Deer Forest

Up in Coloma, Michigan about an hour from us is a place called Deer Forest. It's been open for a long time, and I've seen pictures of us all there when we were younger, but I don't remember going.  My mom, Mike, Marley and I went in 2011 for my birthday and Marley has talked about it since. The other day we decided to head up there again. It was a rainy day and I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there, but we still had fun and will definitely be back before they close for the winter. 

I don't remember it at all from when I was younger, but now it's mostly a petting zoo and some rides. Since it was raining Marley only went on one ride, but we walked around twice feeding all the animals. I'm sure they loved us because we fed them a lot!   They are recently under new management and it looks like they're fixing things up pretty nicely. 

These mini horses were so cute! Mike kept thinking the mom was going to bite him but they were adorable! 

Hanging out in the jail house. 

Obviously Deer Forest has deer,  however, they are a new herd of deer so when they saw us coming they all ran into their "houses" so we didn't get to pet or feed a single deer. We were told that they will take about a season to get used to the people. Last time we came we could hardly keep the deer away from us so we can't wait to come back and feed them! 

I loved these huge horses, they were so beautiful!

The kids crashed out on the way home. 

We had a really nice time. If you live close to Coloma and haven't been to Deer Forest, you should definitely check it out!

California Day 7

Saturday was our final day in California.  Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until late afternoon so we had some time to kill before we headed to the airport.  We headed up to Los Angeles and then over to Santa Monica Beach.  It was pretty crowded there so we headed down Wilshire Blvd. into Beverly Hills.  We went down Rodeo Drive up to the Beverly Hills hotel and just drove around for a while. After a few hours it was time to head to the airport =(  Our flight home went really smoothly and got us home right around midnight. We had a great time on our trip, but it's so nice to sleep in my own bed again!

The Hotel California 

Not sure who's car this is, but there were a ton of people taking pictures, so I did too.

The Beverly Hills Hotel

The Colorado fires

California Day 6

On our last full day in California we started out with a character breakfast at the PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel.  Marley got to dance with the characters a few times, and Mason finally didn't cry when Stitch came over to the table.  After that we went swimming and to lunch at Rainforest Cafe. Then we headed to Newport Beach to watch the sunset. We also got some milkshakes from Ruby's Diner which I am pretty sure is the restaurant shown at the end of the movie Taken 2 so that was pretty neat.

Dancing with Minnie Mouse

Marley running down the pier 

California Day 5

On our fifth day, Marley, Mike, Mason, my mom and I all headed to California Adventure. My dad went out on his own to see some military things. We immediately headed for Cars Land to get our fast passes for the Radiator Springs Racers. While my mom waited for those with Mason, Mike and I took Marley on the Tower of Terror.  She was okay with it until we got off and then she started crying.  I think we traumatized her because she keeps talking about it and it was almost a week ago. Oops! Mike had to go back to work tomorrow so he only got to spend the morning with us before he had to head off to the airport. We were sad to see him go =(

The view from the top of the ferris wheel

The Tower of Terror 

Marley got picked to dance with the street band. 

Her light up ears for the World of Color water show.