as the most exciting inclusion, a mini toothbrush and tube of toothpaste!
We boarded the plane, which was exciting in itself. As it was an overnight flight we had a bag with the usual blanket, blindfold and cosy socks as well as the most exciting inclusion, a mini toothbrush and tube of toothpaste!
Indeed it was, we had a bit of a kip on the flight though......
Tuesday
So we were into Tuesday, And sure enough,not all of our luggage made it back.
Tuesday
So we were into Tuesday, And sure enough,not all of our luggage made it back.
Nope, one bag was still in LA. It was okay though, all it had in it was our toiletries, our raincoats and our soggy swimming costumes.
The man at the airport said it was coming on the 6pm flight and would be delivered by courier to our home on Wednesday.
We drove home, Dad did pretty well and only nearly stalled our manual gearboxed car a couple of times.
Of course, when we got home there were masses of cards through the door and my main present from Mum and Dad, an Xbox One. I don't think i've ever been so surprised, so pleased and so grateful for anything they've ever got me before. Dad and Mum got seriously breath restricting cuddles.
Of course, when we got home there were masses of cards through the door and my main present from Mum and Dad, an Xbox One. I don't think i've ever been so surprised, so pleased and so grateful for anything they've ever got me before. Dad and Mum got seriously breath restricting cuddles.
We fired it up but it took ages to symc with the internet a and got knows what else.
Which meant we couldn't even have the telly on.
But it got there in the end and I got stuck into my one and only game, Fifa 2014.
But it got there in the end and I got stuck into my one and only game, Fifa 2014.
Wednesday
Mum was off as it was still Easter holidays (although we hadn't actually had easter by this point)
We had a mega lay in, I managed around 1pm.
And I just about made it out of bed just before Dad got home having finished work at 2:30. Well, we needed it, jet lag and all that.
I did not fancy swimming lessons one little bit, but was forced into it.
Good job too, Hugo was down their so we got to play in the park and generally catch up.
I was sort of glad I did go swimming actually, it went really well again. We even did races as part of the lesson, cool or what? I won them too!
We also went to Game and bought an extra contoller for the Xbox with some of my birthday coupons.
After tea Auntie Christine came round with a joint birthday cake for me and mum, better late than never eh?
Thursday
I had a day out with my friend Lilly. We went to Bucklebury Farm park and had a lovely time. It was good to have some time with a friend.
I went out to the park, only Ben was around, but that was cool. We came back home and played on the Xbox.
We then had a visit from Uncle Den and Auntie Gail.
With birthday gifts and Easter eggs!
And a non-birthday present for me, a union jack handbag which I was totally thrilled with.
On top of that Auntie Trish also turned up and stayed for tea which was nice.
It was so nice to see everybody.
Friday
Bit of a last minute decision this one but we went to Cornwall for the weekend.
We didn't leave until after lunch so there was no traffic and we were down in no time at all.
We watched the Ipad with our new exciting headphone doubler that Dad got from Maplin for £2.
For a change, we arrived in daylight, it was lovely to be able to see the sea rather than just hear it like we normally do.
It also meant Gary was still in his shop, we loved having a chat with him to catch up.
We unpacked and then even had time to go for a walk along the headland as the sun set.
Saturday
We didn't leave until after lunch so there was no traffic and we were down in no time at all.
We watched the Ipad with our new exciting headphone doubler that Dad got from Maplin for £2.
For a change, we arrived in daylight, it was lovely to be able to see the sea rather than just hear it like we normally do.
It also meant Gary was still in his shop, we loved having a chat with him to catch up.
We unpacked and then even had time to go for a walk along the headland as the sun set.
Saturday
It was a beautiful Cornish sunny day and the camp site was alive with people.
Well, Andy was doing some repairs on their caravan so he was kept busy.
We hit the beach. The rockpool on the far side has filled up over the winter.
But the cave on the near side has a nice new skylight!
Yeah, part of the rock above it has been dislodged over the winter storms, it was weird standing at the end of it and looking up at the sky instead of complete darkness.
We did digging, water course diversion and a game of Kingball.
We had a BBQ for lunch, which seemed most appropriate given where we were and the weather.
We made a visit to St Merryn in the afternoon, the bakery. We needed some cakes, as the shop was just closing we also got a bagfull of cheap baugettes too, perfect!
Well, Andy was doing some repairs on their caravan so he was kept busy.
We hit the beach. The rockpool on the far side has filled up over the winter.
But the cave on the near side has a nice new skylight!
Yeah, part of the rock above it has been dislodged over the winter storms, it was weird standing at the end of it and looking up at the sky instead of complete darkness.
We did digging, water course diversion and a game of Kingball.
We had a BBQ for lunch, which seemed most appropriate given where we were and the weather.
We made a visit to St Merryn in the afternoon, the bakery. We needed some cakes, as the shop was just closing we also got a bagfull of cheap baugettes too, perfect!
We revisited the park, hadn't been there for years. It was great fun:
We even used the scooters in the skate bowl, look closely at the orange graffiti....
We went back to the caravan and had a visit from John, Sarah and of course the now fully grown Connie.
She was lovely and we really enjoyed making a fuss of her!
We settled in for saturday night TV, Britains got talent is back an we lapped it up.
Sunday
The biggest day of the year, Easter Sunday. Despite earlier protestations that I wanted easter at home this year, the egg hunt in the caravan was awesome:
We amassed a mighty haul.
It was a pretty rainy day unfortunatley.
We made the best of it, drove out to Porthcothan to see the rocks that collapsed over the winter and ended up in Ann's Cottage surf shop.
By the time Mum and dad had caught up with us we'd already decided on a pair of trainers each, had our feet measured and tried them on. All they had to do was pay for them for us!
We had a walk in the afternoon, across to Booby's bay to examine the shipwreck that had been unearthed during the winter:
It was wrecked in 1917 and it only pokes out through the sand every now and again, I guess the rough winter helped.
Having not made it into the water with my surfboard during yesterdays sunshine I had no choice but to go today, in the bleak greyness. I managed to get Ellis and Dad on board as well as John and Andy. On my third attempt I was up on my feet again and riding the wave.
I got a few on my bodyboard too, loved it.
Then I suffered a bit of a wipeout, which would have been okay if the fin on the bottom of the board didn't slice my poor skinny little leg open. The salt water certainly made me wince a bit.
We went back to the caravan and had a medicinal hot chocolate, a cuddle and a game of Sleeping Queens.
Monday
Another lazy morning.
A bit of scootering up and down the road and around the site.
But it was going home day, so we had to pack and hit the road.
At seemingly the same time as another 3 million people.
It took a while to get home thats for sure.....
Tuesday
Back to school day, as usual it was a mix of emotions. Happy to see our friends and have a catch up.
Tuesday
Back to school day, as usual it was a mix of emotions. Happy to see our friends and have a catch up.
But a bit rubbish having to get up early and do schoolwork.
I also really miss my family when I go back to school, I get used to having them around all the time on holiday. I tend to get very cuddly when i'm back home.
Yeah, even with me!
Wednesday
Swimming again, less resistance this time i'm pleased to report.
We also had another trip to Game to buy Forza Motorsport 5 with some more birthday vouchers. It's awesome.
Thursday
Having toyed with the idea of giving up dance (again) over the holidays, I actually loved it this week so it's a good job I got talked into keeping it up.
Yeah, i'm glad too, I get to spend an hour in our adventure playground after school, playing with the crazy boys from my class. Their Mum's were very impressed in the manner I kept them in order too.
Friday
Wednesday
Swimming again, less resistance this time i'm pleased to report.
We also had another trip to Game to buy Forza Motorsport 5 with some more birthday vouchers. It's awesome.
Thursday
Having toyed with the idea of giving up dance (again) over the holidays, I actually loved it this week so it's a good job I got talked into keeping it up.
Yeah, i'm glad too, I get to spend an hour in our adventure playground after school, playing with the crazy boys from my class. Their Mum's were very impressed in the manner I kept them in order too.
Friday
I got another tooth out during class today. Aidan did too, how cool is that?
We're really enjoying our Friday's without any swimming or sports clubs or anything else.
Saturday
Well, even though I placed my tooth cery carefully under my pillow last night, the tooth fairy obviously didn't come, my tooth was still there! I was devastated. I was told it must have been some sort of mix up due to the sheer volume of teeth i'm yanking out at the moment and my recent globe trotting. Seemed reasonable enough....
We went to Annes for lunch, pizza, garlic bread, yes!!!!
Saturday
Well, even though I placed my tooth cery carefully under my pillow last night, the tooth fairy obviously didn't come, my tooth was still there! I was devastated. I was told it must have been some sort of mix up due to the sheer volume of teeth i'm yanking out at the moment and my recent globe trotting. Seemed reasonable enough....
We went to Annes for lunch, pizza, garlic bread, yes!!!!
Little tomatoes and salad too, double yes!!!
And a lovely park just up the path from her new house!!!!!
She gave me some toys r us vouchers for my birthday so we went straight there when we left her house. I got myself some Lego, a castle themed set and a racing car.
And I used the opportunity to see what I might put on my birthday list soon.
When we got home I managed to persuade Dad to help me mould my plaster cupcake badges and fridge magnets ready for painting. The set had sat in my cupboard for ages and yet suddenly I was desperate to get them made.
Sunday
As soon as I was up I got cracking with painting my cakes, they had moulded really well and rather than simply daubing every colour paint onto them at once like I would have done very recently, I did it in a very considered manner, leaving each colour to dry before starting the next.
I pretty much dedicated the whole day to Forza Motorsport, broken up only by a bit of homework to keep mum happy.
Owen came round after lunch, bearing easter eggs and a birthday present.
Later on Alan and Hayley came round as well, once again laden with easter eggs and birthday presents. One of which was Ghost Hunt, a game i've been after for years. It was worth the wait, it's brilliant.
We're seriously lucky kids!
Thanks everyone.
Monday
Back to school again, urgghh.
Monday
Back to school again, urgghh.
We resumed quad kids training for one week only. It's a bank holiday next monday so no school, then the competition is the week after.
We did dancing to one of the songs from the film Frozen. Need I say any more?
Okay then, is anyone still reading? If so then thanks, it's been a big one this time to catch up. To show our gratitude for sticking with us, tell Dad he owes you a pint or something next time you see him. Thanks once again everyone!
