Christmas 2006

Sophie has just seen what's under the tree!

Sophie working her way through all the goodies.

You can just see Aurely and Lily Las Vegas on the bean bag - they had presents this year as well.

This was Sophie as she opened her present from Father Christmas - a pink Nintendo DS Lite - Father Christmas was a very cleaver man as no-one could get hold of them over here in the shops. As you can see Sophie was very, very pleased.

The Mickey Mouse ears and covered tracks contain a roller coaster that we managed to get Mike on! At the top of Mickey's head the coaster goes upside down! Beleive it or not Mike actually loved this coaster and went on it several times - I must admit it was fun.

Captain Jack Sparrow with Sophie, he was very like his character in the films. Sophie is wearing her Disney pins around her neck - she really got into the trading bit towards the end of our time there. She nows has 8m of them.

Mike and Sophie at the castle. Nice photo but shame about Mikes white legs!

Sophie with Pluto and Minnie Mouse, just a couple of the many characters we saw.

Major amounts of pumpkins in Half Moon Bay - put our little ones to shame a bit. When they say pumpkin patch they mean pumpkin patch!

Just some of the stunning coastline on Highway 1. The road hugs the coast virtually the whole of the way down from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Wild elephant seals enjoying the afternoon sun. They just flop out of the water and up onto the beach then cover themselves in sand!

This is Lombard Street - the world's most crookest street! We actually drove down it in our little hire car!
Watch out for this picture in the Wip Wop! From this vista point you could see the whole bay, city and Alcatraz!

Just one of the many steep streets of San Francisco. Alcatraz can be seen in the middle of the bay.

Fairfield - Jelly Belly Factory

Yes this is the home to the original Jelly Belly's. We went on a tour around the factory and had loads of yummy samples and obviously had to do a bit of shopping. We tried some nice flavours like strawberry jam and chocolate pudding, but they did have some dodgy flavours such as earwax, snot, vomit etc need I go on!

Lake Tahoe

Mike overlooking one of the many beautiful sandy beaches of Lake Tahoe. Sophie had a paddle here before having a lovely picnic on the beach.
A small glimpse of the wonderful fall colours. Tahoe had just had its first snow of the season and the colours had just started to change. Lovely and warm during the day but a little bit nippy at night.

Death Valley and Bodie Ghost Town

Mike and Sophie at Bodie Ghost Town - never mind the old buildings Sophie just loved the snow! It had snowed over night, their first of the season but it was lovely and warm during the day.
Death Valley was amazing - nothing like I expected - not a lot of sand. This is the rock formations just above the valley floor. The valley itself is full of scrub plants. On the far side of the valley there is some sand but not close enough to walk on unfortunately. Really really hot here and yet 2 hours drive up to the road was snow!

Las Vegas

Sophie with her new friend - Mike was too scared to go near her! I think Sophie may have found her new career!