We've wanted to do Sea World for some time now, and we were not disappointed. May I indulge and relive a few favorite moments? Maybe a few more than a few.
There is so much fascination under the water. Jane watched these Beluga whales for as long as we had time. Then, we went back three more times.
It was awesome having a one year old who will sit and enjoy shows. In fact, she probably said the word "show" (show, show, show, show) thousands of times.
Alice totally knows how cute she is. We found this little nightgown shortly before we left and were not surprised to discover that Alice adores it as much as Jane did!
Our hotel was ON the beach, so we rolled out of bed and enjoyed! Pretty sure Jack was pretending to be Calvin nailing Suzie with mud balls.
We'd heard mixed things about LEGOLAND, but mostly that it was awesome. I can hardly resist doing new things, especially since I knew our birthday boy would be in heaven! He was.
Parents wait in line, kids play... (at least for some of the rides, but we'll take it!)
The Lego city was fantastic! We even found our Vegas hotel! I went back at the end of the day with just Alice and she stared at "New York" for at least 30 minutes. Completely amazing.
The DUPLO area won Alice over as well. In a park with rides, shows, and all kinds of things, it was a SLIDE that was hard to get her away from. Just goes to show... kids don't need fancy things to have fun. Don't need it, but it sure is fun!
Jane and I spent an afternoon at Sea World, just the two of us, and had a great time doing whatever SHE wanted to do. Such a fun time together. On the walk home, it started to pour! By the time we arrived at the hotel, there was the most gorgeous double rainbow. If I didn't already love San Diego, I did after that afternoon. What a beautiful part of our country.
We love humid climates, and this one did a number on Alice's hair. Her hair was curlier than ever!
One of our favorite days was spent in Old Town San Diego. We started out at the Mormon Battalion Museum, and were SO impressed. I won't ruin it for you, but if you're in the area, it is not to be missed! Jack was sporting some of the Battalion's gear, and feeling pretty cool.
We panned for gold, and actually found some!
Then, we headed to the center of Old Town and had an awesome experience visiting the first San Diego courthouse, a darling candy shop, and eating delicious Mexican food. The musicians had just left our table. You can almost make out that GREEN fiddle.
The weather reports predicted thunder storms. Look at those blue skies!
We spent a morning at the San Diego Children's Museum. It was a completely different museum than we've experienced before. Besides these fun little carts, it was mostly art-related exhibits. It was fun to see a different approach, and the kids had a great time.
Why not make a big sculpture, put paint in buckets and hand out gigantic paint brushes?
Alice was so happy.
Bubbles with pipe cleaners. Simple and brilliant.
They had a lesson on perspective, then made cardboard creations, and ended with taking pictures of each child and their creation with "perspective". We couldn't get the right angle when they did Jack's, but essentially it looked like he was hanging onto the bottom of his airplane. We thought maybe they knew we were coming and created this table just for Jack.
We loved our hotel, especially the pools and landscaping. Gorgeous. Alice even warmed up to the pool after a bit. I'm anxious to get her in the pool more often this summer.
This girl only took two naps out of the eight days we were gone. Before this, she's only missed a nap once. I couldn't believe how well she adapted! Since then, she's been sleeping in until after 9am, AND taking naps. Making up for lost time!
The best part of the trip? Watching our kids have fun, fun, fun. They love each other, and play so well. It was fun to be able to sit back and enjoy it with very few distractions for a full week.
They are so silly.
And sweet.
And if we hadn't already seen enough fish to last us a lifetime, THIS was in our Vegas hotel on the way home. The kids were still intrigued, especially when the Mermaid came out. Kind of weird, but it's Vegas, so what do you expect?
Now for adjusting to real life once again...
