Las Vegas

2. Las Vegas

First we were in Salinas to celebrate thanksgiving with my Grandpa Frank and Grandma Gigi and my other cousins, we spent the whole night there, my dad and my two uncles went to visit my other cousin, (How much cousins do I have?) then headed for  Las Vegas, the part you are about to read right now is when I was actually in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, famous for street lights and casino. Some top attractions at Las Vegas which I didn't go to,  are the Stratosphere, a casual hotel that offers dining, drinking, a casino, and thrill rides over 100 stories above the strip. Bellagio, a luxury casino resort with outdoor pools, dining, plus some live shows.
The last attraction, is The Mirage, a modern casino hotel with a dolphin habitat, plus some multiple eateries. We only spent a little bit of time in Las Vegas, the trip was 8 hours including eat and rests,on arrival to Las Vegas which was 5pm we had dinner and then we went to Las Vegas Premium Outlet where we saw many shops, such as Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. It had lots of people since it was Black Friday, even some shops had lines because other people were waiting to get in the shops. So we stayed in a hotel for overnight and slept because we were so tired from the trip.

Then we woke up early to go to the Grand Canyon, that trip will be posted tomorrow! For now, here are some pictures that my mother took in Las Vegas. Sadly we couldn't take many, so here's seven for now. The last one, my mom downloaded from the internet. Thank you for reading!

San Francisco

1. San Francisco.

San Fransisco had really big buildings, there was this HUGE christmas tree, and there were some cool small shops outside that had all sorts of bits and bobs such as dreamcatchers, handmade bracelets, headdresses, stone collections, marbles, some necklaces, etc. I found it really cool how some shops were outside because I don't think you can see outside shops in New Zealand or Los Angeles. By outside shops, it's sorta like, there's a table outside filled with a bunch of stuff and the seller is sitting behind the table selling the stuff. There was also this cool figure place we passed by, we went inside and took some pictures, but we didn't actually go through the whole thing, we just took pictures with the figures on the outside. let me show you the picture that my mom took for me:

There was also this big christmas tree we passed by, and then we went to the golden state bridge. I actually ALMOST left my heart in San Fransisco, because it was so beautiful, but I didn't because I didn't see Las Vegas yet. Here's my picture at the golden state bridge: 

After that, we left san fransisco and headed for Las Vegas, which is in my next blog post for tomorrow! See you later, in my next blog post! Oh, by the way, here's the christmas tree photo that I took. Now, bye bye!

Los Angeles Light Zoo

Yesterday my family went to the Los Angeles Light Zoo. As we walk out of the parking lot we see a line of people trying to get in the Los Angeles Light Zoo with their tickets shown on their phones. It was a very long line, starting 4 metres away from the parking lot. (That's only an estimation) Finally, it was our turn, the zoo worker started to scan our tickets and we went through. So the first thing we do once we're inside the zoo, is we take some pictures. As we walk we see a carousel, and we ride it of course, you'll need some translations for the video: Ate means Older Sister so my dad is trying to show a good example for Chris, my little brother. My dad is encouraging Chris to just hold on by himself, and since my horse was broken, it didn't go up and down. So at the end, I say: So that's why it's broken! The handle that spins is missing on the top! And my baby brother, throughout the ride his fear of my dad not holding on is gone so yay for him. Glad my baby brother had such the courage to hold on by himself, especially since he's under 42 inches, so it would be a bit high for him. After the carousel we see a lair filled with reptiles. Snakes, spiders, etc. Sadly the video is on my dad's gopro so I can't show it. The zoo had some weird animals in the "Lair". After the lair, we walked around in a whole circle, take a few more pictures, then head back to Gardena Ave. That is the end of the light zoo journey. Thank you for reading! ~ Kate

Disneyland At Los Angeles

(I've decided to only make blog posts when my family goes out)

I loved Disneyland. First we had to pay for a parking at Disneyland and then, after parking the car we went inside a toy story bus that took us to Tomorrowland. (A Place In Disneyland) Our first ride at Disneyland was with Buzz Lightyear. We had to shoot Z targets while on the ride, and our guns would flash green to let us know that we shot the Z target. The ride would spin and spin, my mom got very dizzy. The next ride we tried was a rocket carousel. You would hop in with your boarding pass for your own little mini rocket, and there was a lever that you could control to go higher and lower. You had to push the lever forward to go lower, and pull the lever backwards to go higher. The ride only lasted for about 20 seconds. After that we tried finding Rapunzel, but sadly we couldn't find her. Someone told us she was on the left of Sleeping Beauty's castle, we went there and she still wasn't there. Her time was at 12:30 to 12:35. We waited for 5 minutes, yet she still wasn't there, and also didn't want to let down her hair. So we went on a rollercoaster that was super dark, like, pitch black. You didn't know if you were going left or right, so it was super scary. There was this part with a gorilla that was in ice, it roared at me and I looked away from the gorilla right away. I was so scared, at the end of the ride I kept saying "I AM NOT OKAY. I AM NOT OKAY." After I got over the fact that I got scared of a gorilla, we went on this slow boat ride that had christmas stuff in it, like snow, presents,  the naughty/nice list, etc. It was so long and fun, worth the wait. We then went on a submarine that was themed "Finding Nemo" there were animations of nemo and dory, everyone else in the movie. Not sure how it was underwater, but it was cool. After the submarine me and my mom waited for my cousins, my auntie, my dad and my uncle to finish this ride called Space Mountain. Me and my baby brother ate popcorn while waiting with my momma. Dad said it was super scary. Me and my baby brother laughed at him because at the start he kept thinking that it wouldn't be that scary. Then we went to a disney parade with Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Elsa, Anna, Princess Tiana, Beauty & The Beast, Cinderella, Cinderella's step sisters and Cinderella's mother, Frosty the snowman, the gingerbread man, and last but not least, Santa Claus! We then lined up for Pirates Of The Caribbean. It was like the slow boat ride, but it had dips and drops. My mom was a bit scared, because she has a fear of heights and sudden things. The artwork inside that boat ride was soooo amazing! It was super creative, the humans looked real because they were moving by themselves, I actually thought Jack Sparrow was real.. and I like how there were sound effects when we went inside the prison, people were asking us (Refering to my family) to get them out of prison. We went through the village of the bad guys, and in the end Jack Sparrow sat in a throne, with piles of gold coins behind him. And there was a sudden drop, my mom though.. I won't forget how scared she was during the ride.. after the ride we lined up for this haunted mansion thing, it took 30 minutes until we got to the entrance. The haunted mansion was quite a disappointment for me because it wasn't scary. It was only projected cartoons and stuff like that. But, the last thing we did was wait for the fireworks. those definitely weren't a disappointment. They were spectacular! There was music in the background as well. Right after the fireworks we went back to the apartment, and slept. That is the end to this fantastic unforgettable journey of mine to Disneyland.

Day One At Los Angeles

So, as we were travelling to the airport, we realise that I forgot my bag after 10 minutes in the car. So we turn back. I quickly run inside the house and grab my bag. After getting my bag and going back in the car, I fall asleep. After waking up in the car, I try sleeping again because dad says that there's 30 more minutes until we arrive. Turns out, I don't sleep in the car and stay awake for a whole 30 minutes while eating some candy because why not? So we finally get to the Park & Ride area and leave our car there. We're gonna be at US for a month so that means the car will be there for a month. We wait for the bus at park and ride for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes we put our luggage on the bus and we take the bus to go to the Auckland airport. After we arrive, we go through all the luggage stuff and security. After going through all the security stuff, we wait for about 4 hours. After the airport finally opened the gates we wait 1 hour for the airplane to come to Auckland and then we finally board. On the airplane me and my baby brother play a few games, there were some multiplayer games and single player games.

I had to watch Frozen again with my baby brother on the airplane. After watching Frozen I fell asleep on dad's arm rest thingy. After waking up I would check the New Zealand time on my phone every once in a while. Y'know what.. Let's skip the airplane part. Once we arrive to US I go on my phone and listen to BTS music because BTS is fabulous. After a couple of hours I finally fall asleep in the room. This is the end of Day One at LA.